Law enforcement officials said they want to raise awareness of the issue across the forensic and investigative fields.
iPhones that have been stored for forensic examination are allegedly now rebooting themselves, making it much harder for police to get the info they need.
The reports come from a document put together by Detroit, Michigan law enforcement officials, obtained by 404 Media.
After the mysterious reboot, the devices supposedly enter what is called the Before First Unlock (BFU) state. This makes cracking them, for example, to get data about criminal activity, much harder.
The document seen by 404 Media theorized that the iPhones rebooted in “a short amount of time” when removed from a cellular network, potentially around 24 hours.
According to the document, one of the iPhones was even in Airplane mode and one was inside what is called a Faraday box.
