To deter thieves from resetting the iPhones they have stolen, Apple will implement a protection function blocking any use away from a familiar place. An ultimate anti-theft device that will arrive with iOS 17.3 in early 2024.
Thanks to the device’s remote tracking and blocking features, it’s increasingly difficult to steal an iPhone – well, it’s still possible to steal it, but good luck getting it unlocked and working! But thieves are clever and have developed various techniques to bypass these security measures. So, they do not hesitate to follow their victims and watch them type in their unlock code before stealing their phone. Others force their victims to reveal it, by making them drink or by asking for a selfie in the evening, for example. Thanks to this precious code, they can then access the passwords of other accounts, steal banking data, change access to the victim’s iCloud account and deactivate Find My iPhone protection. And even if the phone is turned off, they know the different tricks to unlock an iPhone by fraudulently recovering the Apple account password (phishing, telephone scams, etc.).
Apple seems determined to tackle this problem. As reported by Wall Street JournaliOS 17.3 beta includes a new feature called “Device Theft Protection” (Stolen Device Protection), which must be activated manually in the device lock settings. It helps protect your data, even if the thief has your access code. More precisely, it restricts access to certain iPhone settings when you are away from a familiar place, such as your home or workplace. A way to make it more difficult for thieves to access certain functions or sensitive information.
iPhone blocking: mandatory biometric authentication
Currently, if a scammer knows your passcode, he can access iPhone settings to override remote management tools. With this new option, if it tries to change your Apple ID password while away from a familiar place, the phone will ask for biometric confirmation – a facial scan (Face ID) or a digital scan (Touch ID) – then it will ask for this same confirmation again an hour later. The modification will only be effective after all these manipulations. Enough to give you time to locate your iPhone or block it, preventing thieves from immediately deleting the Apple account after stealing the device!
But that’s not all. Biometric authentication also becomes necessary to access passwords stored in the iCloud Keychain, but also to make other settings, such as activating a recovery key, changing a trusted or contact phone number , adding or removing Face ID or Touch ID, deactivating Find My iPhone or even resetting the device. The passcode will no longer be sufficient if the biometrics fail and the phone is far from a familiar location.
However, this feature has limitations and does not fully protect your device. A thief with your passcode will still be able to unlock the device and access all your private data stored on your device (photos, contacts, etc.) if it is not protected by an additional password or PIN. Likewise, your SMS or email resettable accounts will remain vulnerable, and Apple Pay can still be used with a passcode if Face ID or Touch ID fails. The new function above all allows the legitimate user some time to activate lost mode, via the Locate function available on the iCloud.com online portal, and thus avoid the resale of a stolen device.
For the moment, the function is therefore only available in the beta version 17.3 of iOS, it should be generalized as soon as iOS 17.3 is deployed to the general public, which is planned for 2024. A pop-up window will even offer to enable protection on all eligible iPhones. In the meantime, we recommend choosing a complex passcode and adding PINs to the most sensitive apps. If your iPhone is ever stolen, hurry to icloud.com/find to erase your data remotely.