iPhones replaced by Apple may be on the “blacklist”.

Anyone who has taken out Apple’s device insurance AppleCare+ or paid privately for repairs will still receive replacement devices for a wide variety of iPhone defects. This can also be done with refurbished hardware – even if this is very controversial among buyers (also legally). Generally, released iPhones are well-functioning products that Apple has already perfected. However, there are rare cases in which the use of refurbished hardware can also have problematic consequences for the use of the software, such as now Report from Irish developer Finn Voorhees,

Advertisement

If the “new” device is locked

As an AppleCare member, he dropped his iPhone down a concrete staircase. The damage – broken back glass and broken volume buttons – must be repaired by an authorized repair service provider (ASP). However, there was a “brand new replacement iPhone” at a price of 99 euros because the front still had scratches. Voorhees was initially happy with the device. But after a restore and logging into all his accounts, a problem suddenly arose: the Snapchat app no ​​longer wanted to let him in. Only the error message “SS06: Device restricted” appeared. “This surprised me because I never had any problems with any other device.”

As it turns out, SS06 means that Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc. has banned the device due to abuse or repeated violations of Snapchat Community Guidelines. Furthermore, a device cannot be “unbanned” once it’s added to this list. Voorhees’ replacement device turned out to be a refurb model that was already in circulation. The developer then called Apple, where he was told that the company hadn’t encountered the problem yet. “After about two hours on the phone and some back and forth, they offered to replace my phone. While there’s a real possibility that the new phone could have the same issue, I accepted the offer.”

More RAM in the iPhone: 12 GB will reportedly be available in a model for the first time in 2025

The DeviceCheck Framework was to blame

As it turns out, Snapchat uses a feature that Apple has been offering for several years: one that has been available since iOS 11 – and is also present on iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, VisionOS and watchOS – DeviceCheck framework. This allows individual apps to set a total of two data bits that relate to the respective app and device – and are stored in Apple’s cloud, so cannot be deleted by the user. This makes it possible to persistently locate a device. For example, it is conceivable that a developer could block devices for free trial phases that they have already completed – or ban an iPhone from a service altogether.

By the way, Snapchat itself could not help Voorhees and did not want to. However, there will at least be an opportunity for Apple to fix the problem: the company controls the responsible server called “api.devicecheck.apple.com”. There the company can reset all the relevant data bits for refurbished devices. “My conclusion from this whole process is an appeal to all app developers: use DeviceCheck only to verify whether the request came from an official Apple device. There is no reliable way to determine whether the same person still has the phone being used,” Voorhees explained. Worse: users currently cannot determine whether their device is on such a “black list”.

(B.Sc.)