Apple's New Stolen Device Protection Enhances iPhone Security
The feature in iOS 17.3 uses location and biometrics to protect against thieves who know the user's passcode.
- Apple introduces Stolen Device Protection, a new security feature in iOS 17.3, to protect users from thieves who know their passcode.
- The feature uses the iPhone's location to determine if the user is in a familiar place like home or work. If not, it requires Face ID or Touch ID in addition to the passcode for sensitive actions.
- Stolen Device Protection also implements an hour-long delay before sensitive actions can be performed, requiring a reconfirmation with another biometric scan.
- The feature aims to prevent thieves from changing the user's Apple ID password, turning off Find My, enabling a recovery key, accessing passwords in Keychain, and deleting iCloud data.
- To enable Stolen Device Protection, users need to have an iPhone running iOS 17.3 or later and have Face ID or Touch ID enabled on their device.