I was not going to write about iOS 7 this week. Every single tech blog on the internet has already told you about the flat icons, the parallax wallpaper thing that makes some people seasick, and the lines outside every Apple Store on Friday for the 5s and 5c. I walked past the one on my way to work that morning and the line went halfway down the block. Didn't even slow down to look, honestly. I've had my fill of hearing about a gold phone.
But there's one specific thing about iOS 7 I do want to talk about, because I tried it myself last night and it actually works, and it's kind of a big deal if you use a passcode on your phone (which, full disclosure, I mostly don't, because I've never once had it stolen and I'm lazy, in that order).
There's a bug going around right now that gets you past the lock screen entirely, no passcode needed, straight into someone's photos, with the ability to email one out or tweet it from there. It's been floating around since Thursday and it's all over Forbes and The Verge as of today. Here's how it works, step by step, because a description alone doesn't really do it justice:
- On the lock screen, swipe up to bring up Control Center.
- Tap the clock icon to open the Clock app, right from the lock screen.
- Hold the power button until the red "slide to power off" bar shows up.
- Don't slide it. Tap Cancel instead.
- Double-click the home button like you're bringing up the app switcher.
That's it. The camera just pops open, unlocked, with full access to whatever's already in the camera roll, plus the share sheet sitting right there. I tried it on my own phone around 11pm last night, sitting on the couch, half expecting it not to work because most "iOS bugs" that go around Twitter turn out to be nothing. It worked on the second try. Maybe fifteen seconds once I had the steps memorized.
Apple's apparently already said they're working on a fix, which is good, but it bugs me a little that this shipped at all. iOS 7 was a total rebuild of the interface, so sure, QA probably had a lot on its plate this cycle. But a passcode bypass isn't some obscure edge case, it's the entire point of having a passcode in the first place. Somebody's ex with thirty seconds of physical access at a party is exactly the scenario this is built for.
Until Apple pushes a real fix, the workaround is just to turn off Control Center from the lock screen. It's in Settings, under Control Center, a toggle called "Access on Lock Screen." Flip that off and the whole thing falls apart at step one. I did it last night too, though it does mean I can't get to the flashlight without unlocking the phone now, which is a genuinely annoying tradeoff for a feature I use constantly when I'm digging around the floor of the car for my keys.
Completely unrelated: my roommate has not really left the apartment since Tuesday because of Grand Theft Auto V. I walked into the living room to go test the lock screen thing and he was three hours into some heist mission and didn't even turn his head. I've never seen anyone care this much about a video game, and I say that as someone who once stayed up until 4am for a Zelda game back in college. Different scale entirely, apparently.
If you updated to iOS 7 in the last few days, which if you have an iPhone you almost certainly did, go flip that Control Center toggle off until this gets patched. Takes about ten seconds and it beats someone flipping through your camera roll at a party while you're getting another drink.