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Ten Most Common iPhone Passcodes Revealed

TuffLuffJimmy said:
LOL! Man, people really are up in arms about this. What exactly is the problem? Do you guys even know what you're mad about?
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For me it's collection of data from a user's device without their permission. I don't care what it is he's collecting: He shouldn't be doing it without express user permission: According to the developer guidelines, you should not collect any information about a user without their express permission and a full disclosure at to what the data will be used for.

There is absolutely no operational reason for this data to be harvested, beyond the curiosity of the developer (and so he can drive visitors to his blog with these stories) and it shows a distinct lack of care for the users privacy. If he's collecting this data, how can he be trusted not to be harvesting e-mail addresses or even individual e-mails (containing photos and device locations), all of which go through his server

If people knew the passcode they use for this app was going to be sent back to the developer (he claims it to be anonymised, but again how can we trust that as he's already shown himself to be less than completely open about the app) then they'd probably use a different passcode for the app to that on their device. Without disclosure, many people will probably use the same one.
 
The implication? A thief (or just a prankster) could safely try 10 different passcodes on your iPhone without initiating the data wipe. With a 15% success rate, about 1 in 7 iPhones would easily unlock--even more if the intruder knows the users' years of birth, relationship status, etc.
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Ok, I can't help but failing to see how "relationship status" would be of any help in discovering a user's pass-code...:confused:
 
From an app developer's point of view, this is very unethical by my standard. User sensitive information like this is supposed to be encrypted and kept in the keychain, not sent over the Internet in plain format...:eek:
 
garoto said:
Are you F#C###G kidding me? Talk about being unethical. A users data should be confidential, and if it is going to be used for statistical purposes they need to be informed, regardless of the developer collecting the data from hums own app. The app legally belongs to the user once they paid for it.

Also, is he seriously surprised that 15% of the passwords input had the same passwords? Well here's a little fact: there are only 9999 possible lockscreen combinations, and millions of iPhone users. What are the odds right? :: sarcasm font:::confused:
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If everyone picked their combination randomly, the probability for one combination would be 1/10000, that's 0.0001. In the collected data the probability for '1234' is 8,884 / 204,508, that's 0.0434.

That's 1 in 23 instead of 1 in 10000.
 
I just searched again for "Big Brother Camera Security" on my iPhone but it wasn't available anymore :rolleyes: I clicked through the link in AppShopper app and App Store responded with "Your request could not be completed."

Has the app been removed by Apple? If yes, it would be a great move, it's a big warning to unethical developers. ;)
 
haruhiko said:
I just searched again for "Big Brother Camera Security" on my iPhone but it wasn't available anymore :rolleyes: I clicked through the link in AppShopper app and App Store responded with "Your request could not be completed."

Has the app been removed by Apple? If yes, it would be a great move, it's a big warning to unethical developers. ;)
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Yes, it has been removed by Apple (according to this post by the Author)

I'm really pleased Apple have taken this hardline stance: It sends out a clear message to developers that you can't play fast and loose with user's devices and you can't arbitrarily have your app phoning home for any reason without disclosing that fact to the user and giving them the option of not sending it.
 
Phil A. said:
Yes, it has been removed by Apple (according to this post by the Author)

I'm really pleased Apple have taken this hardline stance: It sends out a clear message to developers that you can't play fast and loose with user's devices and you can't arbitrarily have your app phoning home for any reason without disclosing that fact to the user and giving them the option of not sending it.
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Wow... This is the value of iOS!!!!!!! Kudos to Apple for reacting so quickly!!!!!
 
Conclusion : what can we learn from this?
1) Try to use safer passcode
2) Keep your phone safe
3) Don't store sensitive data on the device protected only by this passcode
 
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