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Bug Television Apple Hardware Technology

Apple Hid a Lightning Connector For Debugging In the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet Port (9to5mac.com) 60

Posted by BeauHD from the hide-and-seek dept.
Twitter user Kevin Bradley discovered a Lightning port hidden in the Apple TV 4K's ethernet port. There's a number of theories for why the port exists, but one of the more logical explanations is that it's simply there for Apple to use for debugging. 9to5Mac reports: While earlier Apple TV models had Micro USB and USB-C, the Apple TV 4K dropped all outwardly-facing ports other than Ethernet and HDMI. Under the hood, however, there's a hidden Lightning port, as Bradley discovered. The Lightning port is hidden in the ethernet connector on the Apple TV 4K. Bradley teased on Twitter: "None of us looked THAT closely to the hardware of the AppleTV 4K and the magic locked in the ethernet port until fairly recently."

As for getting the Lightning port itself to work, Steven Barker said in a tweet that this is proving to be "difficult." The Lightning port is stuck at the very back of the ethernet port. Ultimately, it's not really clear what the Lightning port discovery could mean. One thing it could lead towards is the expansion of jailbreak capabilities for the Apple TV 4K, though Bradley cautions: "Just because we know it's lightning doesn't mean anything past that. Just because we find a way in doesn't mean anything will DEFINITELY be released due to what we discover. The barrier for entry might be way too high."
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Apple Hid a Lightning Connector For Debugging In the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet Port More

Apple Hid a Lightning Connector For Debugging In the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet Port

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  • TFA says they don't quite know what the port is there for, and that it might be difficult to do something of value with.

    In short, they found the port and they know nothing about it.

    • TFA says they don't quite know what the port is there for, and that it might be difficult to do something of value with.

      In short, they found the port and they know nothing about it.

      Theories for what the lightning port could be used for exist for a reason.

      • Why are you quoting him and then restating what he said in different words? The reason they have only theories is because they don't know what it is for, so the title "Apple Hid a Lightning Connector For Debugging In the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet Port" is the kind of thing a site that had actual editors would have changed to something like "Mysterious Lightning Connector Discovered in the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet Port" (Correcting erroneous capitalization the word "in" along the way; if "for" was included they w

      • It is very common for devices to have debugging ports, and it is unlikely to be useful for anything else because you cannot hook it up to ethernet *and* use the lightning connector.

        And Apple is well known for doing this as well, it seems. From the article: "Apple has a history of hiding ports on its products designed purely for service, diagnostics, and support."

    • Debugging would make sense, since it would allow à developer to hook it up to their Mac while developing a new app and work out why it may be misbehaving. The simulator only gets you so far.

  • I work at an Apple Customer Center (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 19, 2019 @06:12AM (#59324694)

    I work at an Apple Service Center. All I know about this port is that, any time we get one of these TVs in for any kind of service, we have a "black box" that plugs into it and sends data back to Cupertino. The box has its own cellular connection and only a power port and a fitted (i.e. not a plugin) cable that has a custom plug that goes into that jack.

    They didn't say what data it collected or why, but I imagine it's some kind of data retrieval, either for debugging, or collecting surveillance.

    • maybe criminal forensics incase child abuse material is viewed

      • Cause that is probably a 100 times more likely, statistically.

      • Not likely. The problem isn't that forensics needs to get data off the device; the problem is that the method does not have to be so ultra secret. As noted before Apple complies with court orders and provides whatever evidence they had; the FBI - Apple debate from a few years ago was that Apple didn't want to be ordered to lower the security for their devices at the whim of a government.

    • Re:I work at an Apple Customer Center (Score:4, Informative)

      by ctilsie242 ( 4841247 ) on Saturday October 19, 2019 @08:30AM (#59324832)

      That makes sense. It isn't a true JTAG flash, but Lightning adapters are used for DFU flashing of iPods and iPhones, so having a specialized cable that has similar functionality makes sense, and allows Apple to keep a common architecture, as well as similar SoC drivers.

      I can see it being used for pulling forensic or analytic data as well.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • I think the AC is trolling via feeding into the paranoia. If Apple wanted to pull stats, they can already do that with telemetry uploaded to them over https (SSL).

          From a dead device in a service centre? Clearly you've never worked in a service centre. Basically any electronic device you return to any manufacturer will first be plugged into some diagnostics device with data collected and kept for analysis.

          • It's not that service centers don't have devices and machines that diagnose electronics; why does Apple need an ultra-secret way to get the data when other methods may exist. Look at what the AC posted: a magical black box with no screen output and no other inputs other than power and this special cable can upload data off an Apple TV 4k via a cell connection to Cupertino.

            Of course that feeds paranoia. This lowly Apple service tech has no idea what it does. It even bypasses their internal Wifi. Does that e

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      +4 informative. Glad to see some on /. still believe anything they read on the internet.

    • This seems fishy to me. I don't doubt that Apple (or any manufacturer) has diagnostics ports and devices but the device described above seems stupidly designed. A black box with no screen output and no input just magically sends data to Cupertino via a cellular connection.

      First of all if you have a diagnostic device, how do you know it even worked? How do you know what is actually wrong with it? There are no error codes, no light indicators, etc. Second it sends data via a cell connection. That seems extrem

  • There is no Lightning port in the Ethernet port. If you look at the PCB there are however 7 or so connections more than Ethernet needs. To use them, you'd need either a special CAT-5/Ethernet cable with extra or modified wiring, or, possibly, a Lightning cable. Some folks have put Lightning adapters in there from old iPhones to no effect. *It requires soldering to connect a Lightning port, and a spare Lightning port for that matter.* So far all attempts and activating anything have failed. It's more corre
  • Every news source is reporting it’s a “hidden port” as if you could plug something into it. What they found is 7 pins near the Ethernet port that are not connected to anything. No one is sure what is the purpose. Some have speculated debugging but that might have been in early development. As it is today it would require some special equipment just to connect those pins.

    • Tear apart almost any modern device and you can likely find a UART or JTAG, sometimes labeled if you're lucky.

      Apple is vertically integrated to the point that I wouldn't be shocked if Lightning had some low level protocol that could talk straight to their own chips.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • That's not the case, it really is apparently built-in to the Ethernet port - there are a number of photos of it, including one in TFA. [9to5mac.com]. Those seven exposed electrodes at the back have nothing to do with Ethernet, the Ethernet lines are the diagonal strips of metal at the bottom.

        Again, those 7 pins are not connected to anything. They run vertically and do not terminate in the Ethernet port. In order to connect to a Lightning cable you'd need a 90 degree connection to 7 vertical pins.

        That said, while it's "Lightning" in the sense that it's a port that has the lightning pins exposed, it's obviously going to require some kind of different socket housing - kinda like those 9 pin ports IBM PCs had were considered RS232 ports but you couldn't attach a 25 pin RS232 plug to them so they weren't "standard" RS232. Or more recently, some of the weirder USB ports that phones had until they all standardized on microUSB and then USB-C.

        It could be Lightning because Lightning is 8 pin with 1 being ground; however, I don't know if anyone has analyzed the PCB to see what those pins are even attached to anything that could be Lightning. From what I remember, Lightning requires an authentication chip so if they traced it back to the chip t

      • Isn't it more likely they just weren't sure which port they wanted to use when designing those parts and found it cheaper to just source a dual-use port that let them decide later in the process?

  • But what about the hidden microphone and camera? Any idea what they are for? And why are these not being discussed? Is someone being paid off by Apple?

  • A number of routers, for example, have "hidden" connector pins inside one of the ethernet ports (usually the WAN port) for a service and debugging serial connector.

    That makes it possible for service people to run diagnostic software or flash a new firware, for example, using a special proprietary cable, without having to physically open the device to access the serial or JTAG port.

    In this case, the "hidden" lightning port of the Apple TV 4K must serve the same functions as the USB port of previous models: D

  • It was likely used to upload the firmware. Devices often have hidden jtag connectors (with the pins removed) and other kinds of ports for this reason. That cheap universal remote you got at Walmart likely has a jtag connector on the logic board.

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