Stolen device protection— that’s what Apple calls its latest iPhone security feature. Set to roll out globally with the upcoming iOS 17.3 update, stolen device protection appears to be a godsend for iPhone users and, a nightmare for thieves. It is out now in beta, if you don’t want to wait for another week, which is when it will roll out to all iOS 17.3 compatible devices.
Apple’s stolen device protection feature comes in response to a Wall Street Journal report that pointed out an obvious flaw in Cupertino’s most sought after product— the iPhone. Which is that, if someone gets hold of your passcode, they can choose to both do nothing, or wreck total havoc on your digital existence, with it.
The report featured accounts of thieves who would frequent bars to lure unsuspecting iPhone users into giving their passcode to them, either directly or indirectly. They would memorise this four- or six- digit Apple code, then steal their iPhone. Upon possession, they could basically do anything and everything with it, since the passcode gave them the authority.
And so, they could tamper with settings, erase data or factory reset the iPhone, or at the worse— gain access to sensitive data like Apple ID, passwords and banking information stored on Keychain. They could remove Find My, just as easily, and so the stolen iPhone would be impossible to track.
Apple took due cognisance of the matter and devised a solution— stolen device protection— it hopes will put stricter curbs making your iPhone impervious to such attacks. When enabled from settings, the feature will act as an additional layer of security, asking you to use Face ID or Touch ID to do things like erase the iPhone completely, or to access your iCloud Keychain.
If you plan to do something more elaborate like say change your Apple ID or turn off Find My, Apple will ask you to wait for an hour or so after authenticating, then it will need you to re-authenticate using Face ID or Touch ID again to make those changes. Apple notes that in areas like home and work which you frequent the most, there should be no delay.
Stolen device protection will be rolled out next week as part of iOS 17.3 update to supported Apple iPhones.
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