Well its been a while since i wrote anything here!
Given the huge increase in phone thefts in the UK/London I started reading up on some precautions you can take ahead of any horrible situation.
My ramblings :
Stolen Phone Preparation
Disable the Control Center on an iPhone when it's locked
Disabling Control Center on the lock screen prevents others from accessing your phone's features, such as disabling Wi-Fi or Bluetooth when its locked. However, you'll also lose quick access to these feature
- Open Settings
- Go to Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode
- Enter your passcode
- Scroll to Allow Access When Locked
- Find the Control Center toggle and turn it off
Disable control panel access from within an app
To disable access to the Control Center from within apps on an iOS device, go to Settings > Control Center and toggle the "Access Within Apps" option off; this will prevent the Control Center from appearing when you swipe down from the top right corner of the screen while in an app.
Key points:
- Access settings: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Navigate to Control Center: Select "Control Center" from the settings menu.
- Toggle Access Within Apps: Find the "Access Within Apps" option and turn it off.
Screen Time privacy
To prevent unauthorised changes to some settings - faceID, Accounts
Screen Time / Restrictions / Content & Privacy Restrictions
- disable accounts
- Disable passcode & Face ID
Enforce PIN for changes
go to Settings > Screen Time, then tap change screen time password. Enter numerical PIN and iCloud user and password.
Stolen Device Protection
on an iOS device, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode, enter your passcode, then scroll down and toggle "Stolen Device Protection" on; this feature adds extra security measures to protect your data if your phone is lost or stolen, requiring additional authentication even if someone knows your passcode.
Key points about Stolen Device Protection:
- Access: You can find this setting by going to "Settings > Face ID & Passcode".
- Activation: Toggle the "Stolen Device Protection" switch to turn it on.
- Important features:
- Require security delay: This setting can be set to "Always" to enforce additional security measures even in familiar locations.
- Biometric authentication: Stolen Device Protection often requires Face ID or Touch ID to access sensitive information.
Secure Applications
If your phone is stolen and the screen is unlocked then the thief can use your apps to move money, buy stuff, contact friends and family in order to conduct fraud. “Hi XXX. I need some money urgently”
All financial apps / messaging apps / shopping apps - must have Face ID or a second form of authentication which is checked when they are opened.
If they don’t have it natively then use the iOS require Face ID - long press on application icon.
Password Manager
You should have one! And assuming you do then make sure you have an alternative way to access your passwords without your phone.
MFA Manager
As with the password manager I hope you are using multi factor (MFA) on your logins where ever possible. The app you use to manager those is probably on your phone. Make sure you have alternative ways or backups.
Stolen Phone Automation
It is possible to use the iOS shortcuts application to create a combination of shortcuts, automation and focus to automatically run on events.
I have my phone setup to run a shortcut called Stolen Phone.
This shortcut takes front and back photos, saves them to the roll, and then switches the phones focus to one I created called Lock Screen - Emergency. The Lock Screen pushes a custom wall paper with STOLEN PHONE - CONTACT XXXXXX.
There is an automation that is triggered when it detects the focus switch to emergency. That automation does :
- Locks the phone
- Enables wi-fi
- Set airplane mode to OFF
- Sets low power mode ON << I may change this as it won’t upload photos to the iCloud
- Shows a notification [STOLEN PHONE CONTACT XXXXXX]
- Takes a front and back photo and saves to roll (a second set of pictures as belt and braces) << This action doesn’t actually work as currently phone needs to be unlocked to take a picture from the automation function. It does still work from the shortcut
The shortcut running between iWatch and Phone is rubbish. You cant run a shortcut on a device, ie running from the watch will run the tasks on the watch, not on the phone. The only way I can see to navigate this is to run the focus (Lock Screen - Emergency) from the watch, which mirrors on the phone.
I also have another automation that looks for keywords in SMS messages and uses that to trigger the automation.
