Woman unlocks iPhone 4s that had been locked for nearly 10 years
After almost 10 years of being locked due to repeated wrong password attempts, a woman in China finally unlocked her iPhone 4s and recovered videos of her deceased pet cat.
Chinese Douyin user @伊娜娜 recently shared a 40-second video of her iPhone 4s being unlocked for the first time after roughly 10 years.
Source: @伊娜娜 on Douyin
She said she used the iPhone 4s in 2015. However, after she got a new phone, her parents attempted to unlock the old one but repeatedly entered incorrect passwords, causing it to be locked, according to ETtoday News.
She revealed that the screen displayed a wait time of over 80,000 hours — roughly 10 years — after being locked. Nonetheless, since she had already gotten a new phone, she chose to store it away and didn’t give it much thought.
Successfully unlocked phone & recovered videos of late cat
As time passed, the OP remembered her old phone and, on a whim, decided to buy a charging cable to charge it.
After successfully powering it on, she was surprised to find that only 288 minutes remained before the phone could be unlocked.
Excited, she counted down to unlocking her old iPhone and even recorded the moment, which she posted on Douyin.
In a follow-up video, the OP successfully unlocked her iPhone 4s and showed a video of her late cat.
Source: @伊娜娜 on Douyin
She explained that she chose to wait for 10 years instead of resetting the phone because she didn’t want to lose the videos of her late cat stored in it. Many netizens found the gesture touching and described her as the “most devoted cat owner”.
Wait time has been shortened after release of iOS 18
Speaking to The Paper, Apple confirmed that the wait time for the lockout has been shortened after the release of iOS 18.
It highlighted that there is no longer a 10-year waiting period. The maximum wait time to unlock a phone is now 8 hours.
Currently, iPhones allow 10 attempts to enter the password. After three incorrect entries, a fourth attempt will lead to a 1-minute lockout, with subsequent wait times increasing to 5 minutes, 1 hour, and so on, with a maximum lockout of 8 hours.
If the password is entered incorrectly on the 10th attempt, the phone will be permanently locked.
Apple advises users who forgot their password to erase all the data and restore the phone after getting locked. Alternatively, they can wait until the lockout period expires if they wish to keep the data on the device.
For a solution to a permanently locked phone, the device has to be restored using a computer and the user’s account.
However, the process will result in all data on the phone being erased and irretrievable.
Also read: Man In M’sia Drops iPhone 13 In Hot Oil, Device Comes Out Unscathed
Man In M’sia Drops iPhone 13 In Hot Oil, Device Comes Out Unscathed
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Featured image adapted from @伊娜娜 on Douyin and @伊娜娜 on Douyin.
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