How To Protect Your iPhone Or iPad From The iOS Date Bricking Bug

We told you earlier today of a new iOS bug that has the potential to not just brick an iPhone or iPad, but also brick it in such a way that the only way to get it back up and running again is to bite the bullet and make a Genius Bar appointment with Apple. The iOS date brick bug in question, which requires a very specific setting of the device’s date in order to be triggered, only appears to be affecting iOS devices running Apple’s 64-bit CPUs. That means any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch device with the A7, A8, A8X, A9, or A9X chipset is at risk.

While Apple will no doubt set about fixing this in its next iOS release – iOS 9.3 is heavily rumored for release during Apple’s March event – those with jailbroken devices don’t need to wait that long. While it’s unlikely that this bug will affect anyone during the normal course of their day, it’s possible that anyone with malicious intent and access to a device could cause quite a bit of damage. For that reason, it’s worth taking all available precautions.

Date-bug-brick

Right now, the only precaution we can offer is to install the BrickingDate tweak if your iPhone or iPad is jailbroken. A free download from Cydia, BrickingDate will plug the hole through which this new bug has crept, leaving you free to go about your day.

If you do want to download BrickingDate, then you’ll need to add the developer’s repository to Cydia. To do so, launch Cydia, switch to the Sources tab, hit Edit followed by Add, enter the address repo.ziph0n.com in the dialog box that appears and tap Add Source. Once that’s done, search for BrickingDate and download the tweak, safe in the knowledge that nobody is going to permanently brick your device, no matter how hard they try.

Well, not using this new date-based method, anyway, unless they think to look through Cydia for the tweak and remove it.

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