Hi all.
I routinely plug in my 2020 iPhone SE every evening before I go to sleep. Plugging it in has always caused the phone to wake, but after a few seconds it has always immediately gone back to sleep. No problem.
However, since upgrading to iOS 16, plugging in my iPhone almost always causes it to prompt me for my passcode. If I swipe around the screen, there is usually a message about "please enter passcode to continue using iCloud". If I do nothing and let the phone sit there, VoiceOver focus moves to the time display, and once the time has focus, the phone never goes back to sleep, because the act of announcing the time every minute resets the sleep countdown.
So, my evening routine now consists of plugging in my phone, waiting a few seconds for it to prompt me for my passcode, than manually pressing the sleep button to put the phone to sleep.
The purpose of this post is to find out if anyone else is experiencing their phone prompting for a passcode when they plug it in, and what, if anything, can be done to restore the old pre-iOS 16 behavior in which the phone did not prompt for passcode when plugging in.
Thanks.
Comments
Security measure for backup
If your plugging it in to your computer, or you have sinking wirelessly between your computer and phone, the iShone always asks you for your passcode for backup pourpuses.
Chi\eck to see if is a fix
In Settings, go to Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode, and turn on USB Accessories
Turned off wifi sync to fix
I went in to Finder on the Mac, and unselected the checkbox labeled "Show this device when connected on wifi". This disables wifi syncing, though you wouldn't know it from its label. With the box unchecked, the passcode prompt no longer happens.
So is this a bug? Because I had wifi syncing enabled for years and it never required a passcode when I plugged it in. But after upgrading to iOS 16, it requires a passcode. That seems like incorrect behavior to me.
Never use it so do not know…
Never use it so do not know. I did search with the title you posted and that show up.
Not a bug
Its not a bug, its a new security feature which, I get the why, but its quite annoying in my opinion.
I don't understand
I don't quite understand the security aspect of this change. If I have turned on sync using wifi, then I want the phone to sync using wifi, regardless of whether I plug the phone in, or someone who doesn't know my passcode plugs the phone in.
In other words, let's assume it works the way it did before this change. Someone I don't know gets my phone and plugs it in. The phone syncs. How does that compromise any of my data? They still can't unlock the phone.
So if this change was intentional for security reasons, it's very confusing.
They could then use the…
They could then use the backup stored in iTunes to restore from onto their own phone, therefore having all your details.
I tried it once when my dad was using an iPhone and it worked.
Security wasn't as tight back then.
Update
The box I unchecked, Show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi, has become checked again all by itself twice now since I made that change. I keep unchecking it, but it somehow doesn't stick, and as a result, the problem keeps coming back.
Holgar, I just went into iOS Setting and turned on touch ID for accessories. We will see if this helps.
I remain unconvinced that this is a security fix. In pre-iOS 16, If just any rando could take my phone and, without my fingerprint or passcode, connect it to a wifi I've never been to before and also sync and/or back it up to a computer I've never authorized, then there's a lot more wrong here.
Thanks for help on this
Sorry I'm such a grumpy pants about this issue. It's one of many technology annoyances I've had to deal with lately. But I shouldn't take out my frustrations on you folks. I've appreciated your help and enjoyed the discussion.
I believe the checkbox is now staying in its unchecked state. Apparently, after unchecking it, I also needed to sync. With this in place, and Holgar's suggestion of using touch ID for accessories, maybe I've finally got a workaround. Fingers crossed.
And if anyone can direct me to an article explaining why Apple made this change, I'd love to read it.
Paul
Do not worry. Most of us who expect a phone to work and does not feel the sane. Crossing finger. It happen to me once due to using a cable that was not from apple. I went to setting an fix it. This was when it came out. Happy new year and hope next be better.
Previous Thread
Here.
My opinions haven't changed, but briefly, to answer your question, my best reading of the Apple apologia is this: the risk of exposed backups, particularly unencrypted ones but also potentially those weakly encrypted by bad choices of password, can be lifted from a device for which trust has already been established; therefore, we must ask for a passcode every time in order that unintended backups do not occur. I agree; it strains credulity, particularly since the backup encryption is controlled by the phone and is very strong, so once a good, strong password is set, there is realistically no prospect of decrypting a backup. Also, this whole issue only got "fixed" (by these wholly inadequate means) once a vulnerability had been found on the Mac, not on the phone; the right solution was to fix the Mac so it didn't expose backups improperly. But of course there's still Windows, and other backup tools like iMazing that rely on the same mechanism to back up to "untrusted" locations selected by the user, so presumably the same logic applies regardless. Anyway, I think it's a bone-headed decision, but one that just so happens (surprise!) to benefit Apple's ongoing services revenue, since it doesn't apply where backups are done to iCloud. Which, to be completely fair, as of iOS 16.2, are now, thanks to the newly-introduced Advanced Data Protection level for iCloud, genuinely end-to-end encrypted, at user's option. Another complete coincidence, I'm sure. Your only other option, as you discovered, is simply to stop syncing, if that is acceptable to you.