Error 53 is only helpful to robots

Things break. And getting something fixed instead of just tossing it is a good thing to do. But your best intentions can go awry, if, say, you get an iPhone 6 fixed by a third party, and the Touch ID button gets separated from the secure element—you might see a cryptic Error 53, along with a phone that’s not so much a phone as a brick. Glenn and Susie discuss why this makes sense for Apple to do from a security standpoint—but Apple still screwed up by not making this abundantly clear from the start. And it turns out you can’t really get an Apple Watch repaired outside an Apple Store—not even in Queens.

Elsewhere, Google is giving out 2GB of free Google Drive storage for doing a security check you should do anyway. (Do this same check on Facebook while you’re at it, although that network will only reward you with baby photos and a dead battery.) Also a big shout-out to Dan Moren, whose recent column was tweeted by Phil Schiller.

Show notes

• Review: Motorola’s Moto G is the best smartphone for around $200 by Florence Ion of Greenbot. (This is the Android phone Glenn has—he misspoke during the podcast and called it the Moto X.)

• Switch from Facebook’s iOS app to Facebook on Safari to save battery life by Caitlin McGarry

• Apple relaxing its iPhone trade-in rules to accept phones with cracked screens by Caitlin McGarry

• It’s time to stop waiting for the Apple Watch’s killer app by Michael Simon

• A Mac for all seasons: Why the Mac has so much staying power by Dan Moren

• Mossberg: Apple’s apps need work by Walt Mossberg for The Verge

• About Walt Mossberg and Apple’s app problem by Jim Dalrymple at The Loop

• Apple takes its eye off the ball: Why Apple fans are really coming to hate Apple software by Michael Hiltzik for the Los Angeles Times

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