[HN Gopher] The Myth of Liquid Detection
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       The Myth of Liquid Detection
        
       Author : frizlab
       Score  : 24 points
       Date   : 2025-03-20 15:32 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (eclecticlight.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (eclecticlight.co)
        
       | freetime2 wrote:
       | One time I was caught out in heavy rain, and when I later tried
       | to plug in my iPhone I got a message saying the lightning port
       | was disabled until it could dry out. There was even an emergency
       | override option, which I opted not to use. Seems like a nice
       | feature to me.
        
         | TrainedMonkey wrote:
         | A few days ago my iPhone would show the same message despite
         | not being exposed to water. A reboot has fixed it, but that
         | makes me wonder what is the false positive rate on that.
        
           | delusional wrote:
           | I had that on a Samsung phone. Eventually it got so bad I had
           | to switch phone because it would constantly believe there was
           | water in the USB port even though it was bone dry.
           | 
           | It may have been some sort of short internally, but to me it
           | just meant a defective phone.
        
       | jayd16 wrote:
       | It doesn't need to send anything to Apple. A tech could read a
       | log or CMOS bit or whatever at time of repair. Not saying they do
       | that but the article seems pretty pointless. It's like they
       | wanted to talk about a neat feature and chose the most indigent
       | way possible.
        
       | rgovostes wrote:
       | Apple provides a man page for every system daemon. I suppose this
       | doesn't answer too many questions though:                   NAME
       | liquiddetectiond - Liquid Detection and Corrosion Mitigation
       | Daemon              DESCRIPTION           liquiddetectiond runs
       | in the background and collects liquid detection
       | analytics from each USB-C port on the system.
        
         | userbinator wrote:
         | _collects liquid detection analytics_
         | 
         | For a company that is very careful in phrasing its public
         | communications, that description definitely raises some red
         | flags. If it was something more like "detects moisture and
         | warns the user to avoid damage caused by damp USB port use" it
         | would be perceived much better.
        
       | AndrewDucker wrote:
       | Here's someone at Texas Instruments explaining how it works.
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/DW9Iq9cp7-g
        
       | userbinator wrote:
       | It's only because "telemetry" (i.e. spyware) has been so
       | pervasive that the suspicions arose. Does anyone else remember
       | the "dew sensors" in VCRs and other tape equipment? Those were
       | around before pervasive mass surveillance, and didn't cause the
       | same suspicion.
       | 
       |  _Attempts to connect over the network are obvious in the log_
       | 
       | Which log? The one on the device itself, whose software has a
       | history of ignoring what the user wants?
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24838816
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-23 23:00 UTC)