A leaked tutorial video obtained by 404 Media shows Magnet Forensics, the maker of the GrayKey phone-unlocking device, claiming it can stop iPhones from falling back into a locked state. The new products, called GrayKey Preserve and Evidence Preservation Mode, reportedly keep a seized iPhone in an “After First Unlock” state, which lets law enforcement access data that would normally be encrypted and difficult to retrieve.
The tools are explicitly aimed at Apple’s “inactivity reboot” feature, introduced in late 2024, which automatically restarts an iPhone that has not been unlocked for 72 hours. According to the video, the new technology also prevents automatic deletion of cached locations, recently deleted photos, and iMessages. A Magnet employee in the video calls it a “game changer” and claims data can be preserved “for an infinite amount of time.”
The video does not explain the technical details, but researcher Jiska Classen speculates that Magnet may manipulate the iPhone’s clock or disable the background tasks that expire data. The person who provided the video to 404 Media did so anonymously because they were not authorized to share it. Apple and Magnet did not respond to requests for comment, and the video’s claims could not be independently verified.