Toddler Locks Mom's iPhone for 47 Years

Bad things can happen when you leave a toddler unsupervised with an iPhone. Take it from one mother in Shanghai.

According to a report from the South China Morning Post, the mom left her two-year-old son with her Apple handset, and he managed to accidentally lock it for more than 25 million minutes, or around 47 years. The child was supposed to be watching educational videos, but wound up at the iPhone's lock screen and, naturally, entered the wrong password over and over.

"Each time the wrong keys were pressed the phone was disabled for a period of time," the report notes. "The mother returned home one day and when she checked the phone found it had been disabled for 25 million minutes."

The mom reportedly brought the phone to an Apple store, where a technician told her she would have to factory reset the device, which deletes all your data and settings, or wait 47 years to unlock it. She chose the former option.

"I couldn't really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father's mistake," the mom reportedly said.

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How to Secure Your Kid's iPhone

Meanwhile, this isn't the first such incident. Back in 2014, someone managed to disable a jailbroken iPhone for more than 23 million minutes – or about 45 years – after entering the wrong passcode just five times.

On non-jailbroken iPhones, if you enter the wrong passcode six times in a row, the device will be disabled for one minute. If you ever forget your iPhone password or get locked out for an extended period of time, head here for instructions on how to regain control of your device.