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If a thief can steal an iPhone with a passcode, they can lock the user out of their Apple ID and destroy it in seconds, but Apple’s Stolen Device Protection coming to iOS 17.3 will prevent that from happening.
A report in February revealed that iPhone users are being targeted by hackers who use brute-force tactics to learn a passcode, and then steal the device. When the thief leaves, they can use the passcode to change the Apple ID password, kick the user out of the sign-in device, and gain full control of the account within seconds.
Apple will solve this issue by implementing a security delay that is guaranteed to change important information in a future iOS update. The feature is called Device Protection and will activate when you are outside of trusted locations such as home or work.
With Device Protection enabled, users won’t be able to change important parts of their Apple ID or device settings without waiting. for an hour and verify biometrics twice. In fact, a thief will know that their device is lost within an hour window, so they can set the iPhone to Lost Mode and stop device access or account changes. impossible.
Since users will not be able to rely on the passcode fallback option, biometrics will be required for various activities to enable Device Protection.
Biometrics are required when:
- Use passwords or passkeys saved in Apple Passwords
- Apply for a new Apple Card
- See Apple Card virtual card
- Turn off Lost Mode
- Remove all content and settings
- Redeem some Apple Cash and Save in wallet
- Use payment methods saved in Safari
- Use your iPhone to set up a new device
The above actions will prompt the user for biometrics such as Face ID or Touch ID to continue. A thief will not be able to falsify biometric credentials.
Some operations will revert to a passcode, such as Apple Pay authentication. In that case, users will be able to use their bank’s fraud protection to recover money if a thief makes an unauthorized transaction.
The security delay will appear when trying to change important settings such as the Apple ID password. If a thief tries to use these settings, they must verify biometrics, agree to a one-hour delay, and then verify biometrics again after the hour is up. the action.
Delayed protection occurs when:
- Change your Apple ID password
- Update Apple ID data protection information, such as removing a trusted device, trusted phone number, Recovery Key, or Contact ‘i Restoration.
- Change your iPhone passcode
- Add or remove Face ID or Touch ID
- Turn off Find My
- Turn off Device Theft Protection
Trusted locations learned by the system, such as home or work, eliminate security delays. The delay of protection is applied even with existing biometrics, it may not be easy to wait for an hour every time it is necessary to change one of the settings above, so trusted sites minimize that.
Device Protection attackers must have enough time to discover their device is missing, log in with their Apple ID, and then activate Lost Mode. Once the device is in Lost Mode, the thief cannot retrieve the device, change settings, or do anything without biometrics.
Thanks to that one-hour delay, if thieves steal a device, unlock it with a known passcode, navigate to the Settings page to initiate a change, then cheat so the victim has to verify biometrics for that first investigation, it will still be necessary to wait. another hour to complete the shift. The thief is unlikely to stick around or gain access to the victim twice in that hour, eliminating the ability for things like Apple ID passwords to be completely changed by the thieves.
An Apple representative explained that Device Protection is available in beta as an alternative to ID & Password Protection. A later iOS release, possibly the full release of iOS 17.3, will release the feature to users at the time.