iPhone disabled by Chinese toddler for next 47 years

Image: Apple Support

A Chinese woman was surprised one day in January when her 2-year-old son managed to lock her iPhone for 47 years.

The device had been left with the boy so he could watch educational shows online while the woman, identified only as Lu, went out for a while. When she got home, Lu discovered her iPhone had been disabled for 25 million minutes, or a total of 47 years, reports Chinese news site Kankanews.com via South China Morning Post.

Lu’s son had accidentally activated the iPhone’s security system, which locked the device when the wrong passcode was entered. Each time the boy entered a wrong passcode, the length of time the iPhone remained disabled got longer.

The confused mother brought the iPhone to an Apple store in Shanghai. Technician Wei Chunlong advised Lu to have the iPhone’s data wiped and do a factory reset.

Wei told the website that there have been cases where iPhones were disabled for 80 years in the same manner.

Lu had tried to wait out the problem hoping it would fix itself, but this has not materialized after two months.

She was quoted as telling the website, “I couldn’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake.”  Alfred Bayle /ra

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