Last week, it was discovered that setting your iOS device system date and time back to January 1st 1970 would crashyour iPhone, iPad or iPod touch effectively bricking it.Setting the dateback this far would prevent the iPhoneor other iOS device frombooting up until the battery died.
AppleCare has been flooded with people bringing in their devices after trying out this bug… Now, Apple has officially acknowledged the problem on its Apple Support website. The company says it will release an upcoming softwareupdate to prevent this issue from affecting iOS devices in the future.
Apple’s comment on the situation is short, but it claims that the bug can cause iPhone crashing with any date before May 1970.
Manually changing the date to May 1970 or earlier can prevent your iOS device from turning on after a restart.
The new page suggests anyone affectedby the problem should contact Apple Support for assistance. We have heardmixed signals from readers regarding support. Some people have been able to get full device replacements at the Genius Bar on the back off this bug, whereas others have been turned away.
We have also heard that this bug has causeda big headache for Apple Store employees in the past week, as people intentionally set the date back on demoiPhones and iPads in retail stores to break the products on thebenches.
It isn’t clear what Apple means by an ‘upcoming software update’, whether it will wait until iOS 9.3 (expected to be released in March with a host of new features) or push an earlier OTA bug-fix release like iOS 9.2.2 to resolve the date bricking problemsooner.
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AeronPeryton - 8 years agoLog in to Reply
Absolute idiots, “trying it out” on their own devices. Please make those people pay for service.
- Stefan Balan - 8 years ago
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You are the absolute idiot, for defending apple for this HUGE mistake! Yes! It is an unforgivable slip! Nothing that the user does, with their finger! on the screen! using apple’s own interface! should render a phone unusable! Nothing! That’s what design rules dictate! Apple just F-ed up! Again! Big time!
- Doug Aalseth - 8 years ago
Dude, not so harsh. There’s an old saying in software development (though it predates the field), that nothing is idiot proof because idiots are so damn clever. Where I work we build specialized systems. We write the software. We build the hardware. We control everything. Despite that, and how our stuff is a million times smaller than the iOS universe, we still find bugs. Bugs that make us wonder “why the hell would somebody do that” Bugs that make no sense. Remember the bug from a year or so ago where if your phone saw a particular nonsense text written in Arabic it would cause problems? How did someone even find that? Look at all the major software companies, Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Ubisoft, everyone. They all run into these weird bugs. That’s why patches come out so often. Manyof them are of the “Why would anyone do that?” variety.
Software is so complex that these kind of weird things will crop up. The debugging tools and protocols get better and better, but they aren’t perfect. So chill. If you want to vent at someone, go after Adobe for the Creative Cloud bug that deletes the first hidden folder on your drive after you update and log in. THAT should have been found in testing. This just an annoyance and to be honest I’ve seen more than a few reports that all you have to do to fix it is let the battery run out so it does a cold restart, then the date will reset. If that’s the case then it really is a tempest in a teapot.
- cdm283813 - 8 years ago
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“AppleCare has been flooded with people bringing in their devices after trying out this bug”
I’m speechless! Are people that dumb to waste their money and time?
- William D - 8 years ago
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They’re not dumb if they want a nice clean looking phone etc to re-sell or something. It’s not morally right, but it’s exploiting the stupidity of Apple to have introduced an end-user-facing feature kill a phone! (and no, i havent done this!). Apple cant refuse the user help though Why shouldn’t you be able to set it at the time you want to? It’s not fit for the purpose for which it’s sold if they barred help, and would cause them more legal headaches.
- cdm283813 - 8 years ago
So if a gun manufacturer tells you that their safety is defective are you going to pull the trigger on a loaded gun at your head?
- Dino Arturo Celotti (@dinocelotti) - 8 years ago
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Why is Apple even bothering. Let the idiots keep their bricked phone. “Apple’s warranty does not cover damage caused by stupidity. It’s not 1970, it never will be again. Leave the date alone!”
- JBDragon - 8 years ago
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See AlsoOn this day in 1997, Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple, saved it from bankruptcyApple's Success Story: From being Defunct to being the First Trillion Dollar Company - Blog | KnowbandApple Reports Fourth Quarter ResultsHistory of Apple Inc./Progress in the 1990s - Wikibooks, open books for an open worldHow dumb do you have to be when told doing this, that’ll it’ll brick your phone and you try it anyway???? You really have to be a complete idiot!!!
There is ZERO reason to set your phone date way back in time. None at all.- Kauan (@Wheeeezard) - 8 years ago
A lot of people fell for this: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/02/13/21/312D91CB00000578-3445945-This_prank-a-39_1455399528887.jpg
- vidhya360 - 8 years ago
i try this trick on my phone and go to apple service center, they just open my phone unplug phone battery socket and phone working , read my full story at my website vidhya360
- Doug Aalseth - 8 years ago
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I’m not sure what is more annoying. That Apple is dealing with this
“as people intentionally set the date back on demo iPhones and iPads in retail stores to break the products”
or the inevitable discussion of “Dategate” and the following lawsuit from slime ball attorneys looking for a payoff.
- Lawrence Krupp - 8 years ago
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Yep, there is a long discussion thread on Apple’s forums but at least most users are admitting they “stupidly” tried the “trick”and bricked their phones. One moron even wrote that he “heard” that if you did this your iPhone would do something “cool.”
There is no hope for the human race.
- Robert Wood - 8 years ago
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Knowing this bug exists, why would you try out on your iphone to brick it ? Like little kid. They do exactly not told to do than get hurt and cry. World clock moves forward so we will never going back to 1970 to live set iphone dated back unless one has time travel.
- Ahmed Mohamed - 8 years ago
Don’t eat from that tree, Adam
- Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago
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If the device is covered under AppleCare, and the user has a backup, why wouldn’t you try to reproduce it?
- pecospeet - 8 years ago
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Maybe a smart person would understand that bricking an iPhone is final. People who try this out intentionally to see if it really works deserve to enjoy a bricked phone or pay to have it replaced.
It’s entirely your call whether you want to try something like this with your phone, but don’t expect me to sympathise and don’t expect me to fund your replacement phone through higher prices on my Apple purchases.
- pdixon1986 - 8 years ago
It’s no final… the phone just needs time to figure out the really long equation… put it on a cool pad and leave it for about 5 hours — it will figure the date out…
alternatively, if you know what you are doing, you can opening it up and disconnect the battery and then reconnect – this resets the device.
- Matt Rittman - 8 years ago
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Here’s one instance… Say your home button on your new iPhone 6s has become loose for no apparent reason, and you take it into the Apple Store to have it fixed. Apple doesn’t fix it and blame it on the user. Well that’s a load of crap if their quality assurance has gone down hill and can’t fix something simple like this.
…So then the user decides to brick their phone using this date method in “hopes” to get a new device.
- William D - 8 years ago
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And i cant see how Apple could legally tell them they cant have a working phone back.
It’d give them more legal troubles to refuse a warranty request for something that is an end-user-function. The date function is supposed to be able to be set to the user’s specifications.
- pdixon1986 - 8 years ago
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If the home button is defective – they will fix it…
If you drop the phone and the button comes loose – they will fix it at your expense…after all, you broke it.
If a software update messes up your phone, or accessing the app store messes up your phone — they will fix or replace it.
If you end up messing with your phone and putting it to a date that makes no sense and you dont need to — then you are to blame and apple doesnt have to replace anything…technically they just need to pop it open and disconnect the battery and then reconnect – no new phone needed…
People just need to be more careful with their devices etc…
I saw this and thought “that’s too much effort”… then when i heard it bricks the phone – i definitely didnt feel the need to try.
- ctpide - 8 years ago
What if next time turning on Airplane Mode causes the same behaviour or maybe turning the year back to 2014 does the trick ? Are you going to claim it’s the users fault as well for – after all – you should have known? This doesn’t make any sense – you are not messing with the phone – you are using it. If my car stops working tomorrow because of some software bug, of course I will expect the manufacturer to fix it. What if Apple decides to “accidentally” introduce a software bug in the future that bricks all phones just after their warranty expires? Yes, it’s not going to happen, but if your device under warranty fails to operate under normal usage conditions – then that’s what the warranty is for … and yes, changing the date is a normal usage condition. Maybe, I am in marketing and wanted to take a screenshot for my advertisem*nt campaign with the date set to 1970 … the functionality is there – it is supported – if Apple doesn’t want users to do this – then don’t include it into your software …
- pdixon1986 - 8 years ago
I think you totally missed the point — IF apple introduce a bug that affect normal behavior of the device, then they are at fault…
If it is a bug that would in fact go un known, and probably has for years and it is triggered by improper use of the device — they should not be ‘fully’ responsible…In this case, resetting your phone to 1970 is not something that anyone has required and something that nobody has ever done…
the fact to brick the phone you have to go through many processes, including turning it on and off (something you don’t need to do after resetting the date) means that you are using your device in a strange way…As for your claim of setting your iphone to 1970 for advertising — that is not proper use as you would need special permission from apple to use it in advertising…
Normal use means, what normal people do — given that normal people havent done this before and it was discovered by accident by a developer messing around with his phone to resolve a different bug (clearly showing the bug was discovered by non-normal use) then anyone choosing to set their device to 1970 based on some bogus claim is just falling for a prank…
essentially it’s not even a bug — it’s a binary thing that most developers didnt even think about because there was no need to… at least apple now knows there are stupid people out there…
It is things like this that makes the rest of us suffer — “i didnt know that putting a plastic bag over my head would suffocate me” –> warning labels on bags.
- Brian Ramage (@BJMRamage) - 8 years ago
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Yes it does seem like a stupid thing for people to knowingly try this BrickDate deal.
BUT, i could see plenty of naive people hear that setting the iPhone to 1970 would give the rainbow logo or make it look like the Apple II let alone there not being the company or computer back in 1970 but that it was a neat Apple Easter Egg.
- pdixon1986 - 8 years ago
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If apple were going to do an easter egg, 1976 would be a more plausible date.
But you could argue, if someone told you that eating a spoonful of cinnamon will make you really smart for an hour, and people do and choke to death — who is held responsible – the company who made the cinnamon? surely they knew about the effect.
- ctpide - 8 years ago
Have you ever noticed the “Warning” labels on coffee ? Just one example, where the company was held responsible … Why do you think all those electronics come with handbooks? They explain how to use them … and if your product has the functionality to change dates – then you bloody well have to be liable for breaking the product upon using that feature. Otherwise, Apple doesn’t have to be liable for anything and we may as well forget about the whole warranty thing…
- pdixon1986 - 8 years ago
Most people don’t read manuals…
most products require common sense…
In this case – “oh look… doing this bricks your phone… hmmm… i will get others to do it”…
Even when people know about the problem they try it…
Some even go have fun in the Apple store…I can understand at the very start — but people are still doing it.
- b9bot - 8 years ago
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There is another fix which is quite simple if you were dumb enough to actually do this to your phone. Go to your nearest Apple store Genius bar and they can fix it for you. Depending upon there work load a couple of hours max to wait for it. But all your data and such should be intact and it should work like before.
Looks like a software fix is also on the way so nobody else will do this to there phones later. - suptweet - 8 years ago
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The flip side of the “stupid” (as is ubiquitous in postings on “victims” of the 1970 date bug) is cynical. Walking into an Apple Store and activating it on display devices or doing so on one’s own in hopes of hustling a newer phone is crap, too. Apple seems to be handling the problem well, haven’t heard any quote from T Cook on “those frickin’ morons”. I think we’ll see fix by the weekend. If for nothing else than the humiliation of the bricked phones (and pads?) in the shops.
- Baznicholson (@barrynicholson6) - 8 years ago
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clowns why would you want to try this out knowing your phone is going to get goosed by this bug? unless your phone is playing up anyway and your going to try a fast one over ????
- Bryant Williams (@BryantWms) - 8 years ago
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It’s a very dumb move to do this when you know it will cause problems. As a Genius this is not a whole unit swap. The battery has to be reseat, which is basically a SMC reset on a mac.
- pdixon1986 - 8 years ago
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a quick fix of just limiting how far back you can set the date would solve the problem…
But apple shouldnt be held responsible… they probably thought, just like most people, that no-one will set their phone to january 1st 1970 because there is no need to… iphone has been around for years yet this is the first time it’s cropped up…
It is also something that requires many steps and a fair bit of effort to trigger the bug…people also need to find better things to do in their lives…
as for the store — anyone found intentionally trying to brick a store phone should be held responsible — just like some shops have the “you break you buy” signs… accidents can happen, but setting the date back to 1970 for no apparent reason is not an accident.
- spanky2112 - 8 years ago
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iPhones can have their battery unplugged which will reset the date. iPads however are a different story. The device is sealed and can’t be opened. At least not by Apple.
So if you bricked your scuffed up Iphone hoping to have Apple swap it out, you’re SOL.
- Andy Brooks - 8 years ago
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Why does an iPhone even have or need the ability to roll the date back that far? It makes no sense.
- Sudev Gandhi - 8 years ago
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Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
- Akhtar Fernendez - 8 years ago
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If you want to read further…
Bug from the past, Setting your iPhone date back to Jan 1, 1970. Would kill it ! We mean it.
http://www.thediverge.com/setting-your-iphone-to-jan-1-1970-would-kill-it-we-mean-it-28555 - Percelle Dunken - 8 years ago
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There is a post on Facebook tricking people into bricking their phones.
- vidhya360 - 8 years ago
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i try this trick on my phone and go to apple service center, they just open my phone unplug phone battery socket and phone working , read my full story at my website vidhya360
- Bjorleif Blank - 8 years ago
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Apple at its best – changing to the “wrong” date renders a device inoperable. Ref holding the phone at the “wrong” place breaks the call off, etc.
vidhya360 - 8 years ago
Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago
pecospeet - 8 years ago
ctpide - 8 years ago
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Benjamin Mayobzamayo
Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.
