As millions of people upgrade their iPhones to Apple's iOS 10, some are getting a strange pop up message when they log onto their phones right now.
Is it a bug? Has your phone been hacked? Or is it legit?
Will Klosterman turned on his iPhone recently and was greeted by the strangest message he'd ever seen. "It was a notice about changing my password," he said.
It said "Passcode Requirement: you must change your iPhone unlock passcode at this time."
He thought he'd been hacked, or had downloaded malware. "All these scams come over and I'm very leery of everything," he said.
Getting Answers
So Klosterman went to the nearest Verizon store, where an employee gave him some reassuring news
"She came over and told me it came from Apple. So I proceeded to change my password." He figured it was over.
Now if this happened to you, you would probably say "no big deal, I'll just change my password." But what if it happens again the next day, or the day after that?
That's what happened to Klosterman. "Three or four days later the same box came up and told me to change my password again," he said.
So was his phone hacked? Was it a bug? The good news is most likely it was not, according to experts.
What May Cause Pop-Up
While Apple's not commenting, reports in Business Insider and other tech sites claim it is part of Apple's newest iOS, as an added security feature.
You may be urged to change your passcode:
- If it is too simple.
- If it is too common.
- If you use third party apps that require longer passwords, such as Facebook or Microsoft's Outlook or Exchange.
One suggested fix is to clear your internet history, to clear out "cookies: from older versions of websites and apps, which appeared to work in Klosterman's case.
"I went into my phone and cleared my history out and it hasn't come back since," he said.
Bottom line: If you get this popup, go ahead and change your password. You may also want to clear your internet history.
So another iPhone mystery appears to be something simple, until the next one comes up.
As always, don't waste your money.
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