14 DAY TRIAL // Someone has discovered a nasty bug in iOS 7.1 which seems to allow anyone with physical access to a handset to delete the owner’s iCloud account without having to type the password. The bug is difficult to reproduce, but the word is out and Apple needs to address it.
According to YouTube uploader Miguel Alvarado, you can achieve this if you go into the iCloud settings panel on the phone and tap “Delete account” and the switch to disable Find My iPhone simultaneously. If the phone displays two dialogs neither of which you can actually use, you’ve just activated the bug.
Now all you need to do is power off the phone, reboot it, revisit the iCloud settings pane and choose to delete the account. This time around, iOS will no longer prompt you for a password. The flaw is serious, and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Users who fear the worst are advised to set a passcode lock on their devices.
Apple also needs to address a battery drain problem in iOS 7, but there is no evidence that the company is testing any fixes. Nevertheless, there should still be one or more updates deployed before iOS 8 rolls out.
