Leaked video: Magnet's GrayKey can freeze iPhones past Apple's inactivity reboot
404 Media · rss · 2026-10-01
A leaked training video obtained by 404 Media shows Magnet Forensics, maker of GrayKey, developed a way to bypass Apple's 72-hour inactivity reboot introduced in iOS in November 2024.
- New GrayKey Preserve device and "Evidence Preservation Mode" keep seized iPhones in the After First Unlock (AFU) state, where data is accessible to forensics tools — even across reboots or power loss
- The feature also disables radios (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/cellular) to isolate devices, and can preserve auto-deleting data like cached locations and recently deleted photos "for an infinite amount of time"
- Officers only see the device model and OS version, not contents, until authorized
- Researcher Jiska Classen theorizes Magnet manipulates the iPhone's clock or disables data-expiry tasks; she calls it "quite a game changer"
- Apple and Magnet did not respond to requests for comment
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