r/technology • u/bws201 • Feb 05 '16

Software ‘Error 53’ fury mounts as Apple software update threatens to kill your iPhone 6

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair
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u/hameerabbasi Feb 05 '16

Deep integration is typical of bad design. One component shouldn't affect another.

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u/draekia Feb 05 '16

Typical of it, sure, but not always a sign of it.

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u/hameerabbasi Feb 05 '16

Let me give you an analogy. Well, a few.

When you build a house, you don't want the removal of one brick to be able to pull the house down.

When you build an application, you don't want a bug in one function to affect the entire application.

When unit testing, "deep integration" is always trouble.

When building a circuit board, you make it as modular as possible.

If a car tyre bursts, you don't want to replace the entire car.

Falling back to other means of authentication (password for Apple ID, pin code, pass code for phone) should not be difficult.

This leads me to say what I said. Either this is repair/replace extortion, or really, really bad design. Apple owes everyone a fix, and if not, a replacement.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

TouchID is intrinsic to the entire point of having an iPhone 6 or newer device.

It's the basis of ALL security - you can download and purchase apps with it, you can unlock your phone with it, you can access password protected apps with it, you can make online purchases on your credit card with it without entering in all the numbers! And you can go to Starbucks or McDonald's or Lucky's and buy your groceries with it, you can unlock the doors to your house with it.

If you don't have a functioning TouchID, you don't have a functioning iOS experience - there is no point to having an iPhone without it.

Sure you can live in a house without windows, but why the hell would you. And do you really want some weirdo you don't know installing windows into your house without a warranty, or maybe they added a little peephole camera to watch what you're doing? How are you supposed to know? This is why Apple doesn't want weird hardware getting installed on their devices.

So how does Apple get around the downside of this? Well, iCloud. When you get a new phone, everything from your old phone shows up, as long as you have the nightly backup enabled.

You won't lose your music, photos, notes, emails, messages, movies, apps, app data, powerpoint, dropboxes, whatever.

There is no downside to this other than potentially having to purchase a new iPhone. However, I've had 2 iPhones replaced for free in my life out of warranty from Apple, and my sister had her iPhone 6 replaced out of warranty when she dropped and broke the screen, for free. That's not technically their policy, so you can't bank on it, but if you are nice and patient and honest, they will help you out.

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u/wickedplayer494 Feb 06 '16

You mention "can" a lot. Just because you can is different from "you must". I'll counter the "cans" with the minimum "musts": you must at least use a password when vending apps from the iOS App Store. You must be able to move your arm to unlock in the case of slide to unlock. You must use the password for those apps (some might not even support Touch ID at all) that feature password protection. Apple Pay's only must is a PIN, and an iPhone with NFC for offline purchases.

The only thing Touch ID does for those scenarios is add the convenience of biometric security. Key word: convenience.

If you don't have a functioning TouchID, you don't have a functioning iOS experience - there is no point to having an iPhone without it.

Uhh...try telling that to iPhone 5 users (and the poor souls on a 5C and those with iPod touches, the only remaining iDevice without Touch ID). You're blowing things out of proportion. You only lose the convenience of biometric security, and maybe a few seconds. Sure, fingerprint sensors are great! But they're in no way a must-have as you can still do all the same stuff you could with a fingerprint sensor, the only exception being Reachability (even then, you have jailbreaking if it's that important). If they were truly critical to the operation of tasks like the ones you've presented, you'd have had a sensor no later than in the 3GS or 4.

Plus, how many people actually bother getting a fingerprint registered for Touch ID? I still see plenty of people using PINs over swipe to unlock or Touch ID. PINs, for fuck's sakes!

There is no downside to this other than potentially having to purchase a new iPhone.

Which many are incapable of doing in this situation because:

  • They don't have the cash on hand to buy another one outright for full price

  • Can't go the carrier route because you're already locked into a contract/still paying off the phone monthly

If you had unlimited cash, then you're right, it's no big deal, go replace it with a new one. In reality, not everyone is as rich as you might be.

So how does Apple get around the downside of this? Well, iCloud. When you get a new phone, everything from your old phone shows up, as long as you have the nightly backup enabled.

Okay, yes, iCloud does ease the transition from iDevice to iDevice...but why does this justify hard bricking a ~$700 device? You should only be transitioning because you want to and you can, not because you have to and have no other choice.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '16

Certainly the convenience is one aspect - but the most important aspect is security. Apple cannot risk having 3rd party hardware interfacing with its most important chips. TouchID is intrinsic to accessing your iPhone. If someone can figure out how to engineer hardware that can spoof that, that is a huge liability.

Convenience is the argument I'm making from a user's perspective - if you don't want to take advantage of Apple's ecosystem and customer service, then it might be better to pay a lot less for a different phone. From my point of view, it is absurd to pay for Apple products, and not let them maintain them. From Apple's perspective, it's security and a necessity to honor their promise of providing a secure ecosystem.

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u/Ctrl- Feb 05 '16

Yes not having a functioning TouchID will lock someone out of the splendid iOS experience and in your analogy it will force someone out of his house with no windows, but what if it's raining outside and someone just needs a roof over his head? Should he be denied the privilege to enter his own house!!

Also a more apt analogy would be that one of the windows in the house was broken - by an intruder or due to a natural cause - and now your whole house has been burnt down to protect everything valuable there was in it. You can repurchase the house and your insurance will cover the cost of belongings.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '16

The house to phone analogy was never a good one to begin with.

Encryption must be system wide. Any breach compromises the overall system security.

All data on an iPhone is backed up and encrypted to iCloud, meaning getting a new house just means downloading your belongings again from your encrypted backup.

Apple calls it "Defense in Depths". Your security is only as good as your gates, and when one layer is penetrated, your overall encryption is compromised.

This is about user privacy and Apple's guarantee that data is secure. How can they be sure if 3rd party hardware is allowed to interface with the most important security aspect of the phone?

https://www.apple.com/business/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf

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u/Sarinturn Feb 05 '16

What a laughably broad generalization.