Hmmmm. Is there a moral here? Here is the story:

Well, that’s one way to beat a smartphone addiction.

The South China Morning Post reports a Shanghai mom is locked out of her iPhone for the next 47 years after her 2-year-old son repeatedly entered the wrong passcode. The mom, identified only as Lu, gave her son the phone to watch educational videos online.

When she got it back, the phone bore a notification reading “iPhone is disabled, try again in 25,114,984 minutes,” according to the Global Times. Apparently the lockout time increased every time the toddler entered the wrong passcode.

A technician at an Apple Store in Shanghai told Lu she had two options: do a factory reset on her iPhone and lose all her files or wait the 47 years until she can use it again.

“I can’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake,” the Straits Times quotes Lu as saying. Regardless, she’s apparently found herself unable to go through with the factory reset and is now two months into her long wait for the phone to unlock.

The Apple Store technician says Lu’s case is nothing; he’s seen iPhones locked for over 80 years.

Droid!!!!

Flame suit on!

Stupid twice, heh?

If I get the time machine working again, I can use it to go copy data in the future and bring it back.

For that matter, I could use it to find out if I got it working again...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
If I get the time machine working again, I can use it to go copy data in the future and bring it back.

For that matter, I could use it to find out if I got it working again...

'
'
Now my head hurts.

One would think that Apple would have some sort of workaround for this, or put in some limit to the lockdown timer.

Is that really how iphones work? How could anyone think that kind of lockout timer would be a good idea?

I do not understand why people don’t use cloud services to keep their phones backed up. If Ms. Lu had iCloud backup turned on, she could just do the reset, restore the phone, and be done with it.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
I do not understand why people don’t use cloud services to keep their phones backed up. If Ms. Lu had iCloud backup turned on, she could just do the reset, restore the phone, and be done with it.

If she's in China she probably can't use icloud due to government restrictions.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
I do not understand why people don’t use cloud services to keep their phones backed up. If Ms. Lu had iCloud backup turned on, she could just do the reset, restore the phone, and be done with it.

She has so many pix of her and her boyfriend, that she doesn't want her husband to see.
ICloud backup would be fatal, for her

My Old iPhone 4 I keep around with internet, phone and texting disabled and just games so my kids can play it. They managed to lock it for 10,000 minutes. When I explained that was a week of no games they agreed to not to try and unlock it without permission.

I've only ever seen one lock out for 60 minutes.

Tabitha locked hers down for 15 when she forgot her "easy to remember" passcode.

I think on Android, the max lockout limit is 4 hours. Apple needs to do something similar.

Another reason NOT to buy an iPhone.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
Is that really how iphones work? How could anyone think that kind of lockout timer would be a good idea?

No, it's not how iPhones work.

Well, don't keep me in suspense. How do they really work then?