iOS 9 bricks iPhones repaired with 3rd party Touch ID / Components [Error 53]

3rd-party repairs provide such repairs that you usually won’t notice the difference and are often way cheaper than getting services from official Apple Stores. But, with iOs 9 update, things seems to be changing. Apple’s iOS 9 software update is reportedly bricking devices that have gone through third-party repairs and some of the components have been replaced with unofficial alternatives.

Many iPhone owners who have had their devices repaired at a 3rd-party center are now encountering an “Error 53” after updating to iOS 9 software releases. The majority of the affected devices are those that have gone through Display replacement that incorporates new Touch ID sensors.

The error is reportedly being caused only after the iOS 9 update is installed because users have been using their devices without any problem after getting it repaired from a 3rd party repair center. The moment they install iOS 9, the error 53 popped up, effectively rendering their iPhone useless. Apple has doesn’t provide any prior warning related to the after-effects of third-party component replacement. The user also loses all of his/her data on the device.
Antonio Olmos, a freelance photographer working on an assignment for The Guardian, found it the hard way:

I was in the Balkans covering the refugee crisis in September when I dropped my phone. Because I desperately needed it for work I got it fixed at a local shop, as there are no Apple stores in Macedonia. They repaired the screen and home button, and it worked perfectly.

Olmos kept on using the device without any problem until he went for the iOS 9 update route. He ended up with error 53, Apple could not offer a fix, and he had to get a replacement device for £270. The error 53 seems to be pretty widespread which seems normal given the popularity of the iPhone.
Kyle Wiens of the iFixit says:

The problem occurs if the repairer changes the home button or the cable. Following the software upgrade the phone in effect checks to make sure it is still using the original components, and if it isn’t, it simply locks out the phone. There is no warning, and there’s no way that I know of to bring it back to life.

Apple has responded to The Guardian confirming that the error 53 is real and provides the following explanation:

We protect fingerprint data using a secure enclave, which is uniquely paired to the touch ID sensor. When iPhone is serviced by an authorised Apple service provider or Apple retail store for changes that affect the touch ID sensor, the pairing is re-validated. This check ensures the device and the iOS features related to touch ID remain secure. Without this unique pairing, a malicious touch ID sensor could be substituted, thereby gaining access to the secure enclave. When iOS detects that the pairing fails, touch ID, including Apple Pay, is disabled so the device remains secure.
When an iPhone is serviced by an unauthorised repair provider, faulty screens or other invalid components that affect the touch ID sensor could cause the check to fail if the pairing cannot be validated. With a subsequent update or restore, additional security checks result in an ‘error 53’ being displayed … If a customer encounters an unrecoverable error 53, we recommend contacting Apple support.

Now it is unclear whether Apple introduced the error 53 to provide more security to the iPhone users, or it’s an attempt to force iPhone users to get their devices repaired only at pricey Apple Stores. Error 53 is not new, but it is only now that media is covering it in greater details and it looks like it is going to cause lots of controversy.
If you’ve encountered “Error 53”, let us know in the comments section below.

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New iPhone 7 concept shows an incredibly cool design

We often see some awesome pieces of conceptual designs for the future iPhone devices and most of them are impractical but still fanciful. This latest iPhone 7 concept is as unlikely as any other impractical future iPhone concepts, but the designer has made the concept an incredibly cool one by adding a 5-inch secondary display on the back, water-resistance to a design that is just 3mm thick with an edge-to-edge main display.

The designer has conceptualised and incorporated all possible features that one can desire in an iPhone. Some of the prominent features shown in the concept include a 5-inch display with no bezel (edge-to-edge) that takes up all the real-estate of the front-side of the device, a secondary display that covers the back side of the conceptualised device, an all-new stereo audio system, wireless charging, and water resistance. All of this is packed inside a body made of liquid metal. Herman Haidin is the designer who articulated this piece, who thinks that there won’t be any need for the ports and buttons in future iPhone devices, that’s why you won’t find any port or button in the photos of the concept. He believes that the wireless charging, Bluetooth, and WiFi connectivity will be all needed in the future.

It’s highly unlikely of Apple to add all the features conceptualized in this design into a real future iPhone. Nevertheless, the design is one of the coolest concepts that we have seen for a future iPhone to date.

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You can Upgrade your 16GB iPhone to 128GB for around $60

When you are going to buy an iPhone, you end up choosing from the three available storage capacities: the bare-bone 16GB model, and the models with more storage capacity such as 64GB and 128GB. The later two are probably the best options for you given the current capabilities of the video cameras and size of the latest iOS apps and games. However, getting a model with larger capacity does cost you more; $100 more for moving up to 64GB from 16GB and a staggering $200 for moving up to 128GB from 16GB. If paying that much to get more storage capacity is going to be too much for you, then you’ll be happy to learn that there is a cheaper alternative but for that, you must be visiting Shenzhen, China.

In the Shenzhen market of the China, there is this particular company reported by BeSound, which makes it possible to get your iPhone’s internal memory upgraded, at a very cheaper price as compared to Apple’s official pricing. For those who have an out of warranty iPhone 6, or do not mind voiding their warranty, the Chinese company can upgrade your 16GB iPhone 6 internal storage all the way up to 128GB, just for around $60. An upgrade to 32GB internal storage costs only $20, and you can also go up to 64GB for $35.
The internal storage upgrade process involves disassembly of the iPhone 6 to replace the installed flash storage chip with a new flash chip manufactured by Toshiba with more capacity. All the information stored on the old flash chip is also transferred to the new storage chip. The iOS is then reinstalled, once done, your device will be rocking a larger storage capacity than before. The whole upgrade process takes around 30 minutes to complete.
The upgrade options are currently limited to the iPhone 6, iPad Air, and some older devices. The guy in the video also reveals that around 50 storage upgrades are being done every single day at the Shenzhen location.
We do not recommend installing a 3rd party storage solution in your iPhone device. However, if you do not mind voiding your warranty or your device is already out of warranty, and you can make it to the Shenzhen market, it’s indeed a way cheaper and quicker option to get more storage available in your iPhone devices.

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‘iPhone 7’ to have a flush rear camera and antenna bands removed from the back

iPhone 7 rumors mill has started picking up its pace and a recent report sheds some light on the design choices Apple has gone with for its upcoming iPhone revision, widely referred to as an iPhone 7.

In a new report, Macrumors – citing some of its undisclosed sources, reveals some new details about the design changes Apple is going to introduce in its iPhone 7 model. One bit of the report talks about potentially good camera redesign. The report states that the iPhone 7 camera won’t have a bump on the back and it will be flushed with the body of the device. Going back to flushed camera design from a protrude design as found on iPhone 6/6s/Plus will be a welcomed design change for many iPhone fans.

With another rumor making rounds claiming that the larger iPhone 7 Plus will have a dual-camera system, this recent report fails to provide any information whether that pair of rear cameras will also be flushed with the body or not.
Another welcomed change from the design point of view that Apple is reportedly planning to introduce in iPhone 7 is related to the antenna bands found on the iPhone 6/6s/Plus. MacRumors reports that iPhone 7 will be designed in such a way that will remove the antenna bands from the back of the smartphone. However, the antenna bands will still be present at the top and bottom edges of the device. Removal of antenna lines from the back cover will surely give iPhone 7 a sleeker look over its predecessors.
While Apple is known for launching a redesigned iPhone model after ever ‘s’ model release, but the report says otherwise. The report indicates that the iPhone 7 will have looks identical to the current iPhone 6s. If this turns out to be true, it’ll be interesting to see the reaction of the masses.
[via MacRumors]

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Untethered Jailbreak for iOS 9.2.1, iOS 9.2 & iOS 9.3 beta has been achieved!

We have not seen any new jailbreak since Pangu 9 jailbreak tool, which was capable of jailbreaking iOS 9.0.2. This is why many in the jailbreak scene are either stuck with a jailbroken device on an older version without having access to the latest iOS feature or updated to the latest version and do not have a jailbroken device.

For those who are still hoping to see another jailbreak, iOS hacker qwertyoruiop has successfully demonstrated an untethered jailbreak for iOS 9.2, iOS 9.2.1, and 9.3 beta. The hacker has tweeted the link to a video in which he demonstrates an untethered jailbreak on an iPhone 6 running iOS 9.2. He opens up the Cydia on his device to show the iOS version, executes Terminal commands, and tinkers with Winterboard themes before respringing his device.
Although the hacker demonstrated the untethered jailbreak only on iOS 9.2, he claims that the same jailbreak will also work on iOS 9.2.1 and iOS 9.3 beta. Unfortunately, the hacker writes in the video description on YouTube that this jailbreak is going to remain private: “which shall be kept private for the Leader’s enjoyment.”

The hacker released the video only for demonstration purposes to show that there’s still hope for a public jailbreak, but we’ll have to wait for a big hackers team to handle the public jailbreak release process. Since the exploits used in the demonstrated jailbreak also works on iOS 9.3 beta, it would make more sense for the jailbreak team to hold off the jailbreak tool until the final version of iOs 9.3 has been pushed to the general public.

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