{"id":256849,"date":"2026-05-27T09:46:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T13:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-android-inspired-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T10:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:05:08","slug":"a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-android-inspired-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-android-inspired-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves\/","title":{"rendered":"A phone is snatched every eight minutes in London \u2014 but iPhones could soon get this Android-inspired upgrade to frustrate thieves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-handy-android-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves\">A phone is snatched every eight minutes in London \u2014 but iPhones could soon get this Android-inspired upgrade to frustrate thieves<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-handy-android-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves\">https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-handy-android-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-05-27 09:46:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.techradar.com\">www.techradar.com<\/a><\/p>\n<ul id=\"elk-8d7709d4-c423-4205-a5c7-9a631101c8dc\">\n<li><strong>A report claims Apple is working on a new theft protection feature for iOS<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>This will automatically lock your iPhone if it\u2019s stolen<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It uses your iPhone\u2019s sensors to detect if it\u2019s been snatched from your hands<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"elk-96633eff-8eee-49b6-b8ca-077321c56b81\">Phone theft has become such an epidemic in places like London that a device is snatched every eight minutes in the UK\u2019s capital, according to the latest government data. In 2024, Android launched its Theft Detection Lock feature in a bid to fight back, and now it looks like Apple is about to follow suit.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s because 9to5Mac claims to have seen unreleased iOS code that hints at this feature. If it comes to fruition, it could mean users of both major phone operating systems have a way to keep their private info out of the hands of thieves.<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-96633eff-8eee-49b6-b8ca-077321c56b81-2\">It sounds like Apple\u2019s idea could be a simple yet effective system. The report says iOS will use various signals \u2014 including your iPhone\u2019s accelerometer and the distance of the phone from a paired Apple Watch \u2014 to work out when the device has been quickly taken from your hands. When that happens, it automatically locks your iPhone, keeping your data shut off from the thief.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 text-sm font-article-heading capitalize leading-5 text-white whitespace-nowrap\"><span class=\"jwp-carousel-title-mobile\"\/><span class=\"jwp-carousel-title-desktop\">Latest Videos From<\/span><span class=\"jwp-carousel-brand inline-flex items-center\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/media\/img\/techradar_logo_v2.svg\" alt=\"\" class=\"max-h-12 w-auto\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><br \/>\n        <span class=\"\n            flex\n            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]\n            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]\n            font-article-heading pb-0 text-[length:var(--article-river-title--font-size,1em)] uppercase sm:text-[length:var(--article-river-title--font-size,0.875em)] font-bold\n        \"><br \/>\n            You may like<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Once iOS has confirmed those criteria and has locked your iPhone, it then checks if your device is on a familiar Wi-Fi network and at a familiar location. If not, additional safety measures come into effect, including requiring Face ID or Touch ID to access credit cards and passwords and adding a time delay to changing your Apple Account password. These mirror what you\u2019ll find with Apple\u2019s Stolen Device Protection feature.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"better-protection-3\">Better protection<\/h2>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3.jpg\" alt=\"A person holding a smartphone.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3-1200-80.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3-1024-80.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3-970-80.jpg 970w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3-650-80.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3-480-80.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3-320-80.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 970px, calc(100vw - 40px)\" loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/RHLTbne2cwqZW42KVaMcp3.jpg\" class=\"rounded-[var(--image--border-radius,0)] inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash)<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-314dbca6-bfb2-4a6c-be84-d3eb752d70d8\">While Stolen Device Protection, Activation Lock and Find My are all useful, they don\u2019t fully protect you in all circumstances. That\u2019s because having your phone suddenly snatched out of your hands has one major disadvantage for you (and a big advantage for the crooks) in that your&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/phones\/a-phone-is-snatched-every-eight-minutes-in-london-but-iphones-could-soon-get-this-handy-android-upgrade-to-frustrate-thieves\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A phone is snatched every eight minutes in London \u2014 but iPhones could soon get&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/fjWF9ikLFQopNAVr9vsdsL-2560-80.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-256849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-ios"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256852,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256849\/revisions\/256852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}