#Serial numbers app download serial numbers#

It could let DIY types fix their own NAND issues, if they involve corruption or partitions instead of hardware faults.ДЄll this could be done, Zompetti hopes, by someone with a serial programming cable, a Mac terminal, and a mind for repair. He sees his Purple app allowing for testing cameras, displays, and other phone components.

#Serial numbers app download serial numbers#

And you still need to solder most of the components with serial numbers that Purple can edit.Д«ut Zompetti believes more discoveries will come as people spend time with AppleвЂ™s not-quite-secret diagnostic tool. Serial number binding isnвЂ™t necessary for some common chips, including power management and charging controllers.

Mark Shaffer, lead microsoldering technician at iPad Rehab, noted that Wi-Fi chip replacement, while a known problem with the iPhone 7, isnвЂ™t a common job. So far, Ashford and Zompetti have seen Purple rewrite the serial number for a Wi-Fi chip. Programming a NAND chip with a вЂњbed of nailsвЂќ press programmer. Now thereвЂ™s a tool to do this in software and skip the physical reprogramming, at least for some repairs. Using a programmer requires de-soldering and removing the phoneвЂ™s storage chip (NAND), placing it in the socket press, then unbinding and replacing the serial numbers for each replaced component.

Without editing access, repair techs must turn to вЂњbed of nailsвЂќ programmers. An iPhone will reject certain replacement chips if their serial numbers do not match what the config files expect. That tool, referred to as вЂњPurple ModeвЂќ or вЂњ PurpleRestoreвЂќ (due to the color some iPhone screens display with the tool loaded), allows you to edit otherwise inaccessible hardware-level system configuration files. The app utilizes the checkm8 bootrom exploit to load a diagnostic tool into the iPhoneвЂ™s memory. Purple is the work of Giulio Zompetti, a repair tech, security researcher, and avid collector and researcher of iOS prototypes and internal tools.