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A homemade Faraday cage helped deceive iOS geolocation.
In early November, Apple introduced a software update that adds hearing aid functionality to the AirPods Pro 2 headphones. Ritwik Jayasimha from India immediately purchased the device for his grandmother, but the functionality was not available in his country of residence. Together with friends Arnav Bansal and Ritwik Vibhu, whose grandmothers also use hearing aids, Jayasimha developed a way to get around Apple's restriction.
The researchers created a simple Faraday cage using a cardboard box and aluminum foil mounted on a microwave oven to activate the hearing aid settings. The design worked because household microwave ovens use electromagnetic waves at the same frequency as Wi-Fi signals — 2.4 GHz. All project participants have hardware and software skills. They shared their best practices as part of the Lagrange Point technology association.
When looking for a solution, experts studied ways to determine the location of the device in iOS. For Wi-Fi-only devices, the system checks the Apple Store region, time zone, language, and device region. The operating system also sends a request to Apple's web service, which returns a country code based on the IP address.
Manually changing the iPad's time zone and region settings did not produce results. Masking the IP address as the United States has also proven ineffective. It turned out that iOS analyzes Wi-Fi network identifiers (SSIDs), which help devices connect to the appropriate networks in the presence of many signals. The system uses GPS triangulation and MAC addresses of nearby devices, including routers, to determine the location. Even when using a proxy server to mimic a US IP address, surrounding routers and devices with Indian IP addresses reveal the real location.
The Faraday cage made it possible to isolate the iPad from other devices and wireless networks. A cardboard box and aluminum foil design mounted on the microwave blocked signals when turned on. The method turned out to be a temporary solution, as the first version of the cell did not completely eliminate the device's interaction with the environment.
Subsequently, researchers developed a less inventive, but more reliable and practical Faraday cage. The new design completely eliminates the iPad's interaction with surrounding devices and networks, creating complete isolation from external signals. After that, the specialists used an open-source Wi-Fi location database and an SSID cycling tool to simulate the device's location in California. This allowed iOS to be tricked into thinking of the device as being in a supported region. After completing all the procedures, the hearing aid functions are working in India.
Apple offers hearing aid features in more than 100 countries. The technology promises to make hearing aids more accessible to millions of people around the world. However, the company is restricting access in some countries, including India, likely due to regulatory requirements for medical devices.
The researchers plan to help dozens of people who come to them with the setup of headphones using a second version of the Faraday cage. From the experience of their own grandmothers, the functions of the hearing aid have proven to be useful in everyday life. Bansal said that the grandmother, who suffers from hearing loss, used to use a bulky hearing aid with tiny buttons when watching TV. Now she uses AirPods with a customized hearing profile, which is much more comfortable and does not cause the feeling of using a medical device.
Source
In early November, Apple introduced a software update that adds hearing aid functionality to the AirPods Pro 2 headphones. Ritwik Jayasimha from India immediately purchased the device for his grandmother, but the functionality was not available in his country of residence. Together with friends Arnav Bansal and Ritwik Vibhu, whose grandmothers also use hearing aids, Jayasimha developed a way to get around Apple's restriction.
The researchers created a simple Faraday cage using a cardboard box and aluminum foil mounted on a microwave oven to activate the hearing aid settings. The design worked because household microwave ovens use electromagnetic waves at the same frequency as Wi-Fi signals — 2.4 GHz. All project participants have hardware and software skills. They shared their best practices as part of the Lagrange Point technology association.
When looking for a solution, experts studied ways to determine the location of the device in iOS. For Wi-Fi-only devices, the system checks the Apple Store region, time zone, language, and device region. The operating system also sends a request to Apple's web service, which returns a country code based on the IP address.
Manually changing the iPad's time zone and region settings did not produce results. Masking the IP address as the United States has also proven ineffective. It turned out that iOS analyzes Wi-Fi network identifiers (SSIDs), which help devices connect to the appropriate networks in the presence of many signals. The system uses GPS triangulation and MAC addresses of nearby devices, including routers, to determine the location. Even when using a proxy server to mimic a US IP address, surrounding routers and devices with Indian IP addresses reveal the real location.
The Faraday cage made it possible to isolate the iPad from other devices and wireless networks. A cardboard box and aluminum foil design mounted on the microwave blocked signals when turned on. The method turned out to be a temporary solution, as the first version of the cell did not completely eliminate the device's interaction with the environment.
Subsequently, researchers developed a less inventive, but more reliable and practical Faraday cage. The new design completely eliminates the iPad's interaction with surrounding devices and networks, creating complete isolation from external signals. After that, the specialists used an open-source Wi-Fi location database and an SSID cycling tool to simulate the device's location in California. This allowed iOS to be tricked into thinking of the device as being in a supported region. After completing all the procedures, the hearing aid functions are working in India.
Apple offers hearing aid features in more than 100 countries. The technology promises to make hearing aids more accessible to millions of people around the world. However, the company is restricting access in some countries, including India, likely due to regulatory requirements for medical devices.
The researchers plan to help dozens of people who come to them with the setup of headphones using a second version of the Faraday cage. From the experience of their own grandmothers, the functions of the hearing aid have proven to be useful in everyday life. Bansal said that the grandmother, who suffers from hearing loss, used to use a bulky hearing aid with tiny buttons when watching TV. Now she uses AirPods with a customized hearing profile, which is much more comfortable and does not cause the feeling of using a medical device.
Source
