Don't set your iPhone's date back to January 1, 1970

Reseting iPhone
Reseting iPhone (Image credit: iMore/Rene Ritchie)

A recently-uncovered date glitch in iOS, which has evidently been present since, iOS 8, will cause your phone to become inoperable if you reboot your device after manually setting the date to January 1, 1970. You will also apparently be unable to place your phone in DFU or Recovery mode, so a Genius Bar appointment may be in order if you do this.

The glitch surfaced thanks to a video from Zach Straley on YouTube.

In order to avoid this, simply let your iPhone automatically set the time. If for some reason you need to manually set the time, don't set it to January 1, 1970. Don't under any circumstances, follow any instructions that tell you to do so. And as always, remember to exercise a little common sense.

Source: Zach Straley (YouTube), Reddit; Via: AppleInsider

Joseph Keller

Joseph Keller is the former Editor in Chief of iMore. An Apple user for almost 20 years, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.