For the iPhone, January 1, 1970 was not a good day.
There’s a bug that will render modern iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch models useless. All you have to do to turn your expensive iOS device into a brick is set its clock to the aforementioned date.
The bug started receiving attention on Reddit Thursday with people experimenting on their own iOS devices to see if it worked. Some recorded the process, which involves changing the date in the Settings app and rebooting the device, and shared videos on YouTube:
It’s unclear what causes Apple’s operating system to crash from changing the date, but one proposed explanation is that it has something to do with changing time zones. Susceptible devices run Apple’s A7 processor and later, starting with the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and the second generation iPad mini.
Manually restoring the device through iTunes doesn’t work, so the only fix for victims of the bug is to pay a visit to their local Apple store.