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Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

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Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#11

Post by nicce »

orangepurple wrote: post #4
coolThingsFirst wrote: post #2

You are needlessly paranoid. It's common to ask for the password and I don't think they'd touch your private files. After the screen is fixed they'd need to do QA that it works correctly. Some things you just have to trust in life, too much paranoia won't lead you to good places. Trust me, I've been there.

Considering Apple's history of working with intelligence agencies the paranoia is warranted. We can debate if OP is enough of a target for it to matter, though.

All companies are required by law to be fair, in the U.S.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#14

Post by lm28469 »

orangepurple wrote: post #7
nightfly wrote: post #3

At some point you need to trust your vendor or why are you even buying their products in the first place

I trust my vendor to supply me with genuine parts. I don't give the keys away to my vendors to fix issues. If you must, offload data from the phone and wipe it, then have it serviced. Just like you would remove precious cargo from the trunk of your car when you give it to a dealership service center.

How do you do when you drop your car at a mechanic ?

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#16

Post by Karupan »

I was asked to do this for my MacBook repair and I asked them why. The technician said they had to run their diagnostic tool to make sure everything is in order. But he simply asked me to create a new limited access user rather than give out my password.

Unfortunately this doesn’t help your situation, so I’d recommend taking a full offline backup using iTunes, erasing the phone and restoring your backup once you get the device back.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#17

Post by orangepurple »

nicce wrote: post #11
orangepurple wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering Apple's history of working with intelligence agencies the paranoia is warranted. We can debate if OP is enough of a target for it to matter, though.

All companies are required by law to be fair, in the U.S.

That's right. But Apple goes a step further and actively collaborates. Look up the secret ipad menu for the geiger counter.

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#18

Post by orangepurple »

lm28469 wrote: post #14
orangepurple wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I trust my vendor to supply me with genuine parts. I don't give the keys away to my vendors to fix issues. If you must, offload data from the phone and wipe it, then have it serviced. Just like you would remove precious cargo from the trunk of your car when you give it to a dealership service center.

How do you do when you drop your car at a mechanic ?

Remove the bricks from the trunk first

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#19

Post by lm28469 »

orangepurple wrote: post #4
coolThingsFirst wrote: post #2

You are needlessly paranoid. It's common to ask for the password and I don't think they'd touch your private files. After the screen is fixed they'd need to do QA that it works correctly. Some things you just have to trust in life, too much paranoia won't lead you to good places. Trust me, I've been there.

Considering Apple's history of working with intelligence agencies the paranoia is warranted. We can debate if OP is enough of a target for it to matter, though.

Sure, they'll wait for you to break your screen, go to an apple store, and steal your password there, to look at your pictures and texts ...

That's a very very very convoluted attack vector, unless you're very high value target they don't care about you enough to go through that. If apple were that corrupted they'd set a backdoor in all the phones, they wouldn't wait for John Doe to break his screen

Re: Ask HN: Why does Apple want me to expose my iPhone password to repair my screen?

#20

Post by gbil »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #2

You are needlessly paranoid. It's common to ask for the password and I don't think they'd touch your private files. After the screen is fixed they'd need to do QA that it works correctly. Some things you just have to trust in life, too much paranoia won't lead you to good places. Trust me, I've been there.

Having worked in a mobile manufacturer in the past close to the tech service responsible colleague, I can tell you that you should have NO trust to the service center agents with your personal data. At the same time - disclaimer my personal experience only - for repairs like screen replacement, unless the agent has really f* up there is non need for any repairs extensive tests that require full device access. Since then and while I’ve been away fro the field for too many years, in such repairs I ask that they don’t reset the device and get no complaints, maybe some typical “we might not be able to ensure proper operation otherwise” which I dismiss without issues. Again my personal experience AND no iPhones so I don’t know what apple does like maybe parts pairing that needs full access or something
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