The 35-second YouTube video clip, called “iPhone Unlock Without Passcode Glitch”, has been viewed over 440,000 times, after being uploaded last Thursday, 3 March. The video shows a user gaining access to an iPhone by first asking Siri what time it is. When the spoken request brings up the time, the user taps on the clock face to disclose the World Clock screen and then chooses the Timer icon at the bottom of the screen. He subsequently taps on the ‘When Time Ends’ option and presses the section that says ‘Buy More Tones’ from the App Store.
According to the user, upon doing so, the Apple Store opens and the user presses the home button, which unlocks the phone without the user having typed in the passcode. However, what is not clear is that by hitting the home screen to activate Siri in the first place involves the home button with a finger that has clearly already been registered with the Touch ID feature’s fingerprint scanner. The same process undertaken using a fingerprint that isn’t registered on your iPhone makes subsequent taps to “Buy More Tones” fail to open the iTunes Store. In the case of this video, the user’s fingerprint is added to the phone’s system. If you try to repeat the process on a locked phone, the TouchID scanner will stop you from proceeding to the App Store. Many Apple users have confirmed the same. “If you use the home button to activate Siri whilst having your finger registered, you’ll unlock your phone (even though there is no visual cue that signals this). When you use Siri and unlock your phone, it follows that you can open apps other than just the clock app,” wrote one commenter. Another commenter said: “Lol your thumb was scanned while using Siri.” Similarly, a number of users on Reddit also criticised the video. One called Speculatore said: ‘Tried this with a non-registered finger and it brought me to the passcode screen. ‘When you press this Siri button you’re authenticating against the fingerprint reader… anyone else not experiencing this? ‘Please don’t tell me that nobody considered this.’ The YouTube user who posted the video posted an update on YouTube claiming Apple had fixed the bug. He insisted: ‘It seems that Apple have fixed the bug, it did work to start with but unfortunately it’s been patched.’ However, Apple last released an update to iOS more than a month ago which updated devices to iOS 9.2.1.
