Apple might fix iOS bugs with Web-based tool

Move over, Genius Bar techs. Apple Inc. may soon be using a Web-based tool to detect, diagnose and solve problems with iPhone, iPad and iPod devices running iOS. Apple has internally announced an online tool that can be used remotely to facilitate a diagnostic, Apple enthusiast site Hardmac reported. "In effect, this systems operates entirely online. An email is sent to the device containing a URL (this can alsoo be entered by hand) and the device will connect via Mobile Safari and the telephone to start internal checks and sends the result of it to the Apple servers to which the service centers are connected," it said. The only personal information that will be transmitted are the UUID of the mobile, its name, and the daily calculation of the call time. Among the information the system will supposedly gather are:

• Health, level of load of the battery, duration passed since the last complete charge
• Minimum level to which the battery was discharged
• iOS version installed
• If the mobile was turned off normally the preceding time.

A separate article on TheNextWeb said the results will then be sent to Apple’s servers where technicians can study and solve them. The tool may be made available to technicians in coming months, the report added. But it was not immediately clear if the tool can detect if an Apple iOS device had been jailbroken, or modified to use unauthorized apps. "We are unaware of if a jailbreak will be detected by this system," Hardmac said. — TJD, GMA News