25M Minutes

Woman Has 25M Reasons to Not Let Toddler Use iPhone

'iPhone is disabled, try again in 25,114,984 minutes'

By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff

In this 2016 file photo, an iPhone is seen in Washington.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

(NEWSER) – Well, that's one way to beat a smartphone addiction. The South China Morning Post reports a Shanghai mom is locked out of her iPhone for the next 47 years after her 2-year-old son repeatedly entered the wrong passcode. The mom, identified only as Lu, gave her son the phone to watch educational videos online. When she got it back, the phone bore a notification reading "iPhone is disabled, try again in 25,114,984 minutes," according to the Global Times. Apparently the lockout time increased every time the toddler entered the wrong passcode.

A technician at an Apple Store in Shanghai told Lu she had two options: do a factory reset on her iPhone and lose all her files or wait the 47 years until she can use it again. "I can't really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father's mistake," the Straits Timesquotes Lu as saying. Regardless, she's apparently found herself unable to go through with the factory reset and is now two months into her long wait for the phone to unlock. The Apple Store technician says Lu's case is nothing; he's seen iPhones locked for over 80 years