Apple iOS 16 hidden system exposed: detect user country/region more accurately and restrict specific functions

On April 26, according to foreign media 9to5Mac, Apple has been testing a new, more modern hidden feature in iOS 16 that can restrict functions based on the user's location .

Apple currently uses hard-coded technology to restrict iOS features to specific locations, meaning most restrictions are simply tied to the region of the device, either through software settings or the origin of the hardware. But the company has been working on a new, smarter way to precisely determine a user's location, the report said.

According to foreign media, the new system, internally called "countryd", has been quietly added to iOS 16.2, but it is not yet actively used. It combines multiple data such as the current GPS location, the country code from the Wi-Fi router, and information obtained from the SIM card to determine the user's country.

Combining all this information will make it harder for users to bypass these restrictions, but at the same time, it will make it easier for devices to automatically ignore these restrictions when users travel to another region.

Back in December, Bloomberg reported that Apple had been planning to allow sideloading on iOS for the first time due to pressure from the European Union.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently claimed that while Apple still plans to allow sideloading on iOS 17, the feature will not be available anywhere outside of Europe. With the new "countryd" system, Apple will be able to easily determine if the device is used in an EU country to allow sideloading.

Of course, if other countries also force Apple to allow sideloading, a simple update to the system could enable the feature in other regions.

It’s unclear how or if Apple will announce sideloading as a new iOS feature. The company is set to release iOS 17 and other new versions of its operating system at WWDC 2023 in June.