Error 53 — Should It Scare iPhone Users?

It’s a problem, but it’s for your own good. But who has every grown fond of such reasoning?

Having error notifications pop-up on our computers does not scare us as much anymore. Not that we’re immune to these pop-ups, just that we know we aren’t alone and that we can tinker under the hood, if needed — Google.com and an infinite army of benefactors (read: tech geniuses) have already encountered and conquered most popular problems and isolated solutions that we can apply with relative comfort and confidence.

So, we’ve become comfortable and capable of hunting for effective solutions on the internet, to cull the issue. For our PCs.

Not so on iPhones and iPads.

We’ve grown complacent with those. So good have Apple’s iOS releases been (minus the Betas and newly launched OS’) that we never need to get “under the hood”. Not that Apple’s protocols and security measures allows us to either.

The point is, that Apple devices just work. Consequently when we hit a pop-up on iDevices, we don’t know what to do with them, nor does any army.

A new pop-up on iPhones known only as “Error 53” has shaken iOS world. A plethora of horror stories have been doing the rounds about how the phones have become deader than moon rocks after the “Error 53” has flashed on the screens, rendering them unrepairable even by the Apple’s authorized Service Providers and Apple Stores.

So what exactly is “Error 53”?

No clear answer has been provided, however the culprit being identified is the very feature that you love about your iPhone — Security. Thing is, to make the Touch ID-enabled iPhones hyper-secure, Apple has uniquely paired the Touch ID and it’s connecting cable with the motherboard of the iPhone — to ensure you get robust, infallible security.

It is this very feature, when violated, that gives rise to the “Error 53”.

Got that? Now, the big question, what may trigger the error? Mainly either of three reasons:

1. The Home button and/or the cable connecting the Touch ID with the motherboard of the device has been unofficially replaced, meddled with or damaged.
2. The screen has been unofficially repaired and the Home button and/or the cable has been replaced, meddled with or damaged.
3. An injury to the phone has resulted in the Home button and/or the to be damaged.

Let us try and explain this further, just for clarity’s sake.

The Touch ID is paired with a secure enclave (that stores fingerprint information), which in turn is paired with the device’s motherboard.
If this pairing is violated, the anomaly is identified during the automated security check conducted while updating the device’s software. Upon which, the software update fails and the phone is rendered useless. This is done to protect the data and the device from being misused (by the supposed ‘intruder’).

So in layman terms, if repairs are conducted by any non-authorized third party, the phone will work, however when you try to update the phone’s OS, the pre-emptive security check will recognise the ‘tampering’ and lock the phone down with the dreaded “Error 53”.

If the repairs happen in an Apple Authorized Service Center or Apple Store, they ensure that the change in parts (replaced spares) are revalidated with the onboard security mechanism. This revalidation ensures that the device and the iOS features related to Touch ID remain inviolate.

The point to note is that the incidences of Error 53 seem to have dramatically increased after the release of iOS 9.

Basis reports being filed from all over the globe, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users are the only ones who seem to be faced with this problem. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus devices seem to be unaffected by this — which could be due to iterations in their design and assembly of their Home button/cable.

But why? Narcissism? Stemming lost revenue (to third party repair centres)? Autocracy? Not exactly.

Let’s switch to Android to explain this.

Since Android has been plagued with security concerns on their devices due to it’s vast and varied user base, they too, have enabled their fingerprint-recognition-based devices with plenty of failsafe measures. They’ve set the kernel to interact with the fingerprint sensor, the native code (i.e. the figure print library) and the Java code (the fingerprint service) for their authentication process.
This means that the security is only as strong as the kernel, so if the perpetrator roots the device, they could be able to access the fingerprint data thus invading the phone’s security feature.
This is precisely what Apple’s engineers have attempted to prevent by pairing the three elements with a secure homogeny.

According to an Apple spokesperson, when the iPhone’s security can’t be adequately validated because of a third-party intervention to any part of the Touch ID system, the error message is triggered intentionally to keep Touch ID and the secure enclave safe.
“We protect fingerprint data using a secure enclave, which is uniquely paired to the touch ID sensor. When an iPhone is serviced by an authorized Apple service provider or Apple retail store for the changes that affect the touch ID sensor, the pairing is re-validated. This check ensures the device and the iOS features related to touch ID remain secure. Without this unique pairing, a malicious touch ID sensor could be substituted, thereby gaining access to the secure enclave. When iOS detects that the pairing fails, touch ID, including Apple Pay, is disabled so the device remains secure.”

In a nutshell, while Android devices have the security built on the software level, Apple has gone ahead and married it to their hardware too, making the device more secure.

Security seems to be a double edged sword here though — while it secures the user’s data, it also seems to be a source of inconvenience to the same user if his device is damaged especially when there’s an Apple Authorised Service Provider or Apple Store in sight.

What has clearly rubbed the users the wrong way is the absence of any notification from Apple on this potential lockdown prior to going in for the latest iOS update.
While guilty of trespassing in a way, these users were caught off guard with the iOS 9 update. Given that phones are now more precious to folks, than perhaps their own wallets, this act though borne of good intent, triggered widespread indignation and derision.

MacRumors recently reported that Apple Stores have apparently received the go-ahead from Apple to replace tampered screens and other third-party components to resolve the “Error 53”, with the standard out-of-warranty fee being passed on to the customer.

If this is true, we have not seen the same in India yet. And it’s not just India.

Unchecked, this could snowball into huge negative publicity for Apple. In fact we’re reading that some enterprising lawyers in the UK are actually polling people, encouraging them to join up in a lawsuit against Apple!

How Apple handles this is yet to be seen — they could come out with a corrective solution in their March event to negate the fallout — lets wait and watch.

Originally published at Chip-Monks.