In mid-December 2025, police located and arrested a convicted drug trafficker at a convenience store in Westbrook, Maine for breaching his parole conditions. When the cops seized and searched the rental car he’d been using, they found four iPhones inside.

In fall 2024, Apple released a security feature that automatically reboots an iPhone when it’s been locked for 72 hours or more. Typically, that means cops are in a race against the clock to get as much information from suspects’ phones before the timer runs out.

But in this case, the local police had access to a surveillance device that can stop that 72-hour timer. The Graykey Preserve tool gives cops more time to get a warrant, enabling them to ensure they can still search an iPhone for chats, images, videos and web browsing data beyond the three-day cutoff.

Through court and contract records, as well as public information requests, Forbes has learned local and federal cops across at least six U.S. states are now using the Graykey Preserve tool: Georgia, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi, New York and Rhode Island. Most........

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