- A report claims that Apple is working on a new anti-theft feature for iOS
- This will automatically lock your iPhone if it is stolen
- It uses your iPhone’s sensors to detect if it has been snatched from your hands
Phone theft has become such an epidemic in places like London that a device is snapped up every eight minutes in the UK capital, according to the latest government figures. In 2024, Android launched its Theft Detection Lock feature in an attempt to fight back, and now it looks like Apple is following suit.
That’s because 9to5Mac claims to have seen unreleased iOS code that hints at this feature. If it comes to fruition, it could mean users of both major phone operating systems have a way to keep their private information out of the hands of thieves.
It sounds like Apple’s idea could be a simple but effective system. The report says iOS will use various signals — including your iPhone’s accelerometer and the distance between the phone and a paired Apple Watch — to figure out when the device has been quickly taken from your hands. When that happens, it automatically locks your iPhone and keeps your data closed to the thief.
Once iOS has verified these criteria and locked your iPhone, it checks to see if your device is on a known Wi-Fi network and in a known location. If not, additional security measures come into effect, including requiring Face ID or Touch ID to access credit cards and passwords and adding a time delay to change 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. That’s because having your phone suddenly ripped out of your hands has a huge disadvantage for you (and a huge advantage for the bad guys) in that your device is likely to be unlocked.
If an iPhone is unlocked, the thief can still access many of the most personal and sensitive items on your device, including your address book, emails, recent texts, and more. And that is a big problem.
But when this rumored anti-theft device locks an iPhone, it adds an extra layer of security. Thieves then have to get past your password or biometric authentication to access your phone’s internals instead of having everything on display for them. And with additional features like Stolen Device Protection, it should help keep your data even more secure.
It’s worth noting that Apple has yet to announce this feature, and instead appears to have been unearthed in unreleased iOS code. While Apple could announce it at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8, it might also be testing the idea without any release commitment.
But if the feature is to appear this year, WWDC would be a good time for Apple to lift the lid on it.
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