How and why to use iPhone Stolen Device Protection

iPhone Stolen Device Protection offers increased safety for your accounts and financial information if someone steals your handset and its passcode.

Here’s how to activate the security feature, and — more importantly — why you should do it now.

Stolen Device Protection: How to activate

You don’t have to take my word that this new feature is a valuable enhancement. Tony Anscombe, chief security evangelist for global cybersecurity leader ESET, explained how it works.

“Stolen Device Protection makes it harder for unauthorized access or alteration of sensitive settings making iPhones less appealing to criminals,” he told Cult of Mac. “This enhanced protection serves as a long-awaited deterrent, increasing the difficulty for thieves targeting such devices. While it’s impossible to completely prevent theft, as perpetrators continually find new workarounds and exploits, this feature adds a significant hurdle. Organized crime groups, often involved in handling stolen phones, may now need to work that much harder to bypass it.”

Apple created this feature, which debuted in iOS 17, to counter a specific type of crime: muggers who steal someone’s iPhone and then demand the passcode to unlock it so they can change the passcode and keep using the device. That gives the criminal long-term access to all the personal information stored on the handset, like credit card numbers, bank accounts and more.

Advantages of iPhone Stolen Device Protection

With iPhone Stolen Device Protection activated, changing the Apple Account passcode requires authentication using either Face ID or Touch ID, plus an hour-long wait. By design, you can’t change the password quickly. So if a mugger steals your iPhone and forces you to give them the passcode, you have an hour to get to another computer, go to icloud.com and lock the device so it can’t be accessed even with the passcode. That doesn’t stop the criminal from using your handset until you can remotely lock it, but it’s at least something.

To keep that restriction from becoming burdensome, the advanced security feature only goes into effect when the iPhone is away from your home or workplace.

iPhone Stolen Device Protection has another trick to stymie a criminal who grabbed your iPhone and passcode. It requires Face ID to access saved passwords. The same goes for erasing the device, accessing saved credit card info in Safari, applying for an Apple Card and other sensitive actions.

More security never hurt

iPhone Stolen Device Protection is optional and must be activated by you. If you don’t turn it on, it’s off. But if you want to upgrade the security on your handset, here’s what to do.

The first step in taking advantage of the recommended security feature is to go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. You’ll be required to enter your passcode to access this section.

Scroll down until you get to Stolen Device Protection. It’ll be off, so tap Turn On Protection.

And there, you’re done. You get all the benefits described above.

If you decide to deactivate the feature at some later date, go through these same steps but tap Turn Off Protection. You’ll need to pass Face ID and wait an hour to make the change. If canceling Stolen Device Protection was quick and easy, the person who swiped your iPhone could simply turn it off.

For more details on the security feature, read the Apple support document about it.

We originally published this post on how to turn on iPhone Stolen Device Protection on January 25, 2024. We updated the info.