Apple has addressed an issue which causes iPhone handsets to become unusable when the date is set back to May 1970, or before.
The company has promised a fix for the issue, which was actually maliciously advertised on Reddit as a quick route to an unheard of iPhone Easter egg.
Readers were told to wind their phone back to January 1 1970 in order to discover an 1970s-themed hidden feature.
Now, on its support page Apple says: “Manually changing the date to May 1970 or earlier can prevent your iOS device from turning on after a restart.”
See also: Why we need an iPhone 5se
The firm has also revealed it’ll roll out a fix for the fatal flaw in a forthcoming software update.
Apple is also advising users who were tricked into the attempting the date-change to contact Apple Support for help.
In the meantime… just don’t do it.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.