GrayKey Maker Freezes Seized iPhones So Apple's 72-Hour Inactivity Reboot Never Starts

The company behind GrayKey, the phone-cracking tool sold to police, says it has found a way to stop one of Apple's sneakiest iPhone defenses from ever kicking in. Magnet Forensics is pitching a new device called GrayKey Preserve, along with an Evidence Preservation Mode, that it claims keeps a seized iPhone frozen so it never reboots on its own, according to a promotional video obtained by 404 Media.

That matters because of what Apple shipped in November 2024. iPhones now quietly restart after 72 hours without being unlocked. A restart pushes the phone out of its After First Unlock (AFU) state, where much of the data is still decryptable, and back into a locked-down state that is far harder for forensic tools to crack.

Why cops keep losing the window

Seventy-two hours sounds like plenty. In practice it often is not. Police need warrants, and forensic labs have backlogs, so a phone seized on a Friday can sit in an evidence locker until it reboots and hardens itself. That was the point of Apple's change, and law enforcement noticed fast.

Magnet's answer, per the company's own marketing, is to hold the phone in AFU state so the reboot never fires and the clock effectively never starts. It is a vendor claim from a promotional video, which is why Gizmodo and 9to5Mac describe it as something cops may now be able to do.

The latest round in a long fight

GrayKey Preserve marks the newest move in a cat-and-mouse game between Apple and the vendors who sell unlocking tools to police, some of which have ended up in authoritarian markets. Apple patches, the vendors find a workaround, and Apple patches again. AppleInsider frames GrayKey Preserve as a possible workaround to Apple's reboot protection.

Apple's security fights usually look like patching a CoreGraphics zero-day. The inactivity reboot was different: a protection aimed squarely at physical seizure. If Magnet's claim holds up, the people it was meant to slow down just got their time back.