iOS devices have been hard locked into an unusable state when users set the date to January 1, 1970. It causes the iOS device to be not be able to turn on. Apple says that they have been working on a fix for this. However, until then, here's potentially why this happens, according to Tom Scott. January 1, 1970 is 0 in Unix Time. I could go on and on about how Unix Time works, but I won't because it's just that complicated. iOS handles this by changing the negative integer to the maximum value, also known as an integer underflow. Fun fact: this maximum value is about 20 times longer than the universe is expected to last. A number this big on a 64-bit operating system would basically crash the phone during boot up. Anyways, Apple is working on a fix to this. How they'll push an update to phones that can't boot? I have no idea. Apple asks that you contact support if you're affected.
Comments
Post a Comment