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I don't understand why they need to unlock the phone for hardware repairs. I took my Toshiba laptop for a motherboard replacement after a power surge, and never

I don't understand why they need to unlock the phone for hardware repairs. I took my Toshiba laptop for a motherboard replacement after a power surge, and never provided my password. They gave it back after the repair and the OS was literally untouched. I would think Apple with their trillions would have figured out proper hardware repairs by now?

dagw 5y ago
It's really easy to boot up a computer to a different OS installed on a different storage medium to test the hardware. Phones don't have the option.
- ysleepy 5y ago
  Phones actually do have that option. Android bootloader supports fastboot boot of an image file on the host PC, usually a recovery ROM. Apple is certainly capable to do that and I'm even sure that this exists on their devices too.
pcdoodle 5y ago
Unauthorized iPhone repair company here, We like to test the microphones and any other components that can be disturbed by the repair.
- kergonath 5y ago
  Way to go. I wish the guy who repaired my girlfriend’s iPhone a couple of years ago had done as well. What a cock up that was.
Someone1234 5y ago
Hardware requirements/differences mostly. With the laptop example they can pull the storage medium (2.5" HDD/SSD, or NVMe), service it, and then reinstall. Whereas iOS devices have storage soldered onto the mainboard and there's a cryptographic sync between the T2 chip and OS installation, so you cannot simply swap the storage onto a different phone (this is actually a legitimate security feature that just happens to hurt service-ability also). I believe there are things they can do (different levels of access, managed by iOS) but the laptop analogy doesn't help here since it is an Apples and Grapefruit kinda comparison.
- perryizgr8 5y ago
  > there's a cryptographic sync between the T2 chip and OS installation, so you cannot simply swap the storage onto a different phone This is similar to how many laptops encrypt the ssd with a TPM chip. But they can still decrypt and image the drive provided they have the owner's credentials. So yes, of course apple can swap storage in Iphone, they just don't want to.

dagw 5y ago

It's really easy to boot up a computer to a different OS installed on a different storage medium to test the hardware. Phones don't have the option.

ysleepy 5y ago
Phones actually do have that option. Android bootloader supports fastboot boot of an image file on the host PC, usually a recovery ROM. Apple is certainly capable to do that and I'm even sure that this exists on their devices too.

pcdoodle 5y ago

Unauthorized iPhone repair company here, We like to test the microphones and any other components that can be disturbed by the repair.

kergonath 5y ago
Way to go. I wish the guy who repaired my girlfriend’s iPhone a couple of years ago had done as well. What a cock up that was.

Someone1234 5y ago

Hardware requirements/differences mostly. With the laptop example they can pull the storage medium (2.5" HDD/SSD, or NVMe), service it, and then reinstall. Whereas iOS devices have storage soldered onto the mainboard and there's a cryptographic sync between the T2 chip and OS installation, so you cannot simply swap the storage onto a different phone (this is actually a legitimate security feature that just happens to hurt service-ability also). I believe there are things they can do (different levels of access, managed by iOS) but the laptop analogy doesn't help here since it is an Apples and Grapefruit kinda comparison.

perryizgr8 5y ago
> there's a cryptographic sync between the T2 chip and OS installation, so you cannot simply swap the storage onto a different phone This is similar to how many laptops encrypt the ssd with a TPM chip. But they can still decrypt and image the drive provided they have the owner's credentials. So yes, of course apple can swap storage in Iphone, they just don't want to.