Apple Hid a Lightning Connector For Debugging In the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet Port (9to5mac.com) 60
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."
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."
How do they know it's for debugging (Score:2)
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.
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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.
Theories for what the lightning port could be used for exist for a reason.
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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."
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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.
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All I can picture is an alien vs predator type cable.
An Ethernet cable with a lightning cable inside that comes out
What does that have to do with Predator? (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you too young to remember the Alien movies?
Too young to Alien (Score:2)
Are you too young to remember the Alien movies?
The first Alien came out in 1979, almost before I was born and I'm 40 years old.
I think it's reasonnable to guess that a sizeable part of the /. readers weren't at an age where they could see and remember the first Alien movie.
They probably relate better later installement in that movie-verse (or 'verse in general. The FPS games are actually decent).
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By that logic basically no one here should have seen Citizen Kane, but no doubt many people have and also remember it.
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Not really. It's only a new cable if you insist on using Ethernet with this connector, but it's also possible to just use a regular lightning cable and if you need network, use WiFi.
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Ethernet already works fine. That’s why nobody noticed this thing for years: they’d plug in their Ethernet and it’d work fine, so they’d never look inside to see that it’s actually a non-standard Ethernet port. I have the previous generation Apple TV hooked up via Ethernet, and for all I know it has one of these Lightning connectors in it too, since I never looked.
The only reason you’d need a new cable would be if you want to try using the Lightning connector in the Ether
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I'm afraid the XKCD universal converter box will need a new, triple-adapter.
https://xkcd.com/1406/ [xkcd.com]
New Cable (Score:2)
A new cable to do what with, exactly? It's apparently not designed for end-users.
Re:Requiring - a custom debug cable (Score:2)
How is the parent insightful?
The Apple TV requires a custom debug cable for a feature that is not intended for end users.
I work at an Apple Customer Center (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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By Apple employees, through the built-in camera? (Score:2)
Cause that is probably a 100 times more likely, statistically.
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Re:I work at an Apple Customer Center (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
So the OP says they have these black boxes that communicate with Apple Cupertino via cellular connections. How can he possibly know that unless he has a cell scanner that is decrypting the mobile signal coming off these black boxes.
Speculation and wrong info (Score:1)
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There is no Lightning port in the Ethernet port.
Semantics. It's a Lightning-connector-shaped opening and set of pads tucked away inside an RJ-45 jack. Better?
No. It’s 7 pins behind the Ethernet jack. [twitter.com] It’s not Lightning shaped.
Wrong.
No. This is a Lightning port [stackexchange.com].
You sound like a pack of six-year-olds arguing over Dragon Ball.
It is not a “hidden port“ (Score:2)
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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.
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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
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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?
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Microphone and Camera ... (Score:1, Troll)
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?
Nothing unusual (Score:1)
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
Firmware (Score:1)
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It's undocumented = it's a backdoor. As pointed out earlier, when connected to Apple equipment, it downloads and transmits something back to the mothership. Put 2 and 2 together.
Say, you don't work for Apple do you?
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As pointed out earlier, when connected to Apple equipment, it downloads and transmits something back to the mothership. Put 2 and 2 together.
So an anonymous person on the Internet says 1) they plug a special black box with a special plug and hook it up when they service Apple TVs. Though the box itself has no markings or screen of any kind, the person says 2) it uses a cellular connection to 3)transmit back data to Cupertino.
So it all must be true right? Think about all three elements required. Let's look at #1
only a power port and a fitted (i.e. not a plugin) cable that has a custom plug that goes into that jack.
The claim is there is a cable that's not a plug-in. So how do they keep the cable in place and in contact with the pins? Also when I loo
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Maybe you could try to not be so much of a camp follower.
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You: Based on unsubstantiated claims some anonymous person posted on the Internet, Apple put in a back door!
Me: Lets look at these claims and assess whether they are true first. To put in a backdoor this way, Apple chose the worst implementation I can conceive with elements that the anonymous person can’t possibly know. It would be far easier for Apple to have the service center run a program on a Mac mini that then transmits the data over Ethernet. Using a cell connection that isn
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I'm not responding to your points because they are technically weak, but you will argue to the ends of the earth that they are not, so fuck that. Typical Apple apologist. "Oh no I'm not, I just spend hours posting in defence of Apple in the internet because you know, they can't do that themselves, they need tons of help from hangers on like me!"
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I'm not responding to your points because they are technically weak, but you will argue to the ends of the earth that they are not, so fuck that
Can you point out is "technically weak"? But you've already said you won't so I assume you can't.
Typical Apple apologist.
Again I must an Apple apologist because I use logic . . . Sure. Maybe you're just wrong and that's you only move is to accuse others of bias when it seems you are the one with it. The point you missed is that it doesn't matter what I believe or do; you started out by not questioning anything that an anonymous person said on the internet because your bias against Apple is so strong you'd believe any conspiracy.
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You sound and probably smell like an Apple apologist. Same epic relentless stupidity as any random Apple social media belly crawler. Get a lobotomy, you'll be happier and do your job better.
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