An Australian has found a way to make his iPhone think it is in the European Union. This is required to access the new iOS 17.4 EU features.
To define the functions themselves, a plist file uploaded by Apple to its servers is used. It declares “domains” that are limited by location (included in the new eligibilityd). Based on this document, the smartphone understands from which country which options are available to you. At the time of writing the original article there were 24, and the file was last updated on April 5th. However, the guy didn’t keep track of how often he updated, and it’s unknown when this will happen next time.
Most domains are currently configured to only allow new features on the iPhone to comply with DMA. Apple may update this configuration file at any time, whether to roll out a feature in more countries, enable features on iPad, or withdraw them from some or all countries. Based on this data, the Australian understood exactly how to bypass iOS restrictions.
How to trick an iPhone and “change” its geolocation
1. Reset my old 12 Pro Max, turned off location services, inserted an Italian SIM card and made a new Italian Apple ID
2. Configured the pfSense Wi-Fi router to display its location in Italy
3. I went down to the basement of my house, where I can’t get any signal, and reset my iPhone again
4. Turned on airplane mode and went back upstairs to connect to Wi-Fi
All. After this, his iPhone 12 Pro Max began to think that it was in Italy. And after that, the smartphone immediately offered to select a default browser.
Unfortunately, for now this is all that a smartphone is capable of in this mode. As soon as airplane mode is turned off, the gadget deactivates all new features for the EU. [Kirbblog]
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