{"id":1316,"date":"2019-04-06T19:33:35","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T19:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/?p=1316"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T17:00:00","slug":"Do-NOT-Set-Your-iPhone-Clock-Back-to-1970---It-Will-Break-Your-Phone---Hoax-Slayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syyhoaxanalyzer.com\/?p=1316","title":{"rendered":"Do NOT Set Your iPhone Clock Back to 1970 – It Will Break Your Phone – Hoax-Slayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you follow the instructions contained in a \u00a0nasty hoax message currently circulating via social media and online forums, you could render your iPhone unusable. The message claims that you can activate an ‘easter egg’ by changing the date on your iPhone to January 1st, 1970 and then rebooting the device. Supposedly, the easter egg will allow you to ‘warp back in time \u00a0with a classic Macintosh theme to relive the magic’.<\/p>\n

However, changing to the specified date as instructed will in fact ‘brick’ your iPhone. Your phone will not restart and you will not be able to restore via the normal method using iTunes. \u00a0You will likely \u00a0have to take the phone to an Apple store for repair.<\/p>\n

Why does this happen? \u00a0It’s a little complex but a post on Apple support communities explains it thusly<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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We’re not sure why it happens, but it’s related to the fact that iOS is a Unix based system, and Unix time starts at 0:0:0 UTC on January 1, 1970. All time is saved as seconds since that date-time, and converted as needed for human understanding. (Negative seconds refers to time before that date and time, and works back to 1904, but apparently Apple didn’t include earlier dates because they didn’t think you would ever take your iPhone with you in a time machine.) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to Business Insider<\/a>, the hoax message may have originally come from the notorious troll forum \u00a04Chan. Since then, it has been passed around via Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets and has apparently tricked a lot of people into breaking their iPhones. \u00a0The bug reportedly \u00a0affects devices<\/a> running 64-bit iOS including iPhone 5S, iPad Mini 2, \u00a0iPad Air, and newer versions.<\/p>\n

What to do if you have \u00a0been caught out by this trick and bricked your phone? \u00a0While some people have \u00a0reported that you can fix the problem yourself by attempting to restore \u00a0in \u00a0DFU mode as described here<\/a>, other have said that this fix did not work for them. The procedure is apparently \u00a0fairly tricky to achieve and must be done exactly right to work. Also, this procedure will wipe all of the data on your phone.<\/p>\n

Others have suggested that opening the phone up and disconnecting and reconnecting the battery will fix the problem. \u00a0However, this is not good advice as doing so \u00a0will likely void your device \u00a0warranty and you could even do further damage if you don’t know what your are \u00a0doing. The best option is probably to take the phone to an Apple store.<\/p>\n

If you have friends or family members that use iPhones, make sure that they are aware of this hoax and do not inadvertently break their devices.<\/p>\n