Apple Apologizes and Updates iOS to Restore iPhones Disabled by Error 53

&gt; Apple Apologies<p>I am an Apple hater BUT I have to say very proud of the new Apple and actually saying they made a mistake and apologizes. This and the fight for security are both things as a self proclaimed Apple Hater applaud Apple for doing. Good job!

This seems like the right thing to do - disable the unauthorized Touch ID sensor, but don&#x27;t brick the phone. The secure enclave is still intact and secure, and if you want Touch ID back, you can get it repaired with authorized parts.

Anyone else get the impression that the head of PR at Apple was on vacation and returned this week to put out all the fires?<p>Seriously though, this seems like a consumer-friendly decisions, as was the iOS backdoor&#x2F;San Bernadino press release yesterday and it&#x27;s nice to see.

Nice move, it&#x27;s pretty cool of them to offer reimbursement to people who bought replacement phones in the meantime.

Some part of me believes that the old Apple that Steve Jobs was in control would have stood his ground with &quot;Error 53.&quot; The Tim Cook Apple is a lot more compassionate with respect to these sort of things.

Maybe this is a silly question, but does anyone know how secure the TouchID on the iPhone is compared to the 4 digit pin? I remember from a comment in the Android source that the android 5 face recognition is about equivalent to a 3 digit pin. Is TouchID more secure or less secure than the 4 digit pin?<p>Is it more tractable or less tractable for someone to brute-force the 4 digit pin than the TouchID? I.e. if someone wanted to get into my phone, and they removed the official TouchID sensor and now it falls back on a 4 digit pin, does that do them any good?<p>I wonder if I could get the old behaviour back - if someone was tampering with my phone by removing the sensor, is there any way of bricking the phone until I can get it to an apple store?

I am a little torn on this given there isn&#x27;t a cited source and I don&#x27;t know if Apple would give TC (or anyone) an exclusive on this. If it&#x27;s true we&#x27;re dancing in the streets though!

Wow- this is great for me. I have been sitting on iOS8 for some time now because of this.<p>I broke my screen and home button and had them replaced before I went on vacation. Luckily I had read about the error 53 issue before attempting to upgrade my jailbroken device.<p>I&#x27;m very surprised Apple would respond so well to an issue typically caused by 3rd party repairs.

Boy, lately things haven&#x27;t been going well for Apple.

&gt; This test was designed to check whether Touch ID works properly before the device leaves the factory.<p>Does that mean Error 53 stemmed from Apple having distrust in their supply chain? Interesting.

Anyone else find it suspicious that this comes the day after court order to backdoor their devices?

So they pleased users and complied with that judge order in one bat?<p>;)

Does apple make lot of money or loose lot of money on repairs? Or else they should let third party repairs.Typically for product companies it is better if they have ECO system of repairs&#x2F;service by third party so that they them selves don&#x27;t have to support for long which costs lot of money. Other than life safety devices others should allow customer who want to repair their product should be allowed.

Who actually buys the explanation that this was not intended to leave the factory?

If you have a smartphone and think you have any sort of privacy, you&#x27;re delusional

Yes, well, it probably helps to know that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commisioon (ACCC) was investigating Apple for abuse of market power over this issue.<p>The last time this occurred, it was over illegally claiming iPhones and other Apple devices were out of warranty when they weren&#x27;t, and misleading consumers that to get any form of warranty service after one year they would need to purchase an Apple extended warranty. They were not only fined millions, but were forced into printing a humiliating retraction on their website and in the press - one that basically was reported on worldwide.<p>I&#x27;m not at all surprised they backed down this quickly this time around. It&#x27;s almost certain they would have been found to have committed the offence of third line forcing, to which there are very, very steep fines.

But wait, they earlier said it was an intended security feature. Now they&#x27;re saying that it was a factory test not intended to go public?<p>New personal rule: never update the phone again... ever.