Other Requiring security feature to turn off iPhone if it’s stolen

[mebehere]

I apologize if this has been discussed before. But it would be nice if you could enable Touch ID, Face ID, or passcode to be required before the phone could be turned off, in case it’s ever stolen.

If it’s still powered on, you could use Find My iPhone on other devices to help locate it before it disappears, or until the battery dies.

Just a thought.

 

[eyoungren]

There are one or two jailbreak tweaks that allow this and a third jailbreak tweak (Activator) that can disable the buttons that turn the device off. There's also a jailbreak tweak that can prevent restores from iTunes. In order to defeat that tweak you need to actually put the device in DFU Mode, something perhaps most thieves wouldn't know.

But yeah…all of that requires you to be jailbroken.

 

[mebehere]

There are one or two jailbreak tweaks that allow this and a third jailbreak tweak (Activator) that can disable the buttons that turn the device off. There's also a jailbreak tweak that can prevent restores from iTunes. In order to defeat that tweak you need to actually put the device in DFU Mode, something perhaps most thieves wouldn't know.

But yeah…all of that requires you to be jailbroken.

Yeah. Would be nice if it was a standard setting on a non-jailbroken phone.

 

[MisterSavage]

I apologize if this has been discussed before. But it would be nice if you could enable Touch ID, Face ID, or passcode to be required before the phone could be turned off, in case it’s ever stolen.

If it’s still powered on, you could use Find My iPhone on other devices to help locate it before it disappears, or until the battery dies.

True but someone smart could the phone into a container that would block receiving that command and just wait for the battery to die.

 

[NoBoMac]

One thing that makes it little value add is Control Center. If accessible from lock screen, can put into Airplane Mode.

Can't recall if it's on or off by default (seem to recall on, as that think I toggled off when first setup), but if on, majority of people will probably leave on.

But, yeah, could be a nice feature for those that take time to lock down their phones.

 

[mebehere]

True but someone smart could the phone into a container that would block receiving that command and just wait for the battery to die.

Don’t let this info get out. Or. Maybe container mode.

 

[pika2000]

That's the tradeoff between security and user friendliness. Heck, I was baffled when iOS allows contents of messages to be displayed right on the screen when notification comes in (I disabled mine), and the phone helps itself by turning the screen on! That by itself is a huge privacy issue, but users probably demand that.

So that's why Apple at least do it the other way around, via iCloud. Stolen phones that are linked to iCloud are basically useless when stolen without knowing the owner's iCloud info. At least that will safeguard your data, and imo my data is more important than the phone itself.

 

[mebehere]

That's the tradeoff between security and user friendliness. Heck, I was baffled when iOS allows contents of messages to be displayed right on the screen when notification comes in (I disabled mine), and the phone helps itself by turning the screen on! That by itself is a huge privacy issue, but users probably demand that.

So that's why Apple at least do it the other way around, via iCloud. Stolen phones that are linked to iCloud are basically useless when stolen without knowing the owner's iCloud info. At least that will safeguard your data, and imo my data is more important than the phone itself.

I agree about the data, but it’d be nice to get your hardware back, and thieves would be punished.

 

[Shirasaki]

Methods like leaving the phone to die or throwing it away to a random location that Apple Maps cannot locate could render being unable to turn off the phone useless. We can hope most thieves don't know much about those features, but professional thieves do, and they have tons of counter measures.

Those features are good to have, but I dont think those features can help finding a stolen phone that much, unless phone itself can be tracked independently via hardware, such as a GPS asset tag or something like this.

 

[big samm]

This is one feature I’ve been waiting for a longtime. It would be real easy to implement... Can’t turn it off without the passcode simple as that. They could even make a option to put the phone on low power mode when using find my iPhone so that the battery could last longer, better chance of finding back the device

 

[I7guy]

One thing that makes it little value add is Control Center. If accessible from lock screen, can put into Airplane Mode.

Can't recall if it's on or off by default (seem to recall on, as that think I toggled off when first setup), but if on, majority of people will probably leave on.

But, yeah, could be a nice feature for those that take time to lock down their phones.

Wonder how that new ios 13 feature, "find my...", would play into this?

 

[big samm]

One thing that makes it little value add is Control Center. If accessible from lock screen, can put into Airplane Mode.

Can't recall if it's on or off by default (seem to recall on, as that think I toggled off when first setup), but if on, majority of people will probably leave on.

But, yeah, could be a nice feature for those that take time to lock down their phones.

Yes it’s on by default... One of the first things i do when i setup my new device is to turn that off at all price lol

 

[MisterSavage]

One thing that makes it little value add is Control Center. If accessible from lock screen, can put into Airplane Mode.

Can't recall if it's on or off by default (seem to recall on, as that think I toggled off when first setup), but if on, majority of people will probably leave on.

But, yeah, could be a nice feature for those that take time to lock down their phones.

I disable Siri and Control Center access via the lock screen. I really don't like that they're available from there by default.

 

[Givmeabrek]

True but someone smart could the phone into a container that would block receiving that command and just wait for the battery to die.

Phone thieves are often not geniuses.

 

[MisterSavage]

Phone thieves are often not geniuses.

I am thankful for that!

 

[JPack]

Don't thieves eject the SIM card?

 

[NoBoMac]

Don't thieves eject the SIM card?

Sometimes.