I've got an ancient 3G phone myself with only basic apps since it's too slow to play games or use any modern apps so I'm curious, how does the thief make use of the phone without turning it on? What procedures do they employ to disable security on a modern iphone?
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New Stolen Phone Database Having Little Effect on Thefts
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I've got an ancient 3G phone myself with only basic apps since it's too slow to play games or use any modern apps so I'm curious, how does the thief make use of the phone without turning it on? What procedures do they employ to disable security on a modern iphone?
But surely that could be defeated if the thief just installed Google Now and let the battery drain to zero within a few seconds...
Good idea, i wonder if there is a jailbreak tweak for that...hmmm
You may think this sounds cazy but I think Apple wouldnt implement a kill switch (unless it was reversible) for environmental reasons. Imagine, a bunch of bricked iphones would probably just end up in the bin. For a green company like Apple thats big on recycling, that would be a bad manoeuvre.
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If you're phone is passcoded, I think a passcode to turn the iPhone off would help too with would-be thieves turning the phones off till they get home or a pawn shop or wherever to reset/restore them.
I sure hope Apple does release a phone with a fingerprint scanner.
I sure hope Apple does release a phone with a fingerprint scanner.
Then the thief will press both the power and the home button to force reboot your phone and make it enter DFU mode so that it can be restored as a new phone. This feature is very important when your phone freezes or is overloaded with a buggy app that significantly heats up your phone and Apple will not disable it.
If you live in a city you take your life into your hands every minute of every day! My little town is just like a Norman Rockwell painting, and we like it that way.
Again I'm going to say it; no technical solution is going to be enough, as there will always be some way to circumvent it, or some limit to how far a company can realistically go in adding anti-theft features to a device, when the number of phones stolen is in the minority so it's just not worth investing so much time in.
Also again; except in cases where the phone is stolen through burglary or mugging then the fault is entirely with the owner of the phone. There are so many simple steps to take to make sure your valuable gadgets are safe when you're out and about, but still people leave them hanging out of bags, or put them in pockets that don't have a fastener of any kind, or leave them in stupid places like resting on a table or in a bag on the floor.
It's been the deal with laptops for ages, the only difference is that phones are easier to steal and more people have them.
People need to do more to stop their own devices from being stolen in the first place; keep it in a pocket or bag with a fastener, don't leave it lying out anywhere, don't leave bags unattended or somewhere that is easy for a thief to get to.
Also again; except in cases where the phone is stolen through burglary or mugging then the fault is entirely with the owner of the phone. There are so many simple steps to take to make sure your valuable gadgets are safe when you're out and about, but still people leave them hanging out of bags, or put them in pockets that don't have a fastener of any kind, or leave them in stupid places like resting on a table or in a bag on the floor.
It's been the deal with laptops for ages, the only difference is that phones are easier to steal and more people have them.
People need to do more to stop their own devices from being stolen in the first place; keep it in a pocket or bag with a fastener, don't leave it lying out anywhere, don't leave bags unattended or somewhere that is easy for a thief to get to.
For british it is the correct thing, but not over here! lol
It seriously sound VERY weird to me, just not used to it.
And for me Apple is a single corporation, it's a corporation where millions of people work at but it's still one company.
I am not judging you cause I know british is different in some ways, just saying^^
They look at the thief's as new customers who will buy apps and songs. Why shut the stolen phone down and lose revenue? (I am being sarcastic here.)
not sure why you'd say that since you can trigger the system to make a sound on your iPhone and only your iPhone. if you know the phone is there and on because the program found it, how hard would it be to look around for the chirping phone.
of course that presumes that the program will find your phone. Any smart iphone theft will immediately put it into Airplane mode so it can't be found and remotely locked and then kill find my iPhone. Or even just power it off until they can take it to a place with no wifi, pop out the active sim and put in a blank one then DFU restore it.
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They probably could do it (or something similar) but they would have to set up legal protocols to insure that the phone really was lost or stolen and it's not you getting back at an ex or such. If they required that you fill out a police report before they do anything they would weed a lot of that out due to folks being too lazy to go to that much effort or the risk of legal trouble if you are caught filing a false report.
Then again there are ways to tweak phones and put in a different serial etc. So even if they created this 'blacklist' all someone would need is a good serial etc for that model phone and they could bypass that system
Or they could have a remote way to turn your phone back on, even if just goes into a low power use 'find me' mode.
You're a dee de dee...
Apple has gone to some expense to develop the 'Find My iPhone' service and to encourage iPhone owners to activate the service during the setup process.
Google does not include any such service in Android
:cough: BS
I think that Find My iPhone is a nice little feature to help out if your phone is lost or stolen. However, It's not up to Apple to find our phones if we lose them or have them stolen. I find it somewhat funny when someone gets their phone stolen because they forgot it at a party but then complain at how useless Find My iPhone is. I've had my 1st gen iPod Nano stolen back in high school, so I know the feeling, and it's not a good one at all. However, you just gotta learn to keep a better eye on your stuff and not get pissed at Apple if you lose it or have it stolen.
There could be a very simple solution.
Apple could add an I'm alive signal to the firmware of the iPhone, on par with a server authentification. That way the iPhone could send a signal with current phone number and location before booting to an apple server. If the phone is clear then it's good to go, if its not, then an email with location and current number could be sent to the email of the original owner.
That paired with imei blocking from carriers (in my country that is already done) would make it much more difficult for thieves to get it running.
Nonetheless the easiest solution is for people to ask for the original box of the device when buying an used one. That would kill almost immediately the market of stolen iPhones.
The policy for stolen devices should be the same as fake money. It doesn't matter if you did it or not. If an authority catch you with fake money, it will be confiscated.
Apple could add an I'm alive signal to the firmware of the iPhone, on par with a server authentification. That way the iPhone could send a signal with current phone number and location before booting to an apple server. If the phone is clear then it's good to go, if its not, then an email with location and current number could be sent to the email of the original owner.
That paired with imei blocking from carriers (in my country that is already done) would make it much more difficult for thieves to get it running.
Nonetheless the easiest solution is for people to ask for the original box of the device when buying an used one. That would kill almost immediately the market of stolen iPhones.
The policy for stolen devices should be the same as fake money. It doesn't matter if you did it or not. If an authority catch you with fake money, it will be confiscated.
Imagine if Apple could track the phone once it's been stolen. You would be able to catch every phone thief. You'd probably clean up half the criminals in the country within a few months.
International = Ha
Well, so much for this idea... Well done Apple..
All of this its useless, if the theft is smart enough to reset the phone, or keep it turned off before
and lets not forget, disconnecting from all networks... Or simply turn off iCloud . That's what i'd do, if i was a theft Preventive measure.
I actually find it more funny that people USE 'Find my iPhone' to track their stolen phone.. or the idea that in order to use it an Find my iphone app needs to be on the device........ Couldn't Apple have done better ?
Well, so much for this idea... Well done Apple..
All of this its useless, if the theft is smart enough to reset the phone, or keep it turned off before
and lets not forget, disconnecting from all networks... Or simply turn off iCloud . That's what i'd do, if i was a theft
Preventive measure.I actually find it more funny that people USE 'Find my iPhone' to track their stolen phone.. or the idea that in order to use it an Find my iphone app needs to be on the device........ Couldn't Apple have done better ?
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apple could do better, among other, snatch a picture of who is using the phone, or at least of the surroundings.
an iPod touch can still be located as it connects to wifi. Less precisely than by using a GPS, but still possible. And it could surely snap pictures f surroundings
I read some silly comment here implying that it is not the police's job to retrieve stolen things. And whose job is it, really?
The feature is not protecting the phone and not collecting information. The theft can wipe the phone which makes the feature unusable. Find my iPhone is not protecting against anything really, but lets you find your phone when you left it under the blanket at home.
I have had 2 iPhone stolen, both occasion the theft managed to disable the location services within an hour, and change my apple ID so I had no longer access to the phone.
Wipe my phone = I give you my phone mate, well done
Returned phone stories after displaying the message is only available in marketing materials. Apple should able to do something after some security checks, to locate the phone and pass information to the police.
The feature is not protecting the phone and not collecting information. The theft can wipe the phone which makes the feature unusable. Find my iPhone is not protecting against anything really, but lets you find your phone when you left it under the blanket at home.
I have had 2 iPhone stolen, both occasion the theft managed to disable the location services within an hour, and change my apple ID so I had no longer access to the phone.
Wipe my phone = I give you my phone mate, well done
Returned phone stories after displaying the message is only available in marketing materials. Apple should able to do something after some security checks, to locate the phone and pass information to the police.
I'm sorry, but when Apple to date has the best system there is as far as theft (even though you don't seem to think it's that great) and are just about the only ones with a cohesive tracking tool, I refuse to blame them for iPhone theft. This is just click bait Apple bashing at its finest. Nothing to see here.