One security feature a user could potentially find annoying is being locked out of an iPhone after a friend or family member entered multiple failed passcode attempts. In a case in China, a mother is furious after her toddler managed to lock her iPhone for 47 years.
The South Morning China Post reports that a mother gave her toddler her iPhone to watch educational videos. However, one day she came home to her phone being locked up for 25 million minutes, which roughly equates to 47 years. As expected, every time an incorrect passcode was entered, the phone would lock up and force you to wait longer each time.
The Apple Store in Shanghai recommended the mother to either wait out the 47 years, or wipe the phone clean and start from scratch. It is unknown whether or not she had a backup on either iTunes or iCloud.
The Apple Store technician, Wei Chunlong, said that he’s seen cases where the phone is locked up for 80 years. Unfortunately, Chunlong says that in this specific case, the mother will have to wipe the phone and start from fresh if she doesn’t want to wait.
“In this woman’s case, the only way out [without waiting] is to erase all the phone data and do a factory reset.”
The incident happened in early January, and the mother, identified only by her last name, Lu, is still waiting to figure out her options.
“I couldn’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake.”
Let this be a lesson for everyone, not just parents handing their phone to their children to play with. Make sure to back up your phone to iCloud or do regular iTunes backups. This entire situation could have been easily resolved by a backup and restore.
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