- Report claims Apple is working on a new theft protection feature for iOS
- This will automatically lock your iPhone if it is stolen
- It uses your iPhone’s sensors to detect if it’s been snatched from your hands
Phone theft has become such an epidemic in places like London that a device is stolen every eight minutes in the British capital, according to the latest government data. In 2024, Android launched its Theft Detection Lock feature in an effort to fight back, and now it looks like Apple is poised to follow suit.
Indeed, 9to5Mac claims to have seen unreleased iOS code hinting at this feature. If this comes to fruition, it could mean that users of the two major phone operating systems will have a way to keep their private information out of the hands of thieves.
It seems that Apple’s idea could be a simple but effective system. The report states that iOS will use various signals, including your iPhone’s accelerometer and the distance between the phone and a paired Apple Watch, to determine when the device was quickly removed from your hand. When this happens, it automatically locks your iPhone, keeping your data out of the thief’s reach.
Once iOS confirms these criteria and locks your iPhone, it then checks to see if your device is on a familiar Wi-Fi network and in a familiar location. Otherwise, additional security measures come into effect, including requiring Face ID or Touch ID to access credit cards and passwords and adding a time limit for changing your Apple account password. These mirror what you’ll find with Apple’s Stolen Device Protection feature.
Better protection
While Stolen Device Protection, Activation Lock, and Find My are all useful, they don’t fully protect you in all circumstances. Indeed, having your phone suddenly snatched from your hands presents a major disadvantage for you (and a big advantage for the scammers), in that your device is likely to be unlocked.
If an iPhone is unlocked, the thief can still access many of your device’s most personal and sensitive items, including your address book, emails, recent text messages, and more. And it’s a big problem.
But when this theft protection feature locks an iPhone, it adds an extra layer of security. Thieves then have to bypass your password or biometric authentication in order to access the innards of your phone rather than display everything for them. And with added features like stolen device protection, it should help protect your data even more.
It’s worth noting that Apple has yet to make an announcement about this feature, and instead appears to have been discovered in unreleased iOS code. While Apple could announce it at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8, it could also just be testing the idea without any release commitment.
But if the feature is going to appear this year, WWDC would be a good time for Apple to lift the veil on this feature.
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