Apple internal iOS devices used by engineers are "dev-fused".
This hardware configuration opens up the device to some extent, allowing Apple engineers more latitude when developing software.
There have been articles saying that Apple lets some third party security people use these devices.
I can see how giving that access that might make sense, but I don't know if that article is true.
Dev-fused devices would also be very useful to Apple adversaries like NSO in developing hacks so I would actually expect Apple to continue to keep tight control over them.
> Apple internal iOS devices used by engineers are "dev-fused".
We at Samsung use a similar mechanism called Anti Rollback Prevention (ARP). It is a switch that can be enabled for normal devices if the employees using them are given an approval by their boss. Only a handful of employees have access to it, and the switch turns off by itself after a defined period.
Apple does not provide third parties access to developer fused devices. They do have a "security research device" program that allows nominally more access to the device, kind of equivalent to most jailbreaks these days, but definitely falling short of a development fusing or what something like checkra1n would get you.
There have been articles saying that Apple lets some third party security people use these devices.
E.G. https://macdailynews.com/2019/08/06/apple-hands-hackers-secr...
I can see how giving that access that might make sense, but I don't know if that article is true.
Dev-fused devices would also be very useful to Apple adversaries like NSO in developing hacks so I would actually expect Apple to continue to keep tight control over them.