sms <
scharf...@geemail.com> asked
> You never responded to the question of why Apple should put resources
> into updating 14.x. Since all the devices that 14.x works on, 15.x also
> works on, it would be odd for Apple to put a lot of resources into
> updating old iOS versions.
I'm not claiming Apple should put resources into any particular release so
much as I'm saying Project Zero proved beyond any doubt (& Apple couldn't
dispute the facts) *huge swaths of iOS code have _never_ been tested*.
Hell... how do you think a 14 year old kid cracked Facetime wide open, and
then Apple fixed a half dozen critical bugs when they finally _looked_ at
the Facetime code (likely for the first time in depth!) within a month?
Why do you think even Apple engineers and Craig Federighi himself complained
that Apple needs to do a better job (your point that it's coding more so
than QA is a fair assessment though - but the end result is the same).
Why do you think iOS 13 was a record shitstorm of unplanned bugs (from the
very start), as was iOS 14, and now iOS 15 is a similar clusterfuck of bugs?
If Apple spent on R&D what Apple spends on Marketing, then I suspect the
code wouldn't have (at this point) two zero-day vulnerabilities each month!
> There is a valid reason that some iPhone owners don't want to upgrade to
> 15.x but it's rather minor and involves only a small extra expense
> (unless it's an iPhone locked to AT&T, then iOS 15 is not an option for
> now).
Hell, if you asked me, only a supremely ignorant iOS owner would update to
_any_ iOS release without waiting at least a year or two before doing so.
There is nothing of value in almost any iOS release anyway, and, as you well
know, the Safari situation is a clusterfuck in and of itself in iOS 15.
> I ran into this issue with my iPhone Xr which is locked for a year to
> Total Wireless or other América Móvil brands (yeah, buying locked phones
> is bad, but it was $211.75, less than 1/3 of what it would otherwise
> cost new and unlocked).
There's nothing wrong with locked phones, IMHO. I have 4 of them right now.
When the two-year period is up, the first thing I do is have the carrier
unlock them, which, for T-Mobile, is done ad hoc using an app on the phone.
> I bought an R-13 unlock SIM.
I never heard of that until this moment, so, I'm googling as I type...
<
https://www.redmondpie.com/rsim-13-can-unlock-iphone-xs-xs-max-xr-x-on-ios-12-with-iccid-trick-heres-how/>
"Use the latest R-SIM ICCID trick which is basically a SIM card that,
once installed, unlocks the device by taking advantage of a flaw in
Appleÿs iOS. That means that this SIM can be installed, a few steps taken,
and then any carrierÿs SIM can be swapped back in to get it working as any
other unlocked iPhone without any issues, regardless of which carrier it
belongs to."
"The R-SIM is now updated to v13 to support the latest iPhone XR
and iPhone XS / XS Max"
More info...
<
http://rsim5.com/productview.php?id=82>
<
https://geveystore.com/r-sim-13-instructions/>
<
https://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f819/r-sim13-unlock-card-iphone-ios15-2988392/>
<
https://zerofy.ng/how-to-unlock-an-iphone-with-an-unlock-chip/>
"The use of an unlock chip has become a prominent method to unlock
an iPhone. For less than $15 you can say goodbye to the
"Sim not Supported" prompt that hinders the usage of an iPhone"
OK. I skimmed those.
a. Apparently you pay around $15 & get an unlock SIM chip
b. You put it in and punch a few buttons and it unlocks your iPhone
c. The caveat is that each unlock SIM chip works with different iOS flaws
Given the particular phone, and the particular iOS version, I can see you'd
have to _match_ that to whatever iOS flaw the unlock SIM chip uses.
> It worked fine on
> iOS 14.x, I did the T-Mobile eSIM test drive on the Xr once it was
> unlocked, but the R-13 unlock SIM seller warned not to upgrade iOS or
> the unlock would stop working. So now I have to buy a new unlock r-SIM
> if I travel and want to buy a prepaid data eSIM (until one year is up
> and they will unlock the phone). I may not bother since I have no
> foreign travel planned and would be unlikely to do any such travel prior
> to when the one year is up. But it only costs $5-6 if I do want to buy
> another R-13 unlock SIM.
I had never thought about the "R-13 unlock SIM" process before as I have
simply unlocked my phones using an app on the phone when they're
"paid off" (in my case, when the lien is over on the Androids and when the
iPhone is paid off).
Also I don't know about your carrier, but AFAIK, mine (T-Mobile) will
temporarily unlock the phone if I tell them I'm traveling (but when I travel
to Europe, the plan gives me unlimited everything but calls - which are 20
cents per minute - so I haven't needed to ask them for a temporary unlock).
Does your carrier give you a temporary unlock?
If so, wouldn't that solve the issue instantly?
Otherwise, I can see, I think, why certain iOS releases are needed because
the unlock SIM chips take advantage of different iOS flaws depending on the
details of the phone, and the current iOS version on that phone.
If these are dumb questions, please realize you have greater unlock
knowledge than I have, since my experience in the past was the carrier sent
an unlock sequence in the email, and more recently (starting a few years
ago) the carrier allowed me to unlock it myself with an app on the phone
after 40 days on my plan (that was with my Costco $130 LG Stylo 3 Plus).
The $100 Moto G from Google came unlocked, but my handful of free Samsung
Galaxy A32 5G phones and the new iPhone 12 mini are all locked right now.
I don't do anything fancier than call T-Mobile to unlock, so I apologize for
not fully comprehending your "R-13" process but skimming the information
above I can see that the specific phone & iOS version matters greatly for
that process because it takes advantage of flaws in iOS Apple didn't fix.