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passcode -- useless???

S

sr5878

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 5, 2007
772
0
hey

i was playing with my iphone's passcode setting, and i was testing to see what'd happen if you got the code wrong too many times. as i'm sure you know, it disables the phone for 1 minute and continues to increase the interval. i wanted to see what would happen if you reset the phone during that time period, so i 'disabled' the phone and held down the hold/home buttons. the phone turned off, and i turned it back on.

the phone flashed a few times, and then showed my home screen with the 1.1.3 message about rearranging icons... ??????!!!!!?!?!?

so i was able to bypass the lock. i tried to repeat this process but instead it seems to be behaving normally.

does the passcode offer any real security, or is it relatively useless? is this a problem with my phone, or a glitch in the software? can anyone replicate this?
 
This reminds me of when my friend took my phone and was messing around. He got into settings without me seeing, and he changed my passcode. Then he refused to tell me, so i didn't have a phone all day. All i did was basically a restore and bam, it works. Thank god for this too.

The passcode does it's part for the most part.
 
avalys said:
Perhaps the 1 minute delay expired while the phone was rebooting?
Click to expand...

maybe i didn't explain clearly, but upon restart i had full access to all phone functions, and all of my springboard items had been reset to their default locations (webclips just lined up after the itunes icon, which i previously had on the 2nd page.) i went into settings, and the passcode was disabled.
 
That's weird. I've tried the exact same thing before and it didn't reset the timer nor bypass the lock.

The odd thing is that it should always lock again automatically whenever you turn it on or reset it.
 
grumbler said:
That's weird. I've tried the exact same thing before and it didn't reset the timer nor bypass the lock.

The odd thing is that it should always lock again automatically whenever you turn it on or reset it.
Click to expand...

that's what i thought...

SOMETHING in the phone got reset. i have no idea what. at first i thought it was a failsafe that erased all sensitive data, but my webclips, contacts, call history, texts, and emails were all there.

apple may be receiving a phone call...
 
If the passcode is anything like in the iPods then it's kinda useless anyway. To reset it, you should have to take it to Apple/O2, not just plug it in - or am I missing something? Does it have to be plugged into the comp it's synced to?

Kinda random question, I know. :)
 
Matteh117 said:
If the passcode is anything like in the iPods then it's kinda useless anyway. To reset it, you should have to take it to Apple/O2, not just plug it in - or am I missing something? Does it have to be plugged into the comp it's synced to?

Kinda random question, I know. :)
Click to expand...

When it is reset by plugging it in, the data on the phone is wiped and resynced from the last backup in iTunes. So they would have to have access to both your iPhone and the computer you sync to I think. Otherwise they would just get a new iPhone with no data on it.
 
Matteh117 said:
If the passcode is anything like in the iPods then it's kinda useless anyway. To reset it, you should have to take it to Apple/O2, not just plug it in - or am I missing something? Does it have to be plugged into the comp it's synced to?

Kinda random question, I know. :)
Click to expand...

It's not useless. You need to plug the iphone into the exact computer it was synced to. Plugging it anywhere else will not unlock it. If you get your iphone stolen or lose it, there is no way the other person would be able to get into your iphone...at least not the data on it. This is clever enough, it would suck to have to take the phone into Apple.

It seems what the OP experienced is probably a bug which doesn't seem to be repeatable.

Kan-O-Z
 
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