In order to send transmissions on the island of Lost, you have to be far out on a boat. So, it would only work if it ran out of power while they were on a boat.*
* too soon for MH370 jokes?
* too soon to make Lost jokes?
It's never too soon for a good joke. And besides there were almost no Americans on board flight whatever-it-was so it's just an intellectual puzzler.
Wouldn't this feature be more for situations where the owner loses the phone rather than theft? When the battery runs out you can't use findMyiPhone so it's useful to know where the phone was (at friends house, Starbucks, whatever) when it died. I would think the first thing a thief would do would be to pop out the SIM so this feature would be pretty useless for theft, IMO.
Exactly. I replaced my daughter's iPod touch when we thought she had lost it on vacation. Months later we found it in the car. (The "good news" is that when she broke the screen on the new one, we had a ready backup.)
With a jailbreak you can do so much with security features on the iphone. Such as a fingerprint being required to power fown your device, a photo of the thief being taken once a wrong passcode is entered. Fingerpint required ro even open up your apps!! Endless posibilities. CHECK YOUR FIRMWARE!!! If your running ios 7 and have version 7-7.0.6 JAILBREAK!!! And stop waiting on apple to update security features. If your 7.1 or higher, then you have to wait for a JB. It will be out soon. That is, of course if you want better security features on your device
It certainly makes sense to give users the option to require a passcode to power down. Seems like a trivially easy addition to make (with it off by default).
On the other hand, I have no doubt that thieves would get around this with a easy, low-tech solution (like tossing stolen phones in a RF-opaque container until the battery dies).
You're absolutely right....there will always be a way around it and I have thought about that.
But that would only count with career criminals. What it would cut down on tremendously is the opportunity thief. Most the time a lost phone is recovered or found by the general public and then the fight over ethics ensues.
The career criminals will always have a way.
But they have to have their tools with them at the time.
It certainly makes sense to give users the option to require a passcode to power down. Seems like a trivially easy addition to make (with it off by default).
On the other hand, I have no doubt that thieves would get around this with a easy, low-tech solution (like tossing stolen phones in a RF-opaque container until the battery dies).
1) I've wanted and talked about this feature for years. It's not as easy as you think because you always need to be able to force a power cycle on the device if there is something going wrong with the SW. My solution to this is similar to how the iPhone will auto-reboot after being plugged into a power source for a spell after it runs out of power. I assume that occurs because it left a switch during the power down sequence to auto-boot when it has enough power. My solution is to use a discreet chip to orchestrate this process which wouldn't be tied to iOS. When you go to power down you will get the Touch ID or passcde request but when you hold down the Home and Sleep buttons for several seconds the command doesn't issue a shutDOWN but rather a reSTART which mean the device still gets to cycle in case of a system lock up but also has an extra layer of protection in case it's stolen.
2) I've also talked about the RF blocking/absorbing container but that would mean a premeditated theft. I'm sure it happens a lot but I'd bet that most are crimes of opportunity.
3) I really wish they'd add an option to lock the Settings app and to require Touch ID or a passcode to use alter any of the wireless states in Control Center.
What about the 'Restore Mode' feature that currently exists in IOS 7? It seems very strange to me that Apple allows the 'Restore Mode' to exist, as you do not need an Apple I.D to do this.
You simply switch the iPhone off, hold down the home button and plug it into any computer with iTunes installed. iTunes then installs the latest IOS and reverts all settings to default. Yes you still need the original Apple I.D to reactivate the phone, but critically it unlinks the Find My iPhone app to that Apple I.D - effectively disabling it.
I think if you realize that your iPhone has been stolen / missing and manage to activate 'Lost' mode quickly, the iPhone does prevent someone from entering 'Restore Mode'. But if you don't release in time (which I imagine is very often the case), then someone can simply switch the iPhone off straight away and then restore the iPhone later when they have access to a computer with iTunes and render Apples 'Find My iPhone' protocol redundant. The last known location is then the place that you lost it and anyone can then take it home, restore the device & not be tracked.
Am I understanding this correctly?
If so I think this is a major flaw. Apple should not allow anyone to enter 'Restore Mode' without first entering the Apple I.D associated with the device under any circumstances. That would make sense right?
Does someone have a definitive answer on this?
I have written to Apple, but have received nothing in response.
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">What about the 'Restore Mode' feature that currently exists in IOS 7? <span style="line-height:1.4em;">It seems very strange to me that Apple allows the 'Restore Mode' to exist, as you do not need an Apple I.D to do this.</span>
</p>
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">You simply switch the iPhone off, hold down the home button and plug it into any computer with iTunes installed. iTunes then installs the latest IOS and reverts all settings to default. Yes you still need the original Apple I.D to reactivate the phone, but critically it unlinks the Find My iPhone app to that Apple I.D - effectively disabling it.</p>
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">I think if you realize that your iPhone has been stolen / missing and manage to activate 'Lost' mode quickly, the iPhone does prevent someone from entering 'Restore Mode'. But if you don't release in time (which I imagine is very often the case), then someone can simply switch the iPhone off straight away and then restore the iPhone later when they have access to a computer with iTunes and render Apples 'Find My iPhone' protocol redundant. The last known location is then the place that you lost it and anyone can then take it home, restore the device & not be tracked.</p>
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">Am I understanding this correctly?</p>
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">If so I think this is a major flaw. Apple should not allow anyone to enter 'Restore Mode' without first entering the Apple I.D associated with the device under any circumstances. That would make sense right?</p>
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">Does someone have a definitive answer on this?</p>
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.8em;">I have written to Apple, but have received nothing in response.</p>
Of what value to a thief is an iPhone that can't be activated, apart from being stripped down for parts?
Yes, I appreciate the move by apple. However, There are other apps available on internet.I like mostly track lost phone/iphone software. It will give you location of cell phone as well as call and message log http://www.remotespy.co/iphone-ipad-keylogger.html
Comments
In order to send transmissions on the island of Lost, you have to be far out on a boat. So, it would only work if it ran out of power while they were on a boat.*
* too soon for MH370 jokes?
* too soon to make Lost jokes?
It's never too soon for a good joke. And besides there were almost no Americans on board flight whatever-it-was so it's just an intellectual puzzler.
Wouldn't this feature be more for situations where the owner loses the phone rather than theft? When the battery runs out you can't use findMyiPhone so it's useful to know where the phone was (at friends house, Starbucks, whatever) when it died. I would think the first thing a thief would do would be to pop out the SIM so this feature would be pretty useless for theft, IMO.
Exactly. I replaced my daughter's iPod touch when we thought she had lost it on vacation. Months later we found it in the car. (The "good news" is that when she broke the screen on the new one, we had a ready backup.)
You're absolutely right....there will always be a way around it and I have thought about that.
But that would only count with career criminals. What it would cut down on tremendously is the opportunity thief. Most the time a lost phone is recovered or found by the general public and then the fight over ethics ensues.
The career criminals will always have a way.
But they have to have their tools with them at the time.
1) I've wanted and talked about this feature for years. It's not as easy as you think because you always need to be able to force a power cycle on the device if there is something going wrong with the SW. My solution to this is similar to how the iPhone will auto-reboot after being plugged into a power source for a spell after it runs out of power. I assume that occurs because it left a switch during the power down sequence to auto-boot when it has enough power. My solution is to use a discreet chip to orchestrate this process which wouldn't be tied to iOS. When you go to power down you will get the Touch ID or passcde request but when you hold down the Home and Sleep buttons for several seconds the command doesn't issue a shutDOWN but rather a reSTART which mean the device still gets to cycle in case of a system lock up but also has an extra layer of protection in case it's stolen.
2) I've also talked about the RF blocking/absorbing container but that would mean a premeditated theft. I'm sure it happens a lot but I'd bet that most are crimes of opportunity.
3) I really wish they'd add an option to lock the Settings app and to require Touch ID or a passcode to use alter any of the wireless states in Control Center.
What about the 'Restore Mode' feature that currently exists in IOS 7? It seems very strange to me that Apple allows the 'Restore Mode' to exist, as you do not need an Apple I.D to do this.
You simply switch the iPhone off, hold down the home button and plug it into any computer with iTunes installed. iTunes then installs the latest IOS and reverts all settings to default. Yes you still need the original Apple I.D to reactivate the phone, but critically it unlinks the Find My iPhone app to that Apple I.D - effectively disabling it.
I think if you realize that your iPhone has been stolen / missing and manage to activate 'Lost' mode quickly, the iPhone does prevent someone from entering 'Restore Mode'. But if you don't release in time (which I imagine is very often the case), then someone can simply switch the iPhone off straight away and then restore the iPhone later when they have access to a computer with iTunes and render Apples 'Find My iPhone' protocol redundant. The last known location is then the place that you lost it and anyone can then take it home, restore the device & not be tracked.
Am I understanding this correctly?
If so I think this is a major flaw. Apple should not allow anyone to enter 'Restore Mode' without first entering the Apple I.D associated with the device under any circumstances. That would make sense right?
Does someone have a definitive answer on this?
I have written to Apple, but have received nothing in response.
Of what value to a thief is an iPhone that can't be activated, apart from being stripped down for parts?