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That seems very unlikely. Apple doesn't save your physical SIM PIN, so it would mean leaving your phone untouched for a while would automatically make it unrea

by jorvi 2y ago

That seems very unlikely. Apple doesn't save your physical SIM PIN, so it would mean leaving your phone untouched for a while would automatically make it unreachable, since you need to enter the SIM PIN after a reboot.

altairprime 2y ago
Untouched and out of range of all cellular networks (disregarding the SIM), most likely; we don’t know how long, though. If your phone hasn’t connected to a cellular network in weeks and is locked in a stationary box 23.9 hours a day or more, then I’m not sure I would be surprised if it becomes automatically unreachable in this way eventually — it’s becoming unreachable any time it reboots for an overnight iOS update already, right? so an inactivity reboot isn’t going to have a worse impact than that already does. (Note that physical SIMs were discontinued in late 2022 models, but it allows you to set an eSIM PIN with the same effect.)
- altairprime 2y ago
  As noted elsewhere; turns out it’s 96 hours of inactivity, no other criteria.
tzs 2y ago
I wonder how many people that would actually affect? All iPhones that support iOS 18 support eSIM. Starting with iPhone 14 all iPhones except the SE have only had eSIM. I would guess that most people with only one SIM go with eSIM if they phone supports it. You can put a PIN on an eSIM, but is there really much point? My understanding is that the main point of a SIM PIN is so that someone cannot transfer your physical SIM to another phone. Without a PIN someone could steal your phone and even if they could not get past the phone lock they could just move the physical SIM to their phone and thus take over your phone number. They don't even need to steal your phone--they just need access to it for a few seconds to remove the SIM. That's not the case with eSIM. You might want a PIN to keep others from making/receiving calls if they have access to your unlocked phone, but because SIMs permanently lock after 3 failed unlock attempts (with no timeout--a mistake today, another a year from now, and another two years after that and it locks) that's probably asking for trouble.
- latsu 2y ago
  The physical-sim tray is present for all markets outside of the US on all iPhones.

by jorvi 2y ago

altairprime 2y ago

Untouched and out of range of all cellular networks (disregarding the SIM), most likely; we don’t know how long, though. If your phone hasn’t connected to a cellular network in weeks and is locked in a stationary box 23.9 hours a day or more, then I’m not sure I would be surprised if it becomes automatically unreachable in this way eventually — it’s becoming unreachable any time it reboots for an overnight iOS update already, right? so an inactivity reboot isn’t going to have a worse impact than that already does. (Note that physical SIMs were discontinued in late 2022 models, but it allows you to set an eSIM PIN with the same effect.)

altairprime 2y ago
As noted elsewhere; turns out it’s 96 hours of inactivity, no other criteria.

tzs 2y ago

I wonder how many people that would actually affect? All iPhones that support iOS 18 support eSIM. Starting with iPhone 14 all iPhones except the SE have only had eSIM. I would guess that most people with only one SIM go with eSIM if they phone supports it. You can put a PIN on an eSIM, but is there really much point? My understanding is that the main point of a SIM PIN is so that someone cannot transfer your physical SIM to another phone. Without a PIN someone could steal your phone and even if they could not get past the phone lock they could just move the physical SIM to their phone and thus take over your phone number. They don't even need to steal your phone--they just need access to it for a few seconds to remove the SIM. That's not the case with eSIM. You might want a PIN to keep others from making/receiving calls if they have access to your unlocked phone, but because SIMs permanently lock after 3 failed unlock attempts (with no timeout--a mistake today, another a year from now, and another two years after that and it locks) that's probably asking for trouble.

latsu 2y ago
The physical-sim tray is present for all markets outside of the US on all iPhones.