iPhone

As of April 2016, Apple's addresses requests from government agencies for access to customers' data: "Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a 'backdoor' in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed any government access to our servers. And we never will." awarded Apple five out of five stars "commend[ing] Apple for its strong stance regarding user rights, transparency, and privacy."[347]

Apple iOS in combination with their specific hardware uses when activating the "Erase all content and settings" by all the keys in ' storage'. This renderes all user data on the device cryptographically inaccessible.[348]

Apple tightly controls certain aspects of the iPhone. According to , the emergence of like the iPhone have made computing more than early versions of .[349]

The community has found many workarounds, most of which are disallowed by Apple and make it difficult or impossible to obtain warranty service." allows users to install apps not available on the App Store or modify basic functionality. SIM unlocking allows the iPhone to be used on a different carrier's network.'s .[352]

Users can set restrictions or parental controls

Activation

The iPhone normally prevents access to its media player and web features unless it has also been activated as a phone with an authorized carrier. On July 3, 2007, reported on his blog that he had successfully bypassed this requirement and unlocked the iPhone's other features with a combination of custom software and modification of the iTunes binary. He published the software and offsets for others to use.[355]

Unlike the first generation iPhone, the iPhone 3G must be activated in the store in most countries. users upgrading to iPhone OS 2.0, caused a worldwide of Apple's on July 11, 2008, the day on which both the iPhone 3G and iPhone OS 2.0 updates as well as were released. After the update, devices were required to connect to Apple's servers to authenticate it, causing many devices to be temporarily unusable.[357]

Users on the network in the United Kingdom, however, can buy the phone online and activate it via iTunes as with the previous model. and will also sell the iPhone.[359]

Unapproved third-party software and jailbreaking

The iPhone's operating system is designed to only run software that has an Apple-approved . This restriction can be overcome by "jailbreaking" the phone, with a slightly modified version that does not enforce the signature check. Doing so may be a circumvention of Apple's . in response to (EFF) lobbying for a DMCA exception for this kind of hacking, claimed that jailbreaking the iPhone would be due to the necessary modification of system software..[365]

iOS and 2.3.3 'Gingerbread' may be set up to dual boot on a jailbroken iPhone with the help of or iDroid.

In 2007, 2010, and 2011, developers released a series of tools called that used security vulnerabilities in Mobile Safari rendering to the device (which allows users to install any compatible software on the device instead of only App Store apps).

In July 2011, Apple released iOS 4.3.5 (4.2.10 for CDMA iPhone) to fix a security vulnerability with certificate validation.[372]

Following the release of the iPhone 5S model, a group of German hackers called the announced on September 21, 2013, that they had bypassed Apple's new Touch ID fingerprint sensor by using "easy everyday means." The group explained that the security system had been defeated by photographing a fingerprint from a glass surface and using that captured image as verification. The spokesman for the group stated: "We hope that this finally puts to rest the illusions people have about fingerprint biometrics. It is plain stupid to use something that you can't change and that you leave everywhere every day as a security token."

SIM unlocking

United States

Most iPhones were and are still[] sold with a , which restricts the use of the phone to one particular carrier, a common practice with subsidized phones. Unlike most GSM phones, however, the phone cannot be officially unlocked by entering a code.[] The locked/unlocked state is maintained on Apple's servers[] per and is set when the iPhone is activated.]

While the iPhone was initially with a SIM lock in place, various hackers have found methods to "" the phone from a specific network.], unlocked iPhones can be used with other carriers.[] More than a quarter of the original first generation iPhones sold in the U.S. were not registered with AT&T. Apple speculates that they were likely shipped overseas and unlocked, a lucrative market before the iPhone 3G's worldwide release.

On March 26, 2009, AT&T in the United States began selling the iPhone without a contract, though still SIM-locked to their network.

Outside of the United States, policies differ, especially in U.S. territories and insular areas like ; was the exclusive carrier for the iPhone since its introduction, as none of the four U.S. carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) have a presence in the area. ended GTA's exclusivity starting with the iPhone 5.[383]

Beginning April 8, 2012, AT&T began offering a factory SIM unlock option (which Apple calls a "whitelisting", allowing it to be used on any carrier the phone supports) for iPhone owners.[384]

It has been reported that all of the Verizon 4G LTE phones come factory unlocked. After such discovery, Verizon announced that all of their 4G LTE phones, including iPhones, would remain unlocked. This is due to the regulations that the FCC has placed on the 700 MHz C-Block spectrum,[] which is used by Verizon. loses more than it makes on repair services in the US.[386]