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H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,841
7,114
Two words! Apple Care! Problem solved. I would never take my expensive Apple device to anyone but Apple.

It's like taking a Ferrari to José's one Stop Brake Shop instead of the dealer. Why?
Why not? That’s the reason OEMs can rip you off so easily. That must be the dorkiest reply I’ve ever heard. Ther has to be checks and balances everywhere, without reasonable third party repairers to keep the feet of those fat cats on the ground you WILL be fleeced.
 

Brooklynscholar

macrumors newbie
Sep 15, 2014
27
19
Brooklyn New York
"How can a company deliberately make their own products useless with an upgrade and not warn their own customers about it?"
How about apple always says dont go and get 3rd party products installed on any of our devices.

"I am not even sure these third-party outfits even know this is a potential problem."

The third party repair kiosks damn well know they're selling crap parts that will brick your phone and most likely stop working after 2 days.
 

vertsix

macrumors 68000
Aug 12, 2015
1,871
6,143
Texas
There's absolutely no justification for this. In fact, this should go to court. Unbelievable.

There are people that try to save money and to not cash in on Apple's ridiculously expensive repairs. How is it even legal for Apple to brick your device after it was repaired by someone other than Apple?

This is probably the greediest thing I've seen out of any company. They claim "security" is the reason for it but that's such a blatant lie for what their intentions really are: to cash grab on repairs.
 

lolkthxbai

macrumors 65816
May 7, 2011
1,426
489
This is just something you have to think about before purchasing a product. If you live 1,000 miles from an authorized MacLaren dealer or repair shop, you should think about that before you buy a MacLaren sports car. If you buy it, you do so knowing that maintenance or repairs will require covering the cost to ship the car to an authorized shop, or alternatively, covering the cost to ship an authorized mechanic to wherever your car sits. If you buy it anyway, figuring you'll just let Bubba's Garage handle the repairs and maintenance, you do so at your own risk, knowing that Bubba will probably turn your nice car into an expensive junk heap.
Agreed but if Apple can establish a relationship with carriers in that country to sell the device then they should also establish a service center to fulfill the terms of the product warranty.
 

oldmanyoung

macrumors newbie
Feb 5, 2016
3
29
I remember this very thing being discussed when touch ID first came out. Some asked "Can't someone just replace the home button and sensor?" The specific matching b/t sensor and iphone is not new news. It is odd that it took a s/w upgrade to trigger it though.
 

RedOrchestra

Suspended
Aug 13, 2012
2,623
3,237
There's absolutely no justification for this. In fact, this should go to court. Unbelievable.

There are people that try to save money and to not cash in on Apple's ridiculously expensive repairs. How is it even legal for Apple to brick your device after it was repaired by someone other than Apple?

This is probably the greediest thing I've seen out of any company. They claim "security" is the reason for it but that's such a blatant lie for what their intentions really are: to cash grab on repairs.


HOTEL CALIFORNIA.
 

Googlyhead

macrumors 6502
Apr 19, 2010
484
282
Just disable all touch id within the software if it detects an unauthorised repair. Not the whole phone.
I think some people are looking at this the wrong way:
Your iPhone (and Apple Pay etc.) is secured by the touchID system.
If it is physically stolen; it should not be possible to simply unplug the home button to gain access. Likewise; it should not be permitted to simply erase a stolen iPhone (effectively the iOS upgrade in this example).

To use the old door lock metaphor; if I've locked the door, I would not want it so that any random person could simply unplug the lock and install their own. (Admittedly a door is somewhat vulnerable to a locksmith or brute force.)
 
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Dr. Freeman

macrumors member
May 1, 2012
37
10
Safe ways from Apple, unknown if they are otherwise. Many things in life are possible, but the possibility by itself doesn't mean anything one way or another.

We're talking about programming here

One doesn't necessarily mean the other.
It doesn't, what it means is that if someone wants to write a backdoor for it, there will be a backdoor for it.
 

RedCroissant

Suspended
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
It might be no longer under warranty under Apple because of that but does that mean it can't be repaired by Apple as basically just a paid for repair like any other out of warranty repair?

It doesn't mean that it "cannot" be repaired, but I have personally spoken to Apple techs and the reason is due to the fact that 3rd party parts can often cause erratic behavior in the devices that they manufacture and why attempting to replace a third-party part is not in their best interest due to the damage done just by the unauthorized repair. It also has to do with accountability. If Apple messed up the job, they would replace it. AppleCare+ is a pretty awesome deal for a device category that is frequently broken.

When the iPads were first released, a screen repair though Apple was very expensive but third-parties were doing it for cheaper. The problem with that was that the displays and digitizers that the third-parties were using didn't function properly and didn't recognize gestures properly.

I think Apple wants to maintain their image and their brand and requiring essential parts to the functionality of a device to be repaired though Apple makes sense.
 
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jase1125

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2014
272
336
Texas
Instead of bricking the phone, Apple could easily have implemented a check that validated the sensor and if determined third party just disable it. Pin would still be required to gain access to the device. Just disable the touchID portion of the OS and disable access to Wallet. Very simple than totally making the phone inoperable. Horrible customer experience without a very well thought out resolution to a simple security problem.
 

gotluck

macrumors 603
Dec 8, 2011
5,717
1,260
East Central Florida
I think some people are looking at this the wrong way:
Your iPhone (and Apple Pay etc.) is secured by the touchID system.
If it is physically stolen; it should not be possible to simply unplug the home button to gain access. Likewise; it should not be permitted to simply erase a stolen iPhone (effectively the iOS upgrade in this example).

To use the old door lock metaphor; if I've locked the door, I would not want it so that any random person could simply unplug the lock and install their own. (Admittedly a door is somewhat vulnerable to a locksmith or brute force.)

That only applies if the thief can install the fraudulent touch id module without ever turning the phone off after stealing it. If you turn the phone off passcode is required and touchid is not enough.

I really doubt you can replace the module successfully without turning the device off. I would hope apple would have some kind of detection there that the connection was severed
 

MrShoehorn

macrumors member
Jun 27, 2007
42
17
I know this has nothing to do with me, but if you really read their comment, you'd understand it's all about the convenience. Not everybody has an Apple Store or approved repair center nearby. I happen to live in a rural area with no such things nearby. If I had the choice of staying nearby and getting my phone fix locally as opposed to sending it off or having to travel out-of-town/out-of-state, I'd personally choose the former.
Oh no doubt, I just happen to live in an area with an Apple Store and a bunch of phone repair places. I've always repaired my own devices, recently though the screen prices have increased and the Apple prices seem to be very fair. Again, yes it does vary by region.
 

The Phazer

macrumors 68040
Oct 31, 2007
3,008
977
London, UK
The Apple Genius Bars in London recommend that people take their iPads to third parties for screen repairs, as Apple effectively has no process to do so other than swapping the device out, for a cost that is actually slightly more than buying a new iPad from Amazon.

So I can see a huge wave of (successful) small claims court cases against Apple for the likes of this. It's a shittily designed policy.
 
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igorsky

Suspended
Mar 9, 2011
592
650
Brooklyn, NY
I think some people are looking at this the wrong way:
Your iPhone (and Apple Pay etc.) is secured by the touchID system.
If it is physically stolen; it should not be possible to simply unplug the home button to gain access. Likewise; it should not be permitted to simply erase a stolen iPhone (effectively the iOS upgrade in this example).

Can you imagine the fallout if someone's phone was stolen, and the thief gained access to the phone, a password-storing app (e.g. 1Password), and Apple Pay with a new Touch ID button? People really don't think in their quick-draw attempts at criticizing anything that Apple does.
 

O and A

macrumors regular
Jul 22, 2002
240
21
New York City
This is Apple telling us not to venture out of their ecosystem. In this case, if you try it your phone will be bricked. Imagine if you had to use genuine GM parts to repair your car or else your care is bricked. This scares the **** out of me.

guess what if you put a non gm part in your car and your car gets destroyed or breaks down because of that non gm part... its your fault and not GMs fault. So your analogy doesn't work.
 

AxoNeuron

macrumors 65816
Apr 22, 2012
1,251
855
The Left Coast
Speaking as a software engineer, this does not make sense from a security standpoint, and Apple's logic here is flawed. I could understand if Apple selectively disabled the Touch ID feature when this check fails, but to completely brick the entire phone? There's absolutely no need to take it to that level.

Apple doesn't have official repair channels that are easily available in all countries. Furthermore, the repair channels Apple does offer are often so outrageously expensive that most independent shops can do it significantly cheaper. Apple knows this, and this is an obvious and desperate ploy to drum up more business for their own repair channels. If you've seen the repair price for an iphone recently, it has gone up dramatically in the last few years, and there's just no excuse for it to be so high, especially since they use such cheap components (16GB storage in the year 2016 anyone? ).

Apple possesses the capability to selectively disable touch ID. The fact that they completely brick phones in this case, without warning, tells me they haven't really thought it through.
 
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Tubamajuba

macrumors 68020
Jun 8, 2011
2,188
2,446
here
Wow- I see quite a few people in this thread that need to learn how Touch ID works.

Cook is greedy.
Oh, that's interesting. I must have not been paying attention back when Steve Jobs promoted unauthorized third party repairs.
 

objc

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2007
160
26
While I understand the vitriol against Apple for this error, it makes sense from a security standpoint. Hopefully, having an authorized Apple repair center replace the home button with a legitimate one can restore a phone giving this error.
Yes, it makes some sense from a security standpoint to do something, but surprise bricking the phone and then charging full replacement fee on top of that is downright abusive. apple won't fix these for you. they will charge hundreds of dollars for a replacement. I don't know if a company like iresq can fix this or not. they are an aasp.
 

Puonti

macrumors 68000
Mar 14, 2011
1,567
1,187
Glad to see Apple take security seriously in this instance. "Just disable the TouchID features if a component has been tampered with" is a non-starter when it comes to security. People really want thieves to get easier access to their data or one step closer to wiping and re-selling the phone? By replacing the Touch ID module to cause the device to drop that layer of security?

I'll rather have an authorized dealer do the repairs with genuine parts, thanks.
 

russofris

macrumors regular
Mar 20, 2012
160
60
I think that the only valid point of contention is that a device worked up-to the point of a software upgrade. Had the system been fully secure from the get-go, devices with non-genuine parts or genuine but un-paired parts would have never left the repair shop in a compromised state. I also agree that certified Apple repairs need to remain both accessible and affordable. Users with bricked phones need to have a process communicated to them so that they can have their phones (officially) repaired.

Aside from that, I'm 100% on board with what Apple is saying. TID sensor duping was a huge security hole that absolutely needed to be fixed.
 

H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,841
7,114
guess what if you put a non gm part in your car and your car gets destroyed or breaks down because of that non gm part... its your fault and not GMs fault. So your analogy doesn't work.
Yes it does, because GM very likely won’t refuse the repair.
LOL. Sorry sir, you’ve had your clutch replaced by an independent - it’s likely that its ’s damaged the gearbox. You will need a whole new car.
 

Fuchal

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2003
2,614
1,137
The uncertified repair joints in question sell hilarious parts. The font is wrong on the rear cases. The screens are barely acceptable. Anyone willing to install this crap into their phone is begging for trouble.

There was one around the corner from my old place. It was hilarious how I could barter him down from $120 on a certain iPhone 4S part to $25.
 
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