Date

This tweak protects your iPhone from the “January 1, 1970” bug

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 16, 2016

A recent bug discovered in the iOS firmware where setting your date back to a certain point in time could brick your device has been getting quite the coverage all across the internet as of late.

With so many people now having knowledge of the problem, the risk has never been greater than it is right now that someone with malicious intent could grab your iPhone while you're not looking and set your date back to the dangerous date to brick your device on you.

Fortunately, a new free jailbreak tweak called BrickDate is available in Cydia that can protect you from having your date changed to the dangerous date.

Apple promises a fix for iPhone bricking stemming from date and time bug

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 15, 2016

A newly published support document from Apple, which was first discovered by German blog Apfelpage.de, has acknowledged an issue where any 64-bit iPhone could be bricked by setting the date back to a specific time, causing it to fail to boot properly and requiring a physical repair to put the device back into working order.

According to the document, a permanent fix for the problem will be released as part of a future software update. Meanwhile, the affected iPhone owners are advised to contact Apple Support.

Don’t try this at home: iPhones apparently getting bricked after date is set back to a specific time

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

According to a post on Reddit and reports out of China, it is possible to brick an iPhone by setting the date back to a specific time.

I wasn't brave enough to test it myself, but the post claims the bug only affects 64-bit iOS devices.

It would seem that changing the device's Date & Time values to a specific point in time would cause it to fail to boot properly.

Basically, it gets bricked and stuck at the Apple logo boot image. Neither DFU mode nor restoring from a backup would bring a bricked device back to life as a physical repair is required to put it back into working order.

Apple investigating iPhone 6s battery percentage issue, offers temporary fix

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 18, 2016

Has the battery percentage indicator been acting up lately on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus? If so, you're not alone: this is a known issue, according to Apple's newly published support document.

“If you change the time on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus manually or change time zones when traveling, you might notice that the battery percentage doesn’t update,” reads the document.

Apple is aware of the problem and working hard to deliver a permanent fix.