Rumor: Apple developing additional security layers to help quickly lock down stolen iPhones
Rumor: Apple developing additional security layers to help quickly lock down stolen iPhones
Publish Date: 2026-05-29 05:10:00
Source Domain: www.powerpage.org
If your iPhone’s been snagged, this could definitely come in handy.
Per 9to5Mac, Apple is working on a new iPhone security feature that can automatically lock the device when it detects that it has been snatched from the user’s hand.
The feature adds to the current iPhone anti-theft protection layers, such as Find My, Activation Lock, and Stolen Device Protection, and also works to offer a security layer in the time between when the device has been stolen and when it initially locks.
The updated system is similar to Android’s Theft Detection Lock, and relies on several signals, including the iPhone’s accelerometer, to detect when the device has been snatched from the user’s hand. Once the snatching is confirmed, it will automatically lock the iPhone. Other features include monitoring whether the iPhone may have been taken from its owner and the distance it’s been transported via a device such as a paired Apple Watch.
Additionally, once fully implemented and enabled, the feature will take into account the same rules that apply to Stolen Device Protection: whether the iPhone is connected to a familiar Wi-Fi network, and whether it is at a familiar location, such as home or work.
Should these conditions suggest that the iPhone has been taken from its owner at an unfamiliar location, it will automatically lock the device, the feature will restrict access to the same areas protected by Stolen Device Protection.
There are currently no official details as to when these features will be announced, but code that’s been studied by 9to5Mac show that they’re under active development.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via 9to5Mac
