Law enforcement aren't happy with Apple's new secret security layer for iPhone

Apple has rolled out a new security feature within iOS 18.1 that automatically reboots an iPhone if it is left inactive for a period of time, and the new feature is a real concern to law enforcement.

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Reports indicate that law enforcement officials believed Apple rolled out a new update that enables iPhones to communicate between devices and switch each other off. However, that certainly isn't the case, and the reports of randomly rebooting iPhones can be traced back to an addition Apple made in iOS 18.1. According to security researcher Jiska Classen, iOS 18.1 added a security feature called "Inactivity Reboot," which automatically reboots the device after four days of inactivity.

Law enforcement has found this new feature particularly annoying as many iPhones are stored for evidence for extended periods of time before they are broken into for evidence. After an iPhone performs a reboot, it enters into what is called the Before First Unlock (BFU) state, which, according to reports, is a state that makes it much more difficult to unlock the device than After First Unlock.

It's likely Apple's intentions with this new security addition weren't to thwart police investigations, but to add another layer of security to devices that get stolen from their owners.

"Remember that the real threat here is not police. It's the kind of people who will steal your iPhone for malign purposes. This feature means that if your phone gets stolen, the thieves can't nurse it along for months until they develop the tech to crack it. I would bet that rebooting after a reasonable inactivity period probably doesn't inconvenience anyone, but does make your phone a lot more secure. So it seems like a pretty good idea," said Matthew Green, a cryptographer and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University to 404 Media