Weird iOS 7 bug lets you bypass lock to share photos

Apple has admitted there's a bug in its brand-new iOS 7 software that lets you access and share photos without unlocking the phone.

The bug, which was discovered by Jose Rodriguez, a soldier from the Canary Islands, takes advantage of the new control centre in iOS 7. Control centre is a set of essential phone functions such as the camera, torch and calculator you can access without unlocking, simply by swiping up on the lock screen.

"We are aware of this issue," an Apple spokesman told The Guardian, "and will deliver a fix in a future software update."

Here's how you do it: press the home or power buttons on an iPhone with iOS 7 so you see the lock screen. Swipe up to see the control centre and press the clock icon, then go to the alarm clock. Now, hold down the power button for a couple of seconds until the 'slide to power off' comes up. Hit cancel, then straight away double tap the home button. If you wait even a second it won't work.

Now you're in the multitasking menu, which you shouldn't really have access to. You can't access any apps except those available from the control centre, which includes the camera. The difference is that in the camera you can now access all the phone's stored photos, where normally it would tell you to unlock the phone.

From there you can share any pic you like from the accounts logged in on the phone, including new ones that you take yourself. Here's one I made earlier, using my colleague Andy Hoyle's box-fresh iPhone 5C.

I've managed to get the bug to work on an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4 as well as Apple's colourful plastic new mobile. The 4 and 5 were both running iOS 7.0, while the 5C has the new iOS 7.0.1 update. I wasn't able to confirm if it works on the iPhone 5S.

Apple's new phones went on sale this morning at 8am in the UK, with over a thousand people queueing outside the flagship store in London's Covent Garden, including this enthusiastic gent:

No such queues were in evidence at a Phones 4U round the corner, because third-party resellers can't sell them SIM-free for another two weeks. If you want a new iPhone without a contract, you'll have to get it from Apple.

Have you tried the bug? Does it work? What mischief have you gotten up to? Get up to no good in the comments, or on our completely secure Facebook page.