this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled (www.404media.co)
submitted 1 month ago by tonytins@pawb.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The FBI has been unable to access a Washington Post reporter’s seized iPhone because it was in Lockdown Mode, a sometimes overlooked feature that makes iPhones broadly more secure, according to recently filed court records.

The court record shows what devices and data the FBI was able to ultimately access, and which devices it could not, after raiding the home of the reporter, Hannah Natanson, in January as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. It also provides rare insight into the apparent effectiveness of Lockdown Mode, or at least how effective it might be before the FBI may try other techniques to access the device.

“Because the iPhone was in Lockdown mode, CART could not extract that device,” the court record reads, referring to the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team, a unit focused on performing forensic analyses of seized devices. The document is written by the government, and is opposing the return of Natanson’s devices.

Archive: http://archive.today/gfTg9

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[–] Pxtl@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Android phones have lockdown mode too. Hold the power button to show the shutdown menu and click lockdown.

phone screenshot

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They're not the same. Android lockdown is a temporary lock screen state. iOS lockdown is a full OS hardening, affects the way the phone operates full-time.

[–] Pxtl@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

Ah, my bad. I looked it up and while Android does have an analog to what iOS calls "lockdown", Android uses different terminology for it, since "Lockdown" is, as you said, lock the lockscreen to be password/pin-only (which would still be a reasonable approach before being forced to turn over your phone to somebody since those are things that are harder to be compelled to provide).

Android's version of iOS "Lockdown" is called "Advanced Protection Mode".

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Having it and it working as well are two different things. historically Apple has been ahead in security that can slow down or stop law enforcement. And before before you jump to the same conclusions as someone else, I never have owned an iPhone, nor wanted to.

[–] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 month ago

That's incorrect. Google's Android has several industry leading security features the iPhone doesn't support.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

joke on you! google's recent requirement is that all phone vendors make the power button open an AI menu instead of the shutdown menu! on most phones it can be fixed, but it's often hidden very deep in the settings.

[–] Pxtl@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'd forgotten because the first thing I did when that rolled out was revert it so long-press on the power button was the power menu. IIRC the new default is like long-press-power-and-volume-down or some garbage like that to show the power menu.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago

This is more of "disable face ID" type of thing rather than "lockdown"