The folks on Reddit have uncovered what appears to be a flaw in the iOS code which will render any 64-bit iOS device (32 bit reportedly unaffected) unusable until the battery power is removed. This flaw occurs when the internal clock of the device is manually changed back to 1970 and then the device is rebooted.
Reportedly, the device will fail and you’ll be stuck at the Apple logo. This requires a trip to the Apple Genius Bar or a possibly lengthy wait until your battery runs out of power and you can do a restore.
According to several on Reddit, the issue occurs due to the system’s early reliance on a start time in Unix. It just so happens that 1970 was picked as that time which seems to be the cause for this issue.
Check out the video:
The steps? DO NOT TRY THIS!!
- Open Settings
- Open General
- Open Date & Time
- “Set Automatically” off
- Change date to Jan 1, 1970 (Scroll up to get to year 2000, then go back into date settings again, repeat until it reaches 1970)
- Reboot.