The Guardian reported this morning that thousands of iPhone users have had their phones bricked by ‘error 53’.
In short, ‘error 53’ is a security measure that was released with iOS 9 last year that bricks iPhones if the TouchID is replaced by a third party. The idea is that a stolen iPhone can’t be accessed by a replaced TouchID, thus ‘securing’ the user's data: the phone is rendered unusable and can’t be saved . But, of course, this also affects consumers who turn to third parties to repair their smartphones, instead of going directly to
And, unfortunately, this information wasn’t made readily available by Apple to iOS 9 upgraders. Unsurprisingly this has led to a growing consumer backlash after customers are getting screen repairs and finding that their devices are unusable. Consumers have voiced their concerns, although it’s hard to quantify exactly how many people have been affected by it. There are countless forum posts on the topic and the Guardian claims thousands have seen the error, which I assume is based on the fact that iFixit’s blog on security measure received 183,000 hits.
However the error 53 issue has been circulating for months, as more and more third-party repaired iPhones upgrade to iOS 9.
What’s interesting is how few people are actually aware of the fact that getting a third party to carry out repairs or to replace iPhone parts will void the warranty. It’s certainly not made clear in the documentation that comes with the device. Instead, the ‘iPhone info’ sheet, that’s bundled with the handset points towards Apple’s legal warranty webpage, which clearly states: “damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider ("AASP")”.
Things become slightly more ambiguous when it comes the iOS 9 error. From what I can see, the only information from Apple that alludes to security changes in the TouchID is in the iOS 9 download information, which has a quick note about improved Touch ID security. There’s nothing that says fiddling with the TouchID will break the unique identifier and renders the phone useless.
A fairly significant change in software could brick your expensive iPhone, and Apple has done little to warn users about it. Why? You could argue that Apple is making it harder for third party repair shops to operate on one of the world’s most popular devices, whilst maintaining as much control over its range of smartphones. Or perhaps this is simply a logical security upgrade that only affects people who don’t read the warranty. A combination of both is likely, coupled with fact that Apple likes to maintain as much control over its products as possible.
In any case, if thousands have been affected, then Apple clearly needs to make it clear that upgrading to iOS 9 could completely (and somewhat unnecessarily) brick your device. This is especially true for the second-hand market, where it’s not always clear for a buyer if their phone has undergone third-party repairs - leaving bargain-hunting consumers out of pocket. Which, as months go on, could become a growing problem that Apple can’t ignore.
