this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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If this is indeed a security feature I'm about to buy my first iPhone.
CalyxOS and GrapheneOS have this as a feature.
Wouldn't this make your phone reboot all night while you're sleeping?
It will only reboot once unless it is unlocked again https://grapheneos.org/features#auto-reboot
Just set the time too longer than you would be asleep. So in this screenshot above you could set it to 18 hours and most people at least that I know do not go 18 hours without unlocking their phone at least one time which would then reset the timer.
Yes. Alternatively, you can just.. power it off.
I keep mine on in case of family emergencies, it's also my alarm clock
The only solution would be to simply turn the setting off at night, or have developers add an automatic scheduling option. Of course, you can just set the timer to be longer than your sleep schedule as well, but then you miss out on security.
Iirc phone calls and alarms still work after a reboot in the lock status, it just disables biometric unlock and keeps the filesystem encrypted
Well, funny thing--I was once late for a job because my alarm didn't go off. Guess why? Yep, auto reboot. There was even a notification saying the alarm didn't go off. Very odd behaviour, but that's what happened.
Presumably it doesn't reboot unless it was already unlocked.
You can adjust the time.
Two hours seems extremely low.
On grapheneos it's a setting, 18 hours by default I believe, but adjustable from 10 minutes to 72 hours.
That seems much more reasonable. Thanks for the info.
What is the good thing about a phone rebooting?
When you input your password, then your biometrics (faceID, fingerprint, etc) become active. A restart requires you to enter that again. The police can make you put your finger on your phone or look at it, but they can't make you divulge your password without a court order.
There are have also been some exploits that are possible ONLY while the machine is booted and already in that state unlocked state, rebooting relocks all the HW encryption and clears main memory.
Law enforcement have tools to bypass lockscreens and access the data on the device. They use backdoors and exploits, so older phones are more vulnerable. Most exploits only work if the phone has been unlocked at some point since it was booted.
This is why law enforcement keep them powered-on, and in a faraday cage. They are in a state with a better chance of unlock, but have no signal so nobody can remotely find/lock/wipe it.