How To Use iPhone Stolen Device Protection

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let's take a look at the new iPhone Stolen Device Protection feature in iOS 17.3.

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So the most talked about new feature of iOS 17.3 is iPhone's Stolen Device Protection. This is a special security switch that you can turn On and it gives you extra protection for a very specific type of iPhone theft. This is not just when somebody has stolen your iPhone. It's already very difficult for somebody to get anything from your iPhone if they have just stolen it. They don't have your passcode so they can't get into it. But, what if the person has stolen it and also has your passcode. The case where this may happen is if somebody has observed you in a public place, maybe they saw you enter your passcode or even used a camera to film you entering your passcode and now they steal your iPhone and they do have your passcode. Now this situation has been over reported in the news and it has definitely happened. But the chances of it happening to you are probably very slim. But this feature will provide extra protections in that case. Better still, even while it is providing extra protection you may not notice any difference. It is not really going to inconvenience you in most situations. 

It does this in two ways. The first way is by asking for a biometric ID. In other words Face ID or Touch ID. So for instance if you go to autofill a credit card in Safari it's going to ask for Touch ID and Face ID. A passcode will not work. So if somebody has the passcode they won't be able to access that. As a matter of fact they can't access any of your passwords with just the passcode. They need Face ID and Touch ID which they wouldn't have because they have taken your iPhone and they are gone. 

The second set of situations are more serious things, like actually getting in and changing your Apple ID password and such. Those actually will set a one hour delay. So you have to use Face ID and Touch ID to start the process and then it is going to do a one hour timer and then you need to use Face ID and Touch ID again to actually complete the process. So even if somebody was able to trick you into using Face ID or Touch ID on your stolen iPhone and then they go away, an hour from now they are not going to be able to enter in that second Face ID and Touch ID. 

Now the way that it doesn't inconvenience you is your iPhone already keeps track of your significant locations. These are places like work and home, places that you are usually are and your iPhone has identified those and if you are in one of these it is not going to add this extra layer of security. It's only if you are somewhere else. So a typical theft would involve the person taking the iPhone to another location and all the security stuff is going to go into place. You may see it as well if you are somewhere you're not usually are. That's when you might see that you need to use Face ID and Touch ID for some things when normally you don't need to or maybe changing an important setting requires a one hour delay. 

Now let's talk about the requirements. Requirements are, of course, having iOS 17.3, so upgrade if you already haven't. It is for the iPhone so I know there are some people saying is this available on the iPad. It is not. It is only for the iPhone. Now, of course you've got to have your basic security measures already there or this high-level security measure doesn't make and sense. You've got to be using two-factor authentication for your Apple ID and of course you need to have a passcode set on your iPhone. You need to be using Face ID or Touch ID on your iPhone as well so you have to have that setup. You have to have Find My turned on. These are all really basic security things and if you are at all interested in iPhone stolen device protection chances are you already have all of these turned on. 

Another thing you need is you need to have enabled Significant Locations. You probably have. It's already by default. I'll show you where in a minute. Let's take a look at it here. Here I am on an iPhone that has just been upgraded to this. To turn this on you want to go into Settings and then in Settings you would think you would go to Security & Privacy. But it is actually Face ID & Passcode. So you go in here and you enter your passcode and then you're going to see it if you scroll down. There is Stolen Device Protection and you can tap here to turn it On. So that's all you need to do. 

Now that other setting that I was talking about, that is actually under Security & Privacy. You need to go into there to go to Location Services. Under Location Services go all the way down to the bottom and go to System Services. From there look for Significant Locations. Go into that and then here you should see a number of  records. This is a demo iPhone that I use for tutorials so it is set to zero but you'll probably see a number there and you'll have a map there where you can actually look at some of them. This is where the iPhone knows what is Home, what's work, what's school, and all of that. So you need to have this feature turned On although I have heard reports that if you have this turned off you can still turn on iPhone Stolen Device Protection. It just will work the same everywhere. It doesn't give you a pass if you're at home for instance. 

Now once you have it On there is certain things that you can't do without using Face ID or Touch ID. Passcode by itself won't work. So, for instance, you can't access your Password. That means you can't fill-in passwords in Safari and other apps. You can't access them in the Settings App. You also can't use Auto-Fill for payments so you can't Auto-Fill credit cards. That's all going to be locked if you don't do Face ID and Touch ID. You can't turn off Lost Mode on the phone. You can't use Erase All Content in Settings. You can't apply for a new Apple Card for instance. You can't do Apple Card virtual numbers that gives you, like, a credit card number you can enter into a website. You can't view and do some actions with Apple Cash and savings accounts and Wallet. You can't use your iPhone to setup a new device. So these are things where you need to use Touch ID and Face ID in order for them to work. 

Unless, of course, you're in one of those Significant Locations in which it all just works like it did before. So while you're at home you're not going to notice any difference with these. 

Now the second level of this is a bunch of things that you not only need to use Face ID or Touch ID, but you need to do it twice. The second time after there has been a one hour timer. So, for instance, changing your Apple ID password. Signing out of Apple iD. Updating the Apple ID account security settings. Add or removing Face ID or Touch ID. Changing your passcode. Resetting your iPhone. Turning Off Find My or turning off this very feature, iPhone Stolen Device Protection. All of those thing, if you're not at home , work, school or whatever, if you try to do them it is simply going to give you this Timer and then you're going to have to wait. 

Let me show you, for example. I'm going to go back into Face ID & Passcode and I'm going to try to turn this feature off. So there is Stolen Device Protection. I'm going to turn it Off and it is going to authenticate this one time and then it is going to ask me if I want to start a security delay. Then you can see the time remaining. If I return to the screen it is going to show me the time here but it will also give me a notification when the hour has expired. At that point I can go back in and authenticate again with Face ID and turn it off. The same is true with all those other settings I just talked about. 

If you want to know more about this here is Apple's page all about this feature. It is basically all the information I just told you but any updates to how this work will appear here as well. Now this isn't perfect security, of course.  There are holes in it but the whole idea is that it makes it that much harder for somebody to steal your iPhone and get into your stuff. Typically a thief would steal an iPhone and not bother to get your passcode. In which case they can't do much with your iPhone as long as you have the general security stuff, like a passcode, set. But, if they did actually get your passcode and they steal it and they go away, now they are very limited as to what they can do with it and you have all that much more chance to be able to go and use Find My, on another device, and lock your iPhone out so that they can't get to anything. 

So basically it already was  really difficult for thieves to get iPhones and then profit from that theft. Now with this it is going to be even harder. I think this is a big point that a lot of the other posts are missing about this. It is basically herd immunity for iPhone theft as it becomes less and less profitable to steal iPhones. Somebody is going to be less likely to take anybody's iPhone regardless of whether or not you have this feature turned on. The risk becomes too much for the potential reward. You still need to practice general common sense and make sure you don't put your iPhone in situations where it can easily be taken from you. Make sure when you enter your passcode that people aren't watching or use a stronger passcode, like I do. 

Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.