This is going to make a massive difference: iPhone snatchers are being foiled by our new Apple partnership, says the UKs Met Police and another clever iOS trick could be coming soon

Date:
Fri, 12 Jun 2026 12:18:40 +0000

Description:
The Met Police and Apple want to make stolen phones useless, and progress is already being made on that front.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter The Met Police are calling on tech firms to make stolen phones harder to reset They're working with Apple
on this, and have already seen phone theft in London reduced by 18% compared to the previous year Apple enabling Stolen Device Protection by default has likely made a big difference, and there's evidence of another anti-theft tool in the works too Smartphones are a major target for thieves. After all,
theyre likely the most valuable device most people carry around with them,
and their value increases further once thieves export them to countries like China, where devices without local government restrictions are highly sought after. But the UK's Met Police is working with Apple to make smartphones significantly less desirable to thieves.

As reported by the BBC , the Met Police are urging tech firms to make stolen phones harder to reset and reuse, and theyre working with Apple to achieve this. Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley emphasized the strategy, stating: "If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them." And progress is supposedly already
being made on that front, with Apple being said to have cracked the engineering problem that previously allowed thieves to factory reset devices using illicit software. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Its unclear whether Apple has made changes behind the scenes, but one thing
it definitely has done is enable Stolen Device Protection by default in iOS 26.4. With this feature enabled, theres a delay before things like passwords can be changed when the phone isnt in a familiar location like a users home. The idea is that a user will then have time to get to another device and mark their phone as lost or stolen before the thieves can gain access. (Image credit: Future) A big drop already As a result, Sir Mark claims that "the
vast majority of phones" stolen in recent weeks in London have not been factory reset. You may like iPhones could soon get a handy anti-snatching upgrade from Android Apple says its iPhone Lockdown Mode has never been
hacked by spyware Apple warns iOS users to urgently update their devices as new hack emerges

But even before this software update, there was progress being made, with the Met reporting that 14,000 fewer phones were stolen in London between June
2025 and May 2026, which is a drop of 18% compared to the previous year.

This wont purely be down to Apples work, as the Met have also done things
like using e-bikes, drones, and live facial recognition to combat theft in recent months. But its all making a difference. Get daily insight,
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And Apple looks set to employ another thief-thwarting technology soon, as theres evidence in iOS code of an upcoming feature that would use an iPhones sensors to detect when it has likely been stolen, and then automatically lock it. Its a feature that sounds a lot like Theft Detection Lock on Android and indeed the Met noted that Google and Samsung are also working to combat phone theft.

So, while we're never going to get down to zero crime, as Sir Mark noted,
this is going to make a massive difference. Today's best iPhone deals
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/this-is-going-to-make-a-massive-differ ence-iphone-snatchers-are-being-foiled-by-our-new-apple-partnership-says-the-u ks-met-police-and-another-clever-ios-trick-could-be-coming-soon


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