A Danish hobbyist, who is earning a bit of side-money with repairing iPhones, has noticed iPhones running iOS 9 get bricked after replacing the Touch ID button. In iTunes, the iPhones throw error 53.
Morten Jensen, owner of repair-shop iPhoneTech.dk, has noticed that iPhones running iOS 9 and sporting a Touch ID-button (the one with the fingerprint-scanner) get bricked after replacing said button. This little trick has started showing up in iOS 9.
“I could repair almost anything. Typically screens and buttons, because that’s what people touch and break” says Morten Jensen. “The new software simply scans if the original hardware is found in the phone. If it doesn’t, iTunes will throw “error 53″, when it updates to the newest software”
The result is, that customers will have to go to official shops (Apple Premium Resellers in most cities, Apple Stores in some) to get their phone replaced through an expensive program. A lot more expensive than letting it get repaired in one of the many shops throughout the country.
Morten is convinced this is a trick from Apple to kill all unofficial shops and force customers to their own shops (or APRs). “It would be the same if you had to get your bike fixed at the shop you bought it, instead of any other shop in your city” says Morten.
When I read the original article (Danish!), my first thought was that it had to do with security. If you buy a (non-)OEM Touch-ID button on for example eBay, you don’t know what has been done with it. Users must not forget that it has a fingerprint-scanner built in, which, well, scans your fingerprint to use from simple tasks like logging in, to transfer money (some banks have started to support Touch ID in their apps). If you buy a button or let a button be replaced through unofficial channels, you’ll never be sure about what has been done with the hardware. As far as you know, they have built in a small backdoor, making it possible to catch and send your fingerprint before it gets encrypted and stored in Apples digital safe on each device.
So in short: I don’t believe Apple has gone out of its way to shut down unofficial repair-shops like Morten’s, but I think Apple has built in an extra security to prevent people’s fingerprints to leak. I have reached out to Apple, but have not yet received an answer. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!