Apple Developing iPhone Anti-Snatching Feature That Locks Stolen Phones Instantly

[Blue Fox]

All great apart from the fact that it requires you to have an Apple Watch linked. Useless feature for me as I don't have an Apple Watch. The basic SE starts at £219 which isn't cheap for a body worn device liable to get knocked. I work in hospitality and I'm currently wearing a Fitbit Inspire 3 which has got bashed a fair few times but it cost me £35 on sale. Not risking a £200+ smartwatch which is probably more likely to get damaged.

I’ve been wearing Apple Watch for years, usually upgrade to a new one every 3-4 years. I smash mine up against engine blocks when working on my cars, swim with it, mountain bike with it, etc. It lives a rough life, and I have yet to break one or even crack a screen. Scratch it up a bit over time, sure, but they’ve all survived just fine.

 

[macshmack]

I couldn’t believe what Naples has become, wouldn’t wish an evening in Piazza Garibaldi on anyone,

and which central train station-adjacent square could you recommend for a lovely evening out?

 

[JulianL]

and which central train station-adjacent square could you recommend for a lovely evening out?

Ironically enough given some of the sentiment in this thread I'd recommend one in London, in particular the square right next to Kings Cross Station (Coal Drops Yard with lots of fancy restaurants, the canal, St Martins etc) is a very upmarket development for an evening out. The area surrounding Kings Cross has gone from being one of the most dangerous and seedy in London to being a really upmarket destination with lots of bars, restaurants interesting architecture and a lively young vibe due to its proximity to one of the world's leading art and design colleges (Saint Martins), Google's huge office building and lots of other hind-end offices right next to the station.

 

[Guacamole]

Not sure that will make much difference. Although it does add security, it does not significantly reduce the value of a stollen phone: my daughter had her phone snatched will crossing the road in north London by a lowlife on an electric bike. Two days later it’s location was in a block of flats in East London and a few days after that it was in Shenzhen in China. No doubt its parts ended up in the second hand parts food chain. That possibility is what needs to be kilked.

yeah, mine also went to East London, then Dubai and ended up in China too

 

[macshmack]

Ironically enough given some of the sentiment in this thread I'd recommend one in London, in particular the square right next to Kings Cross Station (Coal Drops Yard with lots of fancy restaurants, the canal, St Martins etc) is a very upmarket development for an evening out. The area surrounding Kings Cross has gone from being one of the most dangerous and seedy in London to being a really upmarket destination with lots of bars, restaurants interesting architecture and a lively young vibe due to its proximity to one of the world's leading art and design colleges (Saint Martins), Google's huge office building and lots of other hind-end offices right next to the station.

I remember it pre-development, and although certainly an improvement, it's not exactly a night-out destination, unless usual chains is your kind of thing.

half the whole London-is-hell brigade has probably only seen it in 'Mary Poppins', the other half probably cheered on austerity cuts under which police stations were sold off and the force gutted, leaving it overstretched and not at all bothered with chasing after each phone. so we are left reliant on gimmicky measures like these or - shock! horror! - our common sense when out and about.

 

[Jonas Danielsson]

Will this be the end for the wank-o-meter qpp

 

[robvalentine]

I’d still like a way to prevent them from turning it off so I can at least still track it using Find My.

Samsungs you need to unlock before shutting down, not sure why Apple and Google pixels are different.

 

[robvalentine]

Will this be the end for the wank-o-meter qpp

In English please?

 

[sflagel]

Why don’t we just have a button on the Apple Watch that automatically locks an iPhone, turns in Stolen Device Protection, and keeps Find My running to locate the phone even when it’s tuned off?

 

[Seanm87]

All great apart from the fact that it requires you to have an Apple Watch linked. Useless feature for me as I don't have an Apple Watch. The basic SE starts at £219 which isn't cheap for a body worn device liable to get knocked. I work in hospitality and I'm currently wearing a Fitbit Inspire 3 which has got bashed a fair few times but it cost me £35 on sale. Not risking a £200+ smartwatch which is probably more likely to get damaged.

The way I read it an Apple Watch will also be used if you have one to make it more accurate but it’s not necessary and will still work without one.

 

[arc of the universe]

So the Bluetooth is still being used or the cell data or how exactly does this work, have you any idea? I’ve heard this before and wondered what exactly is happening…

"Apple's "Find My" app relies on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to track devices. Bluetooth allows lost items to communicate with passing devices to provide a broader location network."

your phone, which is turned off, or maybe even completely without any battery left, still has internally a BLE chip that uses almost no power. instead, other phones that are passing by your phone are sending out active pinging and picking up your low energy bluetooth chip; the other person's phone is sending the location of your phone; your own powered off phone is not sending that info.

 

[chachawpi]

Better late than never.

Android’s theft protection features keep your device and data safe

Android rolls out theft protection features to safeguard your data before, during and after a theft incident.

blog.google

 

[JosephAW]

This is why there should be a separate passcode for the Wallet app 🤔 💰

 

[Jarman74]

Now thieves will be extra gentle when engaging in a tactical asset migration so as not to trigger gyroscopes.

Loving your comment is not enough, so I'm also quoting it for good measure.

Not sure if you have ever watched Scorsese's After Hours - especially the "Mohawk this guy!" scene which someone once commented on with the same kind of visionary flair you just used: "Love the way he legs it down the road. As if they are going to chase him with a 100 yard lead clipper like demented relentless barbers."

 

[StuBeck]

It's all in good fun. There has to be a way to unlock it in the case of error. My mom's apple watch thinks she's fallen a few times a day so she has to cancel the detection before it calls emergency services.

There isnt with stolen device protection, although I've had good luck with just pointing the phone towards the ceiling when I'm helping a user setup e-mail on their phone.

 

[JulianL]

I remember it pre-development, and although certainly an improvement, it's not exactly a night-out destination, unless usual chains is your kind of thing.

half the whole London-is-hell brigade has probably only seen it in 'Mary Poppins', the other half probably cheered on austerity cuts under which police stations were sold off and the force gutted, leaving it overstretched and not at all bothered with chasing after each phone. so we are left reliant on gimmicky measures like these or - shock! horror! - our common sense when out and about.

I don't think you got to see the end result then, or maybe not all of it. While the bit I'm talking about I would count as still being next to the station you do have to walk about 50 or 100 metres to get to it so it's entirely possible you've only seen the bits immediately on exit from the station and not the bits I'm talking about. Coal Drops Yard is quite high end with some great interior design in the various restaurants and definitely not all chains. It genuinely is a night out destination now & of particular interest to design aficionados since the main square was designed by Thomas Heatherwick who is a quite famous (albeit divisive) architect with a lot of projects worldwide under his belt now including maybe most notably in the UK the 2012 Olympic cauldron. (2012! Was it really that long ago?). Ironically the last time I was there on a night out was with a friend who used to work with Heatherwick at the start of her (and even more so his) career when they both worked together for Terence Conran and she doesn't do trashy nights out in wall-to-wall chain restaurant land!

I agree 100% with everything in your second paragraph.

 

[Shirasaki]

OK this seems like not the worst idea, but they still refuse to address the real security issue:

Stop letting the iPhone PIN override all other account security

At least give me that as an option. They'll potentially force lock me out of my device by forcing on SDP without a Face ID scan, with the chance that Face ID will fail. But they won't give me the option to trust myself not to forget my Apple ID password.

If that is what Apple's entire security system depends upon, it is going to be tough to fix. We may never know, though.

 

[KeithBN]

All great apart from the fact that it requires you to have an Apple Watch linked. Useless feature for me as I don't have an Apple Watch. The basic SE starts at £219 which isn't cheap for a body worn device liable to get knocked. I work in hospitality and I'm currently wearing a Fitbit Inspire 3 which has got bashed a fair few times but it cost me £35 on sale. Not risking a £200+ smartwatch which is probably more likely to get damaged.

Not sure what you are doing to a poor watch!

I’ve had my Apple Watch S5 for 6 years, wear it every day, including lots of physical work where it gets knocked etc, still barely a scratch on it, certainly not damaged in any way. The only reason I’ll be replacing it later this year is I feel the S12 will be a nice upgrade.

 

[KeithBN]

This is one of those developments which will be useful and most welcome, whilst being surprising they hadn’t done it already.

 

[reza87]

and which central train station-adjacent square could you recommend for a lovely evening out?

Toronto’s Union Station, Madrid’s Malsana, Tokyo’s Shibuya, Saint-Gillles in Brussels, Hondae in South Korea.

Garibaldi is just the tip of the spear. Naples is objectively awful, my partner is living and working there now — I have been there twice this year. One of the problems her organization is facing is that people can’t bare to stay there for the length of their work contracts, glad you enjoyed your holiday though.

From the howislivingthere community on Reddit: What is life like in Naples, Italy?

Explore this post and more from the howislivingthere community

www.reddit.com

 

[macshmack]

I don't think you got to see the end result then, or maybe not all of it. While the bit I'm talking about I would count as still being next to the station you do have to walk about 50 or 100 metres to get to it so it's entirely possible you've only seen the bits immediately on exit from the station and not the bits I'm talking about.

well then we're talking apples and oranges, because for all I care, this 'private public' playground - see also Granary sq - is peripheral to, and at the back of the station - for piazza Garibaldi experience, think more the stretch between front exit and Euston rd.

 

[littleredwagen]

Does it stop police from using cellbrites or whatever to unlock your phone?

If you are concerned about digital investigators getting your phone and unlocking it, just keep your iphone up to date. Makes those forensic tools almost worthless on the most updated OS

 

[Non-Euclidean]

How about making it work with a paired air tag?

 

[d686546s]

I’d still like a way to prevent them from turning it off so I can at least still track it using Find My.

Ideally there'd be a way to keep Find My active even when the phone is turned off.

Considering the device contents are harder to decrypt once the phone has been turned off I'd much rather thieves turn it off and I only have to replace my phone, instead of them somehow getting into my phone/apps and emptying my accounts.

 

[jagjitr]

Just happend to me this weekend in North London. Got into all my finance apps, sold my crypto investments, moved money around from current accouts to PayPal/Revolut. Even made apple pay transactions in Apple Store & John Lewis.
Most annoying thing is I seriously doubt they will get caught and basically got away with it.