Posted on 05/20/2016 2:37:13 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Apple has quietly changed a policy that has resulted in iPhone and iPad owners having to more frequently enter passwords to unlock their devices.
Users must now enter a passcode anytime the device’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor hasn’t been used in the past eight hours or when the device hasn’t been unlocked with a passcode in the last six days. In such cases, Touch ID is turned off until users enter passcodes.
Apple-tracking site Macworld noted the little-noticed change and investigated the reason behind it. It found users who claimed that Apple’s passcode requests had become increasingly frequent.
Apple has long required that users enter passcodes to unlock devices in certain cases. For example, users had to do so after they rebooted their iPhone or iPad. But the requirement, for some unknown reason, had become more routine.
Earlier this month, Apple had published a tweak in its iOS security guide that mentioned the more stringent security feature, causing some to believe it was new. In fact, the limitations on Touch ID were actually implemented when Apple AAPL introduced its latest operating system, iOS 9, last year. But without any public mention, few people had noticed, although some users and security experts had recently talked of having to enter passcodes more frequently in their iPads and iPhones.
Apple declined comment to Fortune about the change.
The new Touch ID policy highlights the two ways of unlock Apple devices. Both potentially make it more difficult for law-enforcement to access data on devices as part of their investigations.
That was proven in the company’s battle earlier this year with the FBI over unlocking an iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino attacker Syed Farook. The FBI had asked for software from Apple that would help it unlock the device. After Apple declined, the FBI was able to find a way to unlock the device by using a tool supplied by an unidentified third party. The FBI has subsequently unlocked devices in other cases by circumventing some of the security features built into the iPhone and iPad.
Earlier this month, Touch ID also came under fire after a Los Angeles judge ruled that a woman was required to provide her fingerprint to open her iPhone and allow FBI access to her data in connection with a criminal case.
In addition to Apple’s newly discovered eight-hour, six-day rule, the company also turns off Touch ID if a device hasn’t been used for more than 48 hours. It also requires that users enter a password if a device is restarted or if a user unsuccessfully tries to use Touch ID five times, among other rules. Those rules, however, were in place before Apple’s latest tweak.
I’ve had to enter my password on my iPad for quite some time.
The bricking issue only applied to a small number of 9.7 inch iPad Pros. Go ahead and upgrade.
There is an emergency section on the lock screen that permits you to place emergency info for that purpose if you choose. But if you don't enable it, no. But the EMTs can say "Hey, Siri, call home" and it will.
Oh, why do I not believe you? Why would they call YOU, a member of the Apple Hate Brigade, when they can easily call Apple, or merely use their Apple ID to unlock their iPhone?
Not. TouchID seems to have about a two hour limit on it. That is why I went back to the Kindle.
It is actually not such a silly example. Several years ago, government agents broke into a CBS news woman's house, installed a fiber channel cable, physically broke into her Mac computer and installed extra hardware key loggers to watch what she was writing, and, it was discovered when her computer was examined by forensic IT specialists, also installed some hidden photos deep inside a couple of libraries on her hard drive.
In those photographs were some CLASSIFIED and SECRET government documents hidden via steganography techniques inside the images. They had been placed there for future use when and if they government ever wanted to arrest her and wanted a pretext to charge her with spying.
These kind of photos can be sent via email, messaging, or even Facebook.
Not in any of my experience on multiple iOS devices with TouchID. . . and that is a lot. Turn it off if you don't like it. . . but I've never heard of any one having any problem like that.
The Kindle has ZERO encryption or protection for your data.
Thanks for the example. And for other readers, don’t forget that a federal judge just sanctioned about half of the DOJ lawyers by denying them the right to enter a federal courtroom in 26 states for lying to him. All large organizations tend toward corruption.
Because I work at a Help Desk and the company requires the users to call us.
Yes, this happened to me with my new iPhone.
I called Apple support and they told me how to switch it off, which I do at home since I’m the only person that has access to it.
If I have to leave my apt, I just flip the switch to on. So no one can see my phone.
It works well and I have nothing but good customer service when I called 1-800-MY-APPLE.
Having to re-enter my passcode after dinner if I put the I-Pad down in the late afternoon is not worth the hassle of using two devices.
And I wanted to learn the Apple interface as I was thinking of switching my laptop and home desktop to Macs in retirement, when I won't be chained to Windows for a seamless interface between work and office.
This is a useful heads-up for retirement though. I've never had a smart phone because I've always been near a desktop or laptop with full web use, save when traveling long distances. My cell phone is a small cheap old dinosaur which I use only for oral communication.
Discovery that I must constantly enter a passcode to use a smart phone with enough capability to make security an issue is good to know in advance.
Shoulda told me it was configurable. My daughter just told me about that. A 12-hour Auto Lock time works for me.
Can you give more detail about why the passcode bit is “so inconvenient”? I’m not being snarky - I’m curious - I have noticed on my own iPad and iPhone a slight increase in passcode requirement - but it’s always been logical - like after a reboot.
Otherwise, I don’t see the request for passcode very often overall. Could it be there is a setting that you have (maybe inadvertently) set to require passcode more often? For example, you can set iTunes to require passcode for every purchase, or you can enable TouchID (but that will still require passcode if device is rebooted).
The aggravation of having to enter a passcode multiple times a day was not worth the aggravation relative to the I-Pads' superiority to a Fire given my present limited use of a tablet. Once a day is fine once my daughter showed me how to reset it.
Plus she told me that the autolock on smartphones can be reset to once a day when I get one after retirement. I'll just have to be careful about not using it for anything where security is an issue.
Strange...
You don’t on my Iphone 4. It only will run IOS 7. But it’s like brand new and I got it for $25 on Amazon and use it on Tracfone. (It’s a CDMA Verizon model).
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