Apple has finally acknowledged the existence of the “1970” problem, where if iOS users set their iPhone or iPad’s date to 1970, their device stops working.
“Manually changing the date to May 1970 or earlier can prevent your iOS device from turning on after a restart,” Apple said on its support page. “An upcoming software update will prevent this issue from affecting iOS devices.”
Earlier last week, an image of a fake Apple ad started circulating on the internet, encouraging iOS users to set the date on their device to the year 1970 to unlock the classic Macintosh theme on their device.
The image is a hoax, and setting the date to 1970 will actually “brick” your device, making it impossible to turn on. Not even restoring the device to factory defaults will fix it, according to one Reddit user. A physical repair from Apple is needed to reverse the bricking.
