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Find my iPhone needs to be password protected...
- Thread starter MadGoat
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Users should have a passcode or a password protecting the phone. If you have that, then a thief can't even get into your phone to disable Find My Phone. And if they completely wipe your phone, then that feature isn't going to do you any good anyway.
Exactly! It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. Thankfully most thieves are pretty stupid and don't know about Find my iPhone. The whole point isn't to stop smart thieves, in fact it isn't even designed to stop thieves since it is the job of the police to go after them. It is designed so that you can find your lost iPhone if you left it somewhere.
I don't necessarily want to lock the whole phone down. I don't like entering my passcode every time I unlock the phone.
Sure restoring will kill that option. Actually, Find my iPhone should be built into the bios/firmware like laptops have. Even a format and re-install won't erase that feature.
It's not supposed to be lojack for your iPhone, it's supposed to be a way to find your iPhone if you left it somewhere and forgot where it is. The police are the ones who are supposed to do the recovery of your stolen goods. The simple fact is that most criminals are stupid and don't think of things like Find my iPhone anyway, so this whole thread is pointless.
Why?
Most people don't have anything important enough on their phone that it needs that much security.
Having to enter a passcode to use my phone is something I can live without.
I agree with the OP, you shouldn't be able to toggle "Find My iPhone" without the MobileMe account password.
Apple seems to agree with this, as Find My iPhone lets you set a lock code remotely.
Personally... I set a passcode on my iPhone, and I have it set to wipe the phone after 10 failed passcode attempts.
Regarding your statement in bold: "Most people" seems to be a very subjective term, and I would suspect it is highly influenced by whatever demographic sets you belong to.
In my experience (using my demographic sets)... the vast majority of people set a passcode on their iPhones, and also on their laptops... and for the same reasons. Their is certainly enough information on my phone or laptop (via email accounts or whatever) to offer significant risk to identity theft. Using the passcode feature seems like a prudent thing to do.
/Jim
I agree.
I also set a passcode on my phone to be required after 15 minutes and wipe the phone after 10 failed attempts. It does get old entering it immediately but if I put it down for 15 minutes then its not that bad for some added sense of security.
We all have tons of personal stuff on our phones nowadays, we should take a few steps to protect them.
I know people dont like to enter passwords or use much security measures but once you fall victim you will change your views on it.
I would tend to disagree.
I would suspect that most people have at least one email account setup How many of you have accounts linked to your email. (online banking / Facebook/ Credit card banking ect)
How many have facebook app auto sign in.
An unlocked iPhone is the perfect gateway for identity theft.
Anyways thats enough from me as there is already a thread on the pros and cons of a passcode.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/960790/
What we need is a hardware solution whereby a signal can be sent remotely to the phone that locks it into a state of emitting a high-pitched alarm that cannot be stopped unless it is reset by entering in a security code. This needs to be internal to one of the crucial chips on the phone so one can't turn the phone off and wipe it without the relevant code.
I find it rather amazing that no manufacturer has done this - surely the extra security would be a selling point.
I find it rather amazing that no manufacturer has done this - surely the extra security would be a selling point.
And they'll be the first ones bitching when someone compromises their Facebook, Twitter, email, bank & whatever other personal accounts they have wide open on their phones.
What do you mean? You need a password to log on in the banking apps and the thief doesn't have it.
My banking app stores no data in it and it doesn't let you do anything more than checking a balance if you have:
The full account number, the full sort code and a PIN that's just for the mobile banking system.
You need less than that to call their automated line where you can find out much more.
I wouldn't.
I use Find my iPhone, and assuming someone doesn't turn it off I can lock the phone or wipe it remotely.
If someone gets into my Facebook, I really don't care!
I'm not sure if I'd like to suffer having to type in a code dozens of times a day on the off chance that someone might log in to a website I don't really care about.
Unfortunately, the reality in many (not all, but many) towns and cities is that the police aren't going to make any special effort in tracking down a lost or stolen iPhone. They'll document the loss for you and give you a case number in case you want to file that with any insurance company, but beyond that, a lot of these cases aren't pursued. I know this from personal experience.
In some cases (but NOT all), find my iPhone does help this a bit because you have specific info about where the phone is at that moment, and can give reasonable evidence that a certain person might have your property. Some cops will be slightly more motivated to assist if you've done most of the work for them.
This will seem like a good idea for 20 minutes, tops. Then it'll get really annoying every time some dolt sets off the alarm and then forgets the passcode. And before long, the frequency of it happening will be so much, like car alarms, people will start to ignore them when they go off.
People will also complain when they realize that for this security measure to work, it must be active all the time, even when the phone is "turned off." it'll drain battery life.