Videos claiming to show how to unlock an iPhone without the passcode spread across the internet, despite being hoaxes

The trick appears to actually be a result of people unintentionally unlocking their phones with their fingers

The little-known trick can make your iPhone run much quicker (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Videos that claim to show how to get into a locked iPhone are actually hoaxes, but that has not stopped many of them being viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

The videos claim to show a way of getting into the phone without using the passcode or the fingerprint scanner.

The supposed trick encourages people to head to Siri and ask about the time. By clicking on that, users can gain access to the Clock app, and from there the phone’s usually locked options become available.

But the trick appears simply to be happening because people are unlocking their phones using their fingerprints, and so the phone would have given them access anyway.

The trick does mirror legitimate loopholes in the iPhone’s security, which have been used to gain access to the handset in the past. Late last year for instance it was revealed that it was possible to get into the Photos and Contacts apps by using Siri and pressing other options in a specific order.

But the new trick seems to be little more than a hoax. Though some have reported success, it appears that those people have probably used their fingerprint to gain access to the phone without knowing it.