Unfortunately, the theft of a mobile device is the order of the day. If you use an iPhone, you have a feature you should enable immediately. The reason is very simple: it adds layers of security and protection in case your iPhone is stolen.
What is the protection in case of theft?
Theft Protection adds additional requirements for performing certain actions on your iPhone when it is not in a known location. This includes the need for biometric authentication such as Face ID or Touch ID to access sensitive features, such as saved passwords or payment methods. Additionally, a security timeout is introduced that prevents you from making important changes, such as changing your Apple ID password or turning off Lost Mode, without waiting a certain amount of time and performing a second authentication.
This double layer of security is designed to prevent a thief who knows the device code from making changes before the user has enough time to mark the device as lost and protect their account.
Functions to know
Device theft protection includes several measures designed to protect both personal information and accounts linked to iPhone. First, when the device is outside of known locations, such as home or work, simply entering the unlock code is not enough to access sensitive functions. Instead, you will need to use Face ID or Touch ID to confirm the user’s identity before they can access saved passwords or make purchases with Apple Pay.
Another important metric is security wait time, which adds a delay before authorizing critical changes in the device settings. For example, if someone tries to change the Apple ID password or disable security features on the iPhone, they will have to wait some time before they can perform these actions. During this time, the device owner can mark the device as lost and take additional steps to protect their account.
Additionally, this feature is designed to Automatically wake up when iPhone is outside known locations. However, users also have the option to configure this protection to be active at all times, even when they are at home or at work.
How to activate theft protection
Enabling this feature is simple and requires following a few steps in the iPhone settings. Below I explain how to do this.
Open the app Settings on your iPhone and up to privacy and security
Look for the Device Theft Protection option.
Turn on the switch to enable this feature.
Once enabled, you can choose whether you want the additional measures to apply only when you are away from known locations or always. I recommend enabling “Always” because all sensitive actions will require biometric authentication and timeouts no matter where you are.
This option is available from iOS 17.3 and It shouldn’t be missing on your iPhone. If it’s stolen, you’ll lose the device, but not the most valuable thing: your information.
