Hello.
Recently I had identity theft, and my iPhone was compromised. I got a new iPhone and did the *#21# and this came up. Should I be concerned?
With my other iPhone when I did this code it called, and I got a recording saying it wasn’t in service.
Any help with this issue is greatly appreciated .
[Edited by Moderator]
Original Title: Help with *#21#
iPhone 14, iOS 18
It has nothing to do with detecting if a phone is compromised. Unfortunately on TikTok, it is said to be some kind of iPhone diagnostic code, but it is NOT. It has nothing to do with your device and the information is provided from your cellular provider from what THEY are using. That specific code is to have your cellular provider send you the Call Forwarding settings that they are using. If you accidentally entered the wrong code, which is very similar, you can change those settings with your cellular provider and some of those TikTok videos are telling people to enter the wrong code. That will mess up your cellular account and you can certainly tell your cell provider to forward your calls or text messages without knowing what you are doing.
If you have any questions about the information you see there, contact your cellular provider as that is where any changes would have to be made. You can find similar questions here:
It has nothing to do with detecting if a phone is compromised. Unfortunately on TikTok, it is said to be some kind of iPhone diagnostic code, but it is NOT. It has nothing to do with your device and the information is provided from your cellular provider from what THEY are using. That specific code is to have your cellular provider send you the Call Forwarding settings that they are using. If you accidentally entered the wrong code, which is very similar, you can change those settings with your cellular provider and some of those TikTok videos are telling people to enter the wrong code. That will mess up your cellular account and you can certainly tell your cell provider to forward your calls or text messages without knowing what you are doing.
If you have any questions about the information you see there, contact your cellular provider as that is where any changes would have to be made. You can find similar questions here:
Yep, the reasons are the same as the ones seen on TikTok. They do it for likes and shares and fear is the driving factor. On YouTube they can also get income from ads and when watching one of those types of videos, the algorithms will suggest similar videos for you to watch. The keywords that are most profitable to drive traffic are "Spyware", "Hacking", "Compromised", and "Virus" to name a few, where the goal is to have their videos appear on the top of a search list with any of those terms. That is the world we live in on Social Media.
As stated, those codes have nothing to do with any setting or compromise on your device. Contact your cell provider for any questions. If your cell provider uses a Spam Blocker, call forwarding is enabled on your account as that is how those services work to check the number on a whitelist when using a third party. Tell your cell provider what you did and all the codes you typed as you may have made an unwanted change on your account that they can fix.
Hi Jim.
Thank you for responding. I watched something on YouTube (link below). Some of the things he talked about doesn’t appear on my phone.
Interpreting *#21# results for a compromised iPhone
