Other iPhone anti-snatching feature?

[Wando64]

Phones companies have been asked by the UK Home Office to help tackle the rise in phone snatching crime.

If a watch can detect a fall, and a phone a car accident, it seems feasible to implement a feature whereby a phone can detect when it has been snatched from someone‘s hands.
At that point it could A:Lock itself, B:generate a silent alert, C:after 30 seconds emit a loud alarm, D:after 1 minute wipe itself off (unless unlocked with authentication), with only Find My remaining forcibly active. During all this time, the Off button to be deactivated.

Why not?

 

[ukms]

Phones companies have been asked by the UK Home Office to help tackle the rise in phone snatching crime.

If a watch can detect a fall, and a phone a car accident, it seems feasible to implement a feature whereby a phone can detect when it has been snatched from someone‘s hands.
At that point it could A:Lock itself, B:generate a silent alert, C:after 30 seconds emit a loud alarm, D:after 1 minute wipe itself off (unless unlocked with authentication), with only Find My remaining forcibly active. During all this time, the Off button to be deactivated.

Why not?

A fall and car crash are pretty distinct events whereas a phone being snatched could perhaps be mistaken for other events …. But a great idea though !

 

[Wando64]

A fall and car crash are pretty distinct events whereas a phone being snatched could perhaps be mistaken for other events

Maybe. But a jolt followed by rapid acceleration and sustained horizontal speed don’t happen often by accident.
I would take the risk of the occasional mistaken detection (as I do with my watch fall alert).

 

[JPack]

Android 15 already has it, so it’s likely Apple will borrow this idea next year.

 

[eyoungren]

Maybe. But a jolt followed by rapid acceleration and sustained horizontal speed don’t happen often by accident.
I would take the risk of the occasional mistaken detection (as I do with my watch fall alert).

What about a fight, or when people are mad at others? Lots of people in arguments snatch phones away from other people. Most of the time the phone goes back to whom it belongs to at the end, or it's snatched back. What happens then?

 

[VineRider]

Stolen Device Protection is the best for iOS at the present time. It gives you time to put your device in lost mode or remotely erase before a thief has a chance to break into your device.

About Stolen Device Protection for iPhone - Apple Support

Stolen Device Protection adds a layer of security when your iPhone is away from familiar locations, such as home or work.

support.apple.com

 

[Wando64]

Stolen Device Protection is the best for iOS at the present time. It gives you time to put your device in lost mode or remotely erase before a thief has a chance to break into your device.

About Stolen Device Protection for iPhone - Apple Support

Stolen Device Protection adds a layer of security when your iPhone is away from familiar locations, such as home or work.

support.apple.com

Phones are normally snatched while in use, and therefore unlocked.

 

[Wando64]

What about a fight, or when people are mad at others? Lots of people in arguments snatch phones away from other people. Most of the time the phone goes back to whom it belongs to at the end, or it's snatched back. What happens then?

You get one minute to deactivate the alert, or the phone gets wiped.
As the owner, you can always restore from iCloud.

By the way, perhaps this functionality could be linked with a specific Focus (like a Commuting focus).

 

[VineRider]

Phones are normally snatched while in use, and therefore unlocked.

That can be true, but this setting keeps the thief from locking you out of your account. They cannot change the PIN or iCloud password without biometric authentication if you are not in a trusted location.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I did see a post on another site where a guy in London has modified a phone case to have a wrist tether and two razor blades protruding from the top part of the case. Sounded like a more effective method and one I would support as you get to keep your phone and get some kind of consquence for the would-be thief as they usually snatch whilst on e-bikes or scooters.

It is a major problem across the UK at the moment and I do know someone who had their phone snatched in Finsbury Park a few weeks back. Any software mod that can help in this situation is a much needed one.

 

[Wando64]

Android 15 already has it, so it’s likely Apple will borrow this idea next year.

How does it work on Android?

 

[ryan102]

We already have anti snatching tech, just tell the thief you have an Android

 

[Night Spring]

When I was growing up, older women told me how to hold purses in a certain way to avoid their being snatched. Are there similar precautions for holding phones in public that make you less likely to be a target?

 

[JPack]

When I was growing up, older women told me how to hold purses in a certain way to avoid their being snatched. Are there similar precautions for holding phones in public that make you less likely to be a target?

Yeah, everyone buy a crossover case for their iPhone.



Realistically, no law is going to prevent these snatch and grabs from happening. The perpetrators are wearing helmets to prevent identification. There's no citywide surveillance cameras anyway. Help needs to come from the software side.

 

[JPack]

How does it work on Android?

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

 

[klasma]

As the owner, you can always restore from iCloud.

Not everyone backs up to iCloud, and the backup also isn’t always up to date.

 

[JasonHB]

Not everyone backs up to iCloud, and the backup also isn’t always up to date.

Well that’s their tough luck then. No excuse for making backups and doing it regularly. I mean the phone literally does it automatically.

If you don’t have a back up, that’s on you and a you problem

 

[klasma]

Well that’s their tough luck then. No excuse for making backups and doing it regularly. I mean the phone literally does it automatically.

If you don’t have a back up, that’s on you and a you problem

I was saying that not everyone is using iCloud for backup, and may be doing backups on their own schedule. Having your iPhone be wiped by false positives is not ever acceptable, period. You have a point when the phone is actually stolen, but there is no reliable mechanism for the iPhone to determine that by itself.

 

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

I quite like the idea of more "paranoid" anti-theft/physical security features, such as an option to lock down if the connection to a paired Apple Watch is lost for more than a few seconds, or to perform a background Face ID scan twice a minute. All of these would likely have a noticeable cost in battery life—in @Wando64's concept, sustained horizontal speed can't be detected by the accelerometers so the GPS chip would get powered up quite often—but iOS already has plenty of precedent for off-by-default security features and plenty would likely opt in.

 

[JPack]

US7986233B2 - Acceleration-based theft detection system for portable electronic devices - Google Patents

A theft prevention system for protecting portable electronic devices is disclosed. An acceleration sensor detects the acceleration of a portable electronic device, and a controller analyzes this acceleration to determine whether a theft condition is present. If so, an alarm can be initiated. The...

patents.google.com

Inventor: Paul J. Wehrenberg
Current Assignee: Apple Inc
2009-05-20 Application filed by Apple Inc

 

[chabig]

We already have anti snatching tech, just tell the thief you have an Android

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hideapod.com

 

[Egregius]

That can be true, but this setting keeps the thief from locking you out of your account. They cannot change the PIN or iCloud password without biometric authentication if you are not in a trusted location.

As an extra layer you can lock these settings in screentime.

 

[Shirasaki]

Well that’s their tough luck then. No excuse for making backups and doing it regularly. I mean the phone literally does it automatically.

If you don’t have a back up, that’s on you and a you problem

Firstly, I don‘t think Apple supports real-time backup/live backup for iCloud backup, meaning your backup is always only a few seconds old. Secondly, just like what klasma said, not everyone buys iCloud storage and not everyone backs up their devices regularly either.

 

[haruhiko]

Haha, I got my iPhone stolen in London some years ago. I reported it to the police. The police wouldn’t even investigate, and asked me to claim my insurance. And bye bye. “And no, you don’t need to come to the station to report it officially. We will send you an email for necessary information for insurance.”

 

[Richu]

Well that’s their tough luck then. No excuse for making backups and doing it regularly. I mean the phone literally does it automatically.

If you don’t have a back up, that’s on you and a you problem

Sure but I would wager that apple opts to design the system for what the average user does, not what the user’s supposed to do. At least something as impactful as erasing a device without backup.

Because they like money. Larger user base > smaller group of snobby users “doing it the right way”