Skip to main content

Apple USB Restricted mode can be bypassed with a simple $39 accessory

iphone x lightning port
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

It looks like Apple’s engineers may be going back to the drawing board, as it now seems the much lauded USB Restricted mode, created to thwart efforts to break into a locked iPhone, is able to be circumvented by a simple $39 accessory.

Recommended Videos

Introduced in iOS 11.4.1, USB Restricted mode kicks in automatically an hour after an iPhone was last unlocked, and disables all data connectivity of the Lightning port until the device is unlocked by a user, or by a trusted device. The mode was created to combat devices like the Graykey, which is used by law enforcement and other agencies to unlock iPhones. The introduction of USB Restricted mode means that these sorts of agencies now have an hour at most to unlock an iPhone, before it essentially becomes a chargeable brick. An hour isn’t a lot of time in law enforcement, and it was thought that this measure would effectively close Apple’s iPhone off entirely.

Apparently not. According to a series of tests by Elcomsoft Blog, while USB Restricted mode persists through restarts and software resets, and has so far proven invulnerable, the timer that engages Restricted mode can be paused by connecting a simple Lightning accessory. While the blog admits that tests are not yet complete, it seems that inserting Apple’s own Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter pauses the countdown, allowing agents the chance to unlock an iPhone through existing methods.

How does it work? If you imagine USB Restricted mode as a large and sturdy door, then inserting the camera adaptor essentially works as a doorstop, holding the door open. Because the accessory is otherwise engaging the Lightning port, USB Restricted mode apparently will not start the timer until the accessory has been removed.

However, like a doorstop, attaching the accessory after the hour has already passed does nothing to halt the process, just in the same way you can’t use a doorstop to open a locked door. What this basically means is that a seized iPhone simply has to be attached to an accessory, like the camera adaptor, in order to halt the hour timer on Restricted mode, effectively rendering Apple’s security pointless.

We have reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.

Mark Jansen
Former Mobile Evergreen Editor
Mark Jansen is an avid follower of everything that beeps, bloops, or makes pretty lights. He has a degree in Ancient &…
Apple could finally fix Siri on iPhones with help from Google’s Gemini
Gemini Live on an iPhone.

“Find me a decent coffee shop where I can sit and get work done?” I uttered into my iPhone’s mic. 

“I’ll need to use ChatGPT to write that.” That was Siri’s response in my interaction with Apple’s voice assistant just over a week ago. Google’s Gemini assistant helped me the way I expected it to. 

Read more
My main computer is an M4 iPad Pro, but a 2021 iPad still surprises me
Rear shell of 2021 iPad Pro.

This might sound controversially ridiculous, but for the past few years, my primary computer has been an iPad Pro. I first got interested in pushing tablets this way when the M1 version came out, and I’ve kept using them all the way up to the newest M4-powered model. 

A few weeks ago, I went back to my M1 iPad Pro to see how well it handles next-gen apps that are pushing the boundaries of graphics and AI on a mobile device. So, the big question is whether the four-year-old slate can still serve as a reliable workhorse in 2025?

Read more
Apple Intelligence is coming to the Apple Watch in a limited capacity
A person wearing the Apple Watch SE 2.

In his most recent Power On newsletter, Apple insider Mark Gurman says the Apple Watch won't be receiving onboard Apple Intelligence, but it will still get useful features that are powered by AI. While the Apple Watch isn't receiving a major overhaul, Gurman says it will get some new interface elements and give users a "smaller taste of the big shifts underway at Apple."

These upcoming changes will be announced in more detail at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC). Gurman says the two main subjects of the June event will be Apple Intelligence and something called Solarium, the internal name for a new design language Apple plans to implement for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

Read more