iPhone users warned of alarmingly simple bug that will 'permanently kill' their phones

Warning: iPhones did not turn back on after the change was made

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

12 February 2016

Simply changing the date of an iPhone or iPad to January 1 1970 will cause the phone to break permanently, Apple users are reporting.

If the date change is made and the device is turned off, it will then be impossible to switch it back on, according to widespread reports.

There does not appear to be any straightforward way of bringing the devices back to life, without visiting an Apple shop or technician.

The alarmingly simple bug came to light after being reported by users of Reddit.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">If someone asks you to change your iPhone date to 1'st January 1970, Don't. — Danny Aspinwall (@DannyAspinwall) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/DannyAspinwall/status/698169934409555968" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3179436-https://twitter.com/DannyAspinwall/status/698169934409555968" data-vars-event-id="c23">February 12, 2016</a>

Some users of the social network reportedly broke their phones while testing the bug.

It apparently affects all devices running iOS 8 or newer, including the iPhone 5S, the iPad Air and the iPad mini 2.

Apple has not responded to the Standard's request for a comment, but the Guardian reported that the tech giant was “looking into the bug”.

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