Live data from Hacker News

Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

macrumors.com

41–50 of 127 posts

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#41
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thank goodness I haven't been subjected to (mobile) Apple for many years in order to speak to what they "allow" and don't nowadays, but the short answer is that I want to *fucking own* the hardware I pay fuckloads of money to purchase Also, while I was typing out the "I want f-droid.org for iOS" I realized there is a pragmatic answer: I want to build and distribute apps without having to pay for the right to do so,…

That’s a web app, it’s on them if they don’t want to offer their services without requiring me to let them out of the web sandbox.

I presume you didn't follow the link I pointed to, which for sure points an .apk URL

Now, if you're trying to be extra cute by saying "react native is a webpage with more steps," I'm not trying to have that fight, but I can assure you with 100% confidence that Joplin's apk loads without Internet connectivity, making it not meet my definition of "a web app"

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#42
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a web app, it’s on them if they don’t want to offer their services without requiring me to let them out of the web sandbox.

I presume you didn't follow the link I pointed to, which for sure points an .apk URL Now, if you're trying to be extra cute by saying "react native is a webpage with more steps," I'm not trying to have that fight, but I can assure you with 100% confidence that Joplin's apk loads without Internet connectivity, making it not meet my definition of "a web app"

I did in fact follow the link. I actually went further than you, all the way to the GitHub, where I saw that it was actually just a web app. All TS.

And you can 100% load PWAs offline, which might be slightly more progressive than your idea of a web app, but I hope not overly so.

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#43
post #35

This is presumably in preparation for removing USB-C next year?

I think a big part of the reason (maybe the only reason?) they went to USB-C is because they were legally compelled to by European regulations, not sure if they can then about-face on that just by removing the port.

> think a big part of the reason (maybe the only reason?) they went to USB-C is because they were legally compelled to by European regulations

It wasn't the only reason, it was inevitable even without the regulations. They'd already switched their laptops to USB-C in 2015 (?), and the iPad in 2018. The phones and some accessories (keyboards, mice, charging cases for AirPods and such) were the last remaining Lightning devices. All the regulations did, if anything, was set a deadline that was probably internal no more than one or two years past when they made the switch.

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#44

Needing to connect an iDevice that wouldn't boot to a PC or Mac in order to restore a factory OS image wasn't exactly a high bar to get over, but this does give you another option for recovery.

It isn’t for most people here. But the most valuable tool for fixing a broken computer is a working one, and a lot of people don’t have more than one anymore. Some don’t even have that.

My wife texted me on Friday as she was visiting her mother six hours’ drive away. She needed her laptop. They do not own a desktop, and her dad was at our house on a business trip with his laptop in tow.

Do not underestimate the utility of just outfitting houses that you/spouse spend a fair amount of time at with at least functional computers and such. I put MoCA and three access points in their house as a Christmas gift. It cost me $500 and about two hours of work, but I have never gotten another call about bad WiFi. I bought an AppleTV for their house just to have a Tailscale endpoint. I think they will eventually end up actually using it as an AppleTV, but until then, it’s my door into their network (and another private VPN service for me).

My 2008-era spare laptop isn’t snappy, and it’s not in good shape. But it boots Windows and Linux, and in the absence of anything else it can at least SSH and web-browse, write a USB drive, etc.

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#45

As a former hardware engineer, if it can be restored wirelessly or otherwise, it's not a brick yet. Keep trying, you'll get there! ;)

Keep trying to de-dramaticize language, you'll get there! Seriously though, the last time I truely bricked something was because I overwrote the bootloader on a chip that had no other way to flash, and it was an all-in-one, so I couldn't solder to the chip and reprogram it directly. Now that was a brick. A board that I can still solder to a chip and bus pirate my way to victory, isn't a brick. Being able to do so wir…

> I wanted to flash the firmware so I could have capslock be left Ctrl in hardware

You're a person after my own heart. If there is a God, you're doing his/her/their work.

What was the hardware and firmware you were flashing?

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#48

As a former hardware engineer, if it can be restored wirelessly or otherwise, it's not a brick yet. Keep trying, you'll get there! ;)

Keep trying to de-dramaticize language, you'll get there! Seriously though, the last time I truely bricked something was because I overwrote the bootloader on a chip that had no other way to flash, and it was an all-in-one, so I couldn't solder to the chip and reprogram it directly. Now that was a brick. A board that I can still solder to a chip and bus pirate my way to victory, isn't a brick. Being able to do so wir…

[deleted]

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#49

ooh sounds very exploitable! Would be interested in a deep dive. How "bricked" is recovery mode? Kernel borked? Like PSP pandora battery?

This looks to be about enabling the "bricked" (as in not recoverable without external tools, in this case) iPhone to receive the recovery image over wireless connection as an alternative to receiving it over a wire. All of the same protections around needing to be a signed image, a device not on Apples stolen/banned list, and needing to be done from an iPhone already asking for recovery (i.e. it's not some state you push wireless TO the device, it's something it requests and other devices can accept helping with) stay in place regardless if the data is received over a wire or now wirelessly. At most the exploitability change here would be in removing the requirement to have another device connected via cable to execute some set of attacks that break the actual security steps.

Re: Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone

#50

Needing to connect an iDevice that wouldn't boot to a PC or Mac in order to restore a factory OS image wasn't exactly a high bar to get over, but this does give you another option for recovery.

It isn’t for most people here. But the most valuable tool for fixing a broken computer is a working one, and a lot of people don’t have more than one anymore. Some don’t even have that. My wife texted me on Friday as she was visiting her mother six hours’ drive away. She needed her laptop. They do not own a desktop, and her dad was at our house on a business trip with his laptop in tow. Do not underestimate the utili…

You would be amazed how many normal people dont have a computer - they have an iPad and an iPhone (or android similars), and yeah - its like that now.
Post reply on HN