Apple may soon let you keep Find My on during repairs: Report

Apple is reportedly working on a new feature that will allow iPhone users to keep Find My on even if they send their phone in for repair. This new feature is being called Repair State, and it is said to provide a solution to turn off the device tracking feature, which can reduce the security of the device. This feature was spotted with the latest iOS 17.5 beta update. The global stable version of the operating system may arrive later this month.

The specialty was spotted By 9to5Mac Inside the code of iOS 17.5 beta 4, which began rolling out Tuesday to users enrolled in the beta program. It is being said that this feature is partially working for beta testers. According to the report, the Repair State feature was possibly added to allow users to track their device even if it is being repaired.

Currently, Apple requires users to turn off Find My when handing in an iPhone for repair. The guidelines are also mentioned on Apple’s support page states usa, “To prevent someone else from obtaining service for your device without your knowledge, Apple may not be able to service your device if Find My is not turned off.” The idea behind the rule is to ensure that the person handing over the phone is actually also the owner of the phone. However, this has become difficult to do with recent updates from the tech giant.

Apple introduced Stolen Device Protection with iOS 17.3, which adds a time delay to accessing important settings like deleting an Apple account or turning off Find My. Currently, the timeout for Find My is one hour. This means that if a user forgets to turn on the feature and comes to an authorized repair store, they will either have to wait for an hour or come back later. This problem can be solved through Repair State.

According to the report, the Repair State mode in iOS 17.5 beta 4 allows users to confirm that the iPhone is going for repair using their Apple ID and password. In this situation, a user cannot delete their Apple ID. This allows the technician to confirm the owner of the device without needing to close Find My.

However, the publication warns beta testers not to enable the mode if the device is not going to be repaired. This is because there is currently no way to turn off this mode and the Apple ID cannot be removed once it is enabled. It is unclear whether Apple intentionally did not add this feature so that technicians could remove it at their end, or the stable version of the feature will come with an option to remove it.