{"id":260240,"date":"2026-05-31T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/apple-developing-iphone-anti-theft-upgrade-but-you-may-need-an-apple-watch-too\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T08:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T12:35:08","slug":"apple-developing-iphone-anti-theft-upgrade-but-you-may-need-an-apple-watch-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/apple-developing-iphone-anti-theft-upgrade-but-you-may-need-an-apple-watch-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Developing iPhone Anti-Theft Upgrade \u2014 But You May Need An Apple Watch, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple Developing iPhone Anti-Theft Upgrade \u2014 But You May Need An Apple Watch, Too<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/davidphelan\/2026\/05\/31\/apple-developing-iphone-anti-theft-upgrade—but-you-may-need-an-apple-watch-too\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-31 08:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.forbes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Apple iPhone 17 Pro<\/span><\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

A recent report has revealed an iPhone update that many will want, a system where if your phone is snatched from your hand, it\u2019ll be instantly locked. But it seems there may be an aspect to this feature which many reports have overlooked: an Apple Watch may be essential to the process.<\/p>\n

Forbes<\/span>Apple iOS 27 Release Date: When You Can Download And Test The New iPhone Update<\/span>By David Phelan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The original report came from 9to5Mac, which has seen code that seems to confirm that the new feature is under active development. <\/p>\n

The Urban Epidemic Of Phone Snatching<\/h2>\n

If you live in a major city, like London or New York, say, you\u2019ll know that phone snatching is endemic, and troubling not just because you\u2019ve likely lost your phone forever, but because if the thief has snagged the phone when it\u2019s unlocked, they may be able to access data such as banking apps, for instance. <\/p>\n

Recent upgrades to Stolen Device Protection have limited thieves\u2019 access, such as preventing Apple ID changes which would allow the thief to add themselves to your biometrics. And now Stolen Device Protection is on by default, rather than needing to be activated.<\/p>\n

How Sensor Data Detects A Snatch-And-Grab<\/h2>\n

This new feature would be an improvement which uses the iPhone\u2019s accelerometer and gyroscope to calculate that the sudden movement indicates a snatch-and-grab. <\/p>\n

However, what\u2019s not clear is whether the system will work on the iPhone only or if an Apple Watch is required. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo further determine whether the iPhone may have been taken from its owner, the feature will also observe the distance from a paired Apple Watch,\u201d 9to5Mac said.<\/p>\n

Does that mean it only works with the watch? Or faster? That\u2019ll become clear when the feature is released.<\/p>\n

Once activated, the current security protections apply. \u201cAdditionally, 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…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple Developing iPhone Anti-Theft Upgrade \u2014 But You May Need An Apple Watch, Too https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/davidphelan\/2026\/05\/31\/apple-developing-iphone-anti-theft-upgrade—but-you-may-need-an-apple-watch-too\/…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":260241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/imageio.forbes.com\/specials-images\/imageserve\/6910617ff53d41e477557bed\/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&height=900&width=1600&fit=bounds","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[69,80,57],"class_list":["post-260240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-ios","tag-iphone-17","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260240"}],"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=260240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260242,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260240\/revisions\/260242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}