What is the worst thing that can happen when you enter a wrong passcode on your iPhone? Ask this Chinese woman who is the mother of a two-year-old.
Based in Shanghai, Lu made the mistake of leaving her iPhone with her son to watch educational videos. She ended up getting it locked for 25 million minutes, in other words, 48 years. Her child repeatedly entered wrong passcodes on the iPhone which triggered the lockdown.
“I couldn’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake,” Lu was quoted saying by South China Morning Post.
However, getting the iPhone locked out for 48 years isn’t the end of the world. Instead of waiting for decades to enter the correct iPhone passcode, things can be sorted quickly by factory resetting the device, according to the Apple Care technician whom Lu contacted after the incident happened in January.
He said there had been similar cases in the past where iPhones were disabled for up to 80 years. However, in Lu’s case, she is still figuring out a way to get her iPhone back to normal without losing her pictures and contacts.
Instead of laughing off the story, people should pay attention to the underlying issue. It can happen on any iOS-based device as they are designed to lock down for some time when someone enters an incorrect passcode multiple times. And the timer increase with every failed password attempt. It’s still unclear how many attempts were made by the toddler to escalate the timer to 25 million minutes.
So, if you have a little one in your home, you should keep your device backed up all the time. It’s not a big deal in the age of the internet. Because they won’t like you not handing over your phone whenever they want