Here's another one.
A speciifc network name can completely disable Wi-Fi on your iPhone
https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/04/wifi-iphone-disable-bug/
What I don't understand is how this updated string would affect iOS devices simply by *detecting* the SSID, rather than the previously-reported string which would only affect the device after *joining* the network.
It also states that the effects of this newer variant cannot be fixed by resetting network settings; you have to do a hard reset, and therefore lose all of your data.
That second part I can believe. The first, I'm not so sure.
@magicsoda
That's exactly what was thinking at first. But others in this thread have rightly pointed out that if this works as described, than anyone else with an iOS device in range of your test AP will potentially be affected, and need to hard reset their devices. In other words, you could have a bunch of unintended test subjects.
@magicsoda
Those replies became unthreaded because I did a delete/redraft. See replies from @mcfate and @spacesloth.
There ought to be a mode between “search for networks” and “wifi completely off” where your wifi… stuff… /only/ searches for networks with trusted names.
Is that even possible? I know you can type in a SSID and manually search for it if it’s not in the list that pops up, so I’d imagine you can make it so the wifi stuff can only see and connect to a network found through a similar mechanic.
@GlytchMeister
That mode you describe exists on Android, so I imagine iOS has it as well.
If anyone finds it, let me know.
In the meantime, lemme just add that to the growing list of why I’ll be buying a Kyocera no matter HOW much cheaper the iPhone on sale is once mine dies…
@voltronic on the other end, this might a subtle trickery to kill the wi-fi when the kids don’t behave …Writing that, I just imagined their horrified faces, 😂 « Dad!!!! We got hacked !!?!?!? »
@voltronic That’s also curious why the journalist didn’t try it first hand.
Doing an hard reset on an iCloud backed up iPhone is something I do without an afterthought. Just check that the latest backup match actual time/date then zap. An older iPhone could also had done the trick.