Apple today released the following statement:
Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone’s software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, later this week.
Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone’s warranty.
Source: Apple Inc.
Duncan Martell reports for Reuters, “‘We are not doing anything proactively to disable iPhones that have been hacked or unlocked,’ Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of worldwide product marking told Reuters. Asked how widespread the practice of downloading unlocking software, he replied, ‘We do not know.'”
Martell reports, “There are a number of unlocking software programs on the Internet, and, at least two of them, iUnlock and Anysim, can cause the iPhone to stop working once its software is updated, Schiller said. ‘There may be others, but we don’t know all of them,’ he said.”
Full article here.
In a related article from earlier today, MacFixIt reports, “According to the Apple reps we spoke with, the addition of third-party applications will fall under the ‘accidental damage’ clause, and hence phones that are brought in for service with evidence of third-party software modification may be denied service, and potentially have their warranties permanently voided, meaning that future service will not be delivered.”
MacFixIt reports, “However, the Apple rep we spoke with said that — though this is information he is generally ‘not supposed to share’ this common sense fact with customers — iPhones that have been ‘hacked’ (received third-party software modifications) then restored to an original factory state will certainly be eligible for service. In other words, if Apple can’t prove that you’ve made third-party software modifications to the iPhone, it will have no grounds to terminate the warranty; a fairly obvious fact.”
MacFixIt reports, “The moral of the story: Restore your iPhone before bringing it in for service. You can do so by connecting it to your computer, then in iTunes, selecting your iPhone and click the Restore button under the Summary tab.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: It follows logically that users who have modified their iPhones’ software should restore their iPhones before installing Apple-supplied iPhone software updates or risk bricking their iPhones and/or voiding their warranties. Hacks are never supported by manufacturers. Solder iron-wielding iPhone hardware modders are, as always, completely on their own.
“It follows logically that users who have modified their iPhones should restore their iPhones before installing Apple-supplied iPhone software updates”
It SHOULD follow logically, BUT somehow hackers these days feel that they should be able to hack away AND install sponsored software… or perhaps it’s not the true hackers (which understand these things and are excited about the challenge) but the poor saps who, after some script flunkie takes a hackers work and make it available via a GUI, install the software with NO way of knowing how to fix it were it to break.
Those are the suckers who will complain the loudest. The true hackers will work on a solution in their spare time and if they find one, fine, if they don’t, maybe someone else will, but they understood the rules of the game all along. Remember kids, all that has a GUI is not user friendly…
If you can’t figure out how to stop the hackers then hey why not frighten the bastards – that’ll work!
Apple: Do not unlock iPhones; many unlocking programs cause irreparable iPhone software damage
Bullshit.
“Irreparable software damage”, LOL that’s a good one. Unless of course there’s no easy way to “restore” an iPhone once someone’s scrambled it…
Sigh, what happened to the Good Old Apple, that allowed -and even encouraged- users to play around with the software side? “Don’t worry, you won’t permanently break anything…”.
You won’t frighten the hackers, they LIVE for this.
Double-clicking an application icon does not make you a hacker, though if you’re screwed down the road, it makes you a sucker.
It’s all about greed, that’s all. Just a greedy Steve who became blind because of his power. I’ve said it before: he should beware of the karma boomerang.
There’s no Karma involved here.
Apple is supposed to piss away it’s time, money and resources trying to figure out what every loser hacker has done to f@ck up his iPhone? Bullsh!t.
I really want to spend an extra few hours waiting for an Apple Genius because every time Apple does an update, some loser/moron bricks his phone… then comes cryin’ to his momma.
Um, no. Sorry.
Apple only becomes Applesoft when they ALLOW a world of incompatible, garbage code to pollute their ecosystem. Then we can all waste our lives troubleshooting and repairing our Macs, instead of using them- just like the Wintards.
If you don’t want me to unlock it then bring the phone WORLDWIDE!
ALSO, release third party apps and we won’t hack it.
That’s why Windows Mobile is still the best. Lots of 3rd party apps, Word, Excel, Power Point, ….
@Karma? Um, those were good points if you have already have your mind made up that Apple can do no wrong and don’t want to think , but I’d posit that the game changed as soon as they entered the cell phone market and decided to partner with AT&T;.
The “ecosystem pollution” started day one when employees at some AT&T;stores decided that they weren’t going to sell iPhones to people who had been waiting in line for days unless they bought another $150 worth of accessories and hasn’t let up since. If you’re comfortable with that, fine. I’m not.
And I’m having a hard time understanding why people are getting so worked about what other people are doing with their iPhones.
I’m not mad at Apple for doing what they need to do or updating their software -in fact I appreciate the warning and that’s what I’m regarding it as, but if I go into the store to get my earphones replaced because the housing came loose from the recessed port and get told it’s not covered because of a software modification I may or may not have made, the next words out of my mouth are going to be I’m going to need your full name and the name of the store manager for my subpoena.
I doubt that will be necessary since I always receive great service from Apple.
So um no sorry I’m not buying that you’re worried because your service might suffer. You’re a fanboy on this one, plain and simple who’s mad because you think you detect a note of Steve criticism in all this someplace and have to defend your boy even though he could probably care less. You do know he’s married, right?
PS I spent about an hour last week talking exchanging iPhone hack tips with the geniuses at my local Apple store so I don’t think this anything more than a political move to keep AT&T;mollified. By exchanging I mean they showed me theirs and I showed mine.
I borked the navigation in my Honda last night. I put the newer version of the software in the drive, to see if I could see a noticeable improvement.
I did, indeed, see an improvement. How delightful! I then took out the DVD and put my original in its place.
The message came on the screen, as it did before, “Do not turn off the vehicle while this software is loading,” or something like that.
It took a while, and I had to go inside, so I turned off the engine. I figured, “What’s the worst that can happen?” I thought that it would just have to start over again from the beginning the next time I started the vehicle.
Guess I was wrong though… It just goes into a diagnostics screen, that it can’t exit from. I showed it to the service guys today, and they didn’t have anything to say. They’re going to look into it.
I certainly hope that it will be covered under warranty, but if it’s not, there really isn’t anything that I can say about it. I was clearly warned not to turn off the vehicle. I wasn’t warned of the severity of the possible outcome, so I may have a case.
Apple, however, is clearly saying, “Don’t mess with your iPhone’s software. If you do, it may become an iBrick.”
If people want to use 3rd party software then they knowingly choose to take the risk of turning their phone into a “brick.” It’s no different with cars, if you mod the car in such a way that it damages the vehicle, the warranty is not applicable.
Magnusson-Moss does apply, though it is questionable if it applies in this case.
Again, the idea is that the manufacturer cannot void the entire warranty because of a modification. For example, in Figurative’s example above, Ford could easily refuse to give him a new engine because his modification affected the engine and probably led to the problem. I’m sure Ford would have no problem confirming this.
However, if he was having a problem with his driver-side door handle, Ford could not refuse to fix his car because he’d added nitrous oxide by claiming he’d violated his warranty without demonstrating how adding nitrous oxide to the air intake affected his door handle, causing it to prematurely break.
So, if I take my hacked iPhone to Apple because the screen has a green tint, Apple cannot void my warranty without showing how my change affected the screen.
Of course, you have to drag Apple into court to get them to do that, something that will probably cost you significantly more than $400.
I agree completely. I neglected to elaborate with my example. Thank you for finishing my thought.
@theconfuzed1 You never should have borked your navigation software without backing up and having a clean way to get back….but that was just a metaphor, wasn’t it?
iPhone hackers, take heed, backup and don’t update until you know whether your unlock will survive. But you if you were smart enough to follow the directions to unlock your phone in the first place you probably already knew that.
I’ve been following the unlocking efforts pretty closely since the iPhone first came out and I’ve yet to hear of anyone’s phone being permanently bricked.
Stop the iHack FUD before it affects someone you love. Superstition ain’t the way.
Should just sell the hardware with the operating system as usual.
The $100 back scenario is nothing compared to the class action lawsuit for intentionally damaging a legally, unlocked cell phone. And announcing your intention to do it. Uh, like how many million witnesses.
Hey Stevie, “Don’t you know that you are a shooting star….”
Peter.
I agree with every word you said except that it only costs $70 to file a small court claim where I live and I doubt very much that it would come to that. The words alone are usually enough.
Five comments on one thread is four too many. I’m unchecking the “notify me of follow up” box and turning my wifi off.
“nothing compared to the class action lawsuit for intentionally damaging a legally, unlocked cell phone”
there is a LOT of question over whether a phone even can be unlocked legally, so that is an interesting statement.
a warning that “you break it we won’t fix it” is hardly a threat that “we will break it and blame you.”
your paranoia is showing, adjust your tinfoil hat.
Meanwhile T-mobile has a lock on the new WiFi enabled \”Crackberries\”
The Empire Stikes Back.
Oh wait, AT&T;is the \”Empire\” amd T-Mobile is the \”Resistance\”.
What does that make Apple? Darth Vader?
Good for Jobs.
All these iPhones running around with every hack some pimple faced Geek can bang out in a month, looking and working like crud.
Crud infested like some Windows box.
Apple has every right to break hacks to protect all the blood sweat tears and financial RISK they have in this thing.
I hope they self destruct like something out of Mission Impossible…
Then when people see it they think,
Why would anyone list an email address that is linked to a web site that says “This Web site is coming soon.”
It’s like saying, “I’m a wanna-be.”
Kinda takes some credibility away from their comments, no?
Good lord man. Do you ever make comments that have any bearing on the posts or are you just checking in to make sure nobody’s sullying the honor of the “immensely talented” Karen Carpenter again. The only reason I didn’t respond to you earlier is because I got to thinking about the kind of dufus that actually thinks the way you do much less says it out loud and took pity.
And I still got under our skin enough to make you go look and then follow me here with your wannabe snark.
To answer your question: someone who’s learned the hard way that the net is too full of insecure quasi-stalker losers like yourself to give them anything that might be linked to a physical address but to toss them some klnd of a bone so they don’t start screwing with IP traces and the like. But you don’t seem smart enough to figure it out and it seems unlikely that such an ardent Carpenters fan would pose much of a physical threat anyway.
In any case, I’m over caring so if you want to declare victory in the great Karen Carpenter vs Ramones debate of September 2007, knock yourself out. Just have some dignity and stop following me around already, it’s embarrassing and you’re working way too hard.
AT&T;was the deal Apple got to get iPhone out to the public.
Sad people need to hack the hell out of it to get it how they want things.
Frankinstien-ing an iPhone is BASICALLY like pirating.
Cool hacking is possible – but the contest to do that is OVER.
The fun of all that is done. Yes, it can be done. And a chip in your tv can get all the satellite shows you want.
Now lets get back to business.
I agree with APPLE… and WOZ this isn’t hash for you is it?
Honestly, the reply to hacking the phone has be very fair.
Applesoft. Is that a sour Macfan or a Switcher who realized Microsoft was the dark side – thinking Apple is getting shady!
I think not.
@Peter
I do agree. However, when the appliance is basically electronic software driven, then your metaphor does not apply so easily here to the iPhone.
Hacking the OS on the iPhone is the main function here to run the machine. Now if you painted the phone with blue paint… I think Apple show not warrant the devise from any scratches. I see your point, but the modification was on the engine, and if the engine can not start up as originally built – SORRY.
“f Apple can’t prove that you’ve made third-party software modifications to the iPhone, it will have no grounds to terminate the warranty; a fairly obvious fact.”
RESTORE settings. Seems PRETTY fair to me.
You’re so over caring that you had to post a response.
What a tool. You’re too easy.
loaloa
Do you know Jobs personally.
Yes he has an ego, but honestly, he is only as greedy as any other mortal. Actually, I am guessing a whole lot LESSER then you.
j