How an iPhone screen repair got the owner banned from Snapchat
After Apple repaired Finn Voorhees’s broken iPhone screen, he has encountered an unusual problem which earned him a permanent ban on Snapchat.
After restoring his newly fixed iPhone from a saved backup, Finn proceeded to re-authorize all his social media logins and other accounts. This is normal, even when recovering from an encrypted backup. Login tokens are never backed up for security reasons. But he soon ran into another issue as he discovered Snapchat banned him for an unusual but logical reason.
Snapchat bans an iPhone owner with a replacement device
Finn Voorhees, writing on his personal blog:
When trying to log in to Snapchat, I received an “SS06: Device Banned” error message. This was surprising, as I had no issues signing in on a different device. According to Snapchat’s support documentation, the SS06 error code indicates that the device has been banned due to abuse or repeated violations of their Community Guidelines. The support document also stated that Snapchat Support cannot unban a device once it has been banned.
He’s not lying. “If you’re seeing an SS07 error code when trying to log in, this means your device has been banned from logging into Snapchat because too many accounts have been associated with the device,” as per the support page. “If your device has been banned, Snapchat Support cannot unban it for you.”
I began to suspect that Apple had given me a refurbished iPhone as a replacement, and the previous owner had been banned for violating Snapchat’s guidelines. Searching the web led me to various forum posts from people who had been banned for posting pictures of illegal drugs, and contacting Snapchat support led to automated messages saying I was banned for violating guidelines and they cannot lift device bans.
Six Colors pointed out that none of this would have happen if Apple had cleared the IDs of refurbished devices. But perhaps the company shouldn’t be issuing refurbished devices as replacements in the first place! In 2022, Apple lost a class action lawsuit for issuing refurbished and demo devices as replacements to people who purchased optional AppleCare coverage, but it doesn’t seem like it’s learned its lesson.
Apple refurbishes demo devices used in its retail stores and those customers return, selling them at a discount via its refurbished online store. Refurbished devices are good as new. They have a new outer shell (only iOS devices), a brand-new battery and are covered by Apple’s standard one-year warranty.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/08/28/iphone-repair-snapchat-ban/
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