What is possibly the most amazing anti-theft security feature for the iPhone is believed to be in development by Apple. Imagine this scenario. You are holding your iPhone in your hand and someone runs up from behind you, snatches your iPhone from your hand, and runs off with it. We will get back to this later, right now just keep reading.
Apple does have security features that keep a thief locked out of your iPhone
Apple does have security features like Find My + Activation Lock, and Stolen Device Protection. With the former, when you activate Find My iPhone, the Activation Lock turns on. This
means that whenever someone steals an iPhone and wipes it, or uses a computer to restore it, or tries to set it up as new, the phone will demand the email address and password of the user’s Apple Account in order to activate the unit.
We just wanted to give you a warning. If your iPhone is stolen, the Activation Lock might keep the thief locked out of your phone. However, it won’t stop him from using phishing tactics to try to get your Apple Account email and your password, and you should never share these.
With Stolen Device Protection, whenever an iPhone is not in a familiar location like home or work, a change to certain settings will require biometric verification (Face ID or Touch ID), a one-hour wait, and then another biometric scan. With this feature enabled, it would protect changes including:
- Changing the Apple Account password.
- Turning off Find My.
- Disabling this very feature (Stolen Device Protection).
- Viewing saved passwords.
- Applying for an Apple Card.
- Changing trusted devices/security settings.
Apple is reportedly working on a way to protect unlocked iPhone units that are stolen
To reiterate, the Activation Lock prevents a thief from resetting and reusing your iPhone. Stolen Device Protection prevents someone from using your passcode to hijack your Apple Account. But, if someone grabs your iPhone while it is unlocked, these features don’t help you, which is why Apple is working on something new.
How the new iPhone feature being developed works
What Apple is working on is a feature that will use the accelerometer and other tools to detect when your iPhone has been snatched out of your hand by John Q. Thief, and automatically lock the phone. It is similar to Android’s Theft Detection Lock.
Stolen Device Protection enabled on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. | Image by PhoneArena
If the iPhone user has a paired Apple Watch, the feature will monitor the distance between the iPhone and the paired timepiece to determine if the iPhone has been stolen. If it has been stolen while in an unfamiliar location, the same set of rules that apply to Stolen Device Protection will be in play. Again, that means before certain settings are changed, the user’s identity must be verified via Face ID or Touch ID, and some time has to pass before certain settings are revised.
Resale value is why thieves covet the iPhone more than any other smartphone
This is done to allow the victim of an iPhone theft to contact his bank and other holders of his financial accounts, and advise them that his iPhone has been stolen and to freeze his accounts.
While 9to5Mac says that it has seen the code showing that this feature is actively being developed, there is no date when we might expect to see this arrive. This is a good feature that Apple should implement as soon as possible since it will protect iPhone users who are victims of a snatch-and-run.
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