The tech giant is facing legal action in the Federal Court of Australia over “Error 53” — a glitch that bricked iPhones repaired by non-Apple technicians.
Apple’s Touch ID security was at the root of Error 53.
If you’ve ever had your iPhone fixed by a third-party repairer, you may have seen it: the dreaded Error 53.
But the security check that was designed to test TouchID on the iPhone before leaving the factory has now saddled Apple with a major court battle in Australia. And it could leave the tech manufacturer open to similar legal action around the world.
Australia’s competition and consumer authority has commenced legal proceedings against Apple in the Federal Court of Australia, saying it violated Australian Consumer Law over customers’ rights to repairs for devices bricked by Error 53.
Now, that legal action has come.
After an investigation, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges “Apple appears to have routinely refused to look at or service consumers’ defective devices,” if those devices had been repaired outside of Apple, “even where that repair was unrelated to the fault.
