This Date Will Permanently Brick Your iPhone

Setting your iPhone to January 1, 1970, could result in it not being able to work anymore. It just so happens that Jan 1, 1970, is the last date you can scroll to on your iPhone. A little disclaimer here: I am not liable for anyone who attempts this after reading this post. So what is actually happening is an integer underflow caused by the Unix epoch. So, Jan 1, 1970, is when the Unix epoch was created. The Unix epoch is how any computer stores time. Instead of counting the time the way we do, computers store time in binary system. The iPhone is now becoming 64-bit so it would be a very long time before we would not have time running. However, an integer overflow occurs when there are all ones and one is added. Ex. 111111. Since that is the highest amount, adding one more would turn it back to 000000, since it wraps around. What happens with an integer underflow is the exact opposite. If you have 000000, and you minus one, it would go to 6 ones. 64 ones according to Tom Scott is 4/12/292277026596. But how could time go backward? Well, your phone also keeps track stores time when you make a phone call. Suppose your last phone call was 15 minutes ago, if you set your iPhone to January 1, 1970, it would think you are in a time before the Unix epoch. After that, the phone goes haywire, and to make a long story short, it permanently shuts down.

If you want to learn more, visit http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/12/technology/iphone-date-bug/