Cellebrite, the Israeli company that sells data extraction tools to police forces, appears to be preparing a new product for unlocking iPhones. A confidential internal document, obtained by researcher Justin.sh and reported by Bruce Schneier, describes it. The product is called Advanced Unlocks, abbreviated AU, and should not be confused with the advanced unlocking services the company has promoted for years. A press release earlier this year confirms AU is a new product for 2026.
According to the document, AU is a "next-generation AFU vector that is more resilient to Apple's OS changes." AFU refers to devices in the state they reach after being unlocked once since boot, when much of the data remains accessible. Cellebrite also claims the method works with Stolen Device Protection enabled, the feature that tightens USB restrictions and that Apple introduced precisely to make this kind of access harder.
Cellebrite trains law enforcement to keep iPhone hacking secrets
The product would be a dedicated appliance with a stated range of about 8 meters, so it would not require prolonged physical contact with the phone. On this point the sources stay at the level of claims: Cellebrite says the system still works with protection enabled, a claim not yet verified by independent tests. No price or availability date is given.
The story belongs to the line of vulnerabilities Cellebrite exploits to extract data from locked phones, a topic AlexTech has followed with the SharedRoot flaw that let an AI agent escape its sandbox on Mac and with Apple's patches for bugs already exploited on iPhone and iPad. Every new unlocking method forces Apple to respond with updates, and the contest between the two sides has gone on for years.
cellebrite-ufed-read · GitHub Topics · GitHub
What changes for users
For iPhone owners the practical message is simple: install security updates as soon as they arrive and keep Stolen Device Protection on. If the document is confirmed, that barrier alone would not be enough in every case.
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