If you don’t disable Bluetooth while out in public, your iPhone could be the target of a DoS attack
The good news is that no permanent damage is done to the phone although this denial of service (DoS) attack might lead those unaware of what is really going on to believe that their iPhone is broken. The easiest way to make sure that you don’t get caught up in this DoS loop is to have Bluetooth disabled whenever you are out in public. Otherwise, if someone within Bluetooth range of you (approximately 30 feet) has the $169 Flipper Zero device they can either force your iPhone to crash or receive annoying pop-up messages.
The Flipper Zero device
To turn off your Bluetooth connection, go to Settings > Bluetooth and turn Bluetooth off. Using the Control Center to disable Bluetooth is apparently not good enough to stop the attacks. And after you go into Settings to toggle off the connectivity feature, it is recommended that you restart your device.
Android users can also find their phones under attack
As we said the attacks don’t damage impacted iPhone units, and they can’t steal your personal data or install malware, at least not yet. The only thing that a Flipper Zero attack can do is inconvenience and annoy you. Until Apple releases a fix for this “prank,” you might want to disable Bluetooth whenever you’re on a bus, train, ferry, or at the movies, attending a sporting event, or enjoying a concert.
Affected iPhone with a pop-up message asking to become a new user on an Apple TV
Anywhere there is a crowd of people, some joker with a Flipper Zero device could be just 30 feet away from you ready to create havoc. Android users are also at risk. On Android, look for Nearby Share in Settings (it is located in different places depending on the manufacturer and the version of Android being used). Toggle off “Show notification” before going out in public.
Regardless of which platform you are using, waiting until an attack starts to disable Bluetooth might not be such a great idea. That’s because the attacks are so disruptive to users that it can be impossible to get to the Bluetooth toggle while an attack is in progress. No, you need to be proactive and disable Bluetooth before your phone is under attack or else you might not get a chance to use your phone thanks to that one person in a crowd who gets off by preventing you from using your handset.
