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3rd-party Lightning cable providers bypass iOS 7 check in new MFI Cat and Mouse game

We were the first to report that iOS7 notifies users that they were using non-certified 3rd party Lightning cables in iPhones and likely iPads and iPods as well. Apple currently still allows these cables to charge and sync data with iOS devices but if Apple can detect these cables, that means they could also disable iOS 7 from using these cables in a future version of iOS.

One third party company called iPhone5mod (coincidentally, the company that made the cable used to demonstrate iOS7 warnings in the images here) says it has a way around Apple’s warnings and theoretically around detection at all…

The company claims:

We have cracked chips that bypass iOS 7 authentication functions

They might have made a big mistake by tipping their hand here however. Apple could patch the software to detect their cables in the future betas and even more likely in the final release now that the technology is out there. Apple is clearly intent on cleaning up the space and the companies that purchased MFI licenses from Apple have to be upset that the market is flooded with cheap non-licensed cables starting at $2/ea.

(This is why jailbreaks aren’t released for betas. Apple can simply patch around this in beta 2 or beta 3 and their cables could become useless.)

Whether you want Apple-certified MFI Lightning cables or very inexpensive copies, you can find the best Lightning cable deals at 9to5Toys.com

Thanks, Matthew! 

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

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