iPhone 5 users must upgrade phones or face bad consequences, Apple says

The phone will turn into a largely useless brick if it does not receive critical update

Andrew Griffin
Monday 28 October 2019 14:33 EDT
Comments
Iphone 5 users must upgrade phones or face bad consequences

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

iPhone 5 users need to update their phones in the next few days or they will turn into a useless brick, Apple has said.

The handsets have a problem in their software that will cause them to lose access to their central functions if they don't receive a critical update.

If the new version of the operating system is not installed before 3 November, they will be cut off from internet browsing, email and the App Store. Over-the-air software updates will also stop working, meaning users will be forced to back up and restore with a PC or Mac.

The problems arise from a software issue which means the phone will no longer be able to rely on its GPS location and will stop having the correct time and date. Since all of those features use that time feature, they will be unable to work after the cut off.

The iPhone 5 can be easily updated by heading to the Settings app, clicking the option for general, and pressing software update. If the phone still needs to be updated, a reminder should appear and the new software can be downloaded.

The iPhone 5 must be updated to iOS 10.3.4 if it is to avoid being affected by the problem.

iOS 10.3.4 is far from the latest version of Apple's operating system, which is currently on iOS 13. But it is the newest update that works on the iPhone 5.

The issue arose from a GPS time rollover problem that affects a variety of GPS-enabled devices. It started causing problems from April this year, but will not affect iPhones until the deadline arrives.

It will start to hit iPhones and iPads just before 12am UTC on 3 November.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in