Skip to main content

The iPhone of the future may be smart enough to figure out exactly who stole it

One of the biggest theft problems around the world involves smartphones. They’re compact, light, and easy to swipe — and can be worth a lot of money too. So it’s no wonder they’re a common target for pickpockets and thieves the world over. Catching smartphone robbers is a major focus of law enforcement and manufacturers, and the iPhone of the future may help in that effort by identifying the person who stole it.

This technology isn’t something we can expect in the iPhone 7 when it launches later this year, as the anti-theft system has only just been patented by Apple (thanks ApplieInsider). However, it does offer a couple of potentially interesting systems that could improve the security of iPhones of the future.

Recommended Videos

For starters, it makes use of Touch ID to try and identify the user. Depending on the owner’s preferences, the phone could be set to capture the user’s fingerprint should they fail just one login attempt. That data could then be accessed remotely to try and figure out who it is that may have stolen the device — or at the very least, who has it at the time.

Again, depending on what the owner sets as their preference, the camera can also come into play by automatically capturing a picture of the alleged thief should they fail login attempts.

There’s also potential to use machine learning to catch the bad guys, thanks to active scanning of the legitimate owner’s patterns of use. Should those deviate drastically, suggesting a new user has taken control of the device, it could then trigger the capture techniques outlined above.

Other factors could come in to play to decide if a theft has occurred. Metrics like location, time of use, speed, air pressure, and even audio data are being considered. All of that could be cross-referenced with a database of the legitimate user, to confirm whether they still have ownership of the device.

Should any or all of these security systems be implemented in the future, there will be some questions raised about privacy. To be effective, machine learning, location tracking, and audio recording all need to be permanently active, which means that more often than not the legitimate user would also be recorded.

If that data is stored remotely, it raises new concerns about hacks and whether Apple would use that data itself, or sell it to third-party services.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
Own an Android? It looks like you may buy an iPhone next
The iPhone 16 Pro and the Galaxy S25 Plus held in the hand together

In a recent survey of iPhone owners, 48% of those now wielding Apple’s smartphone had previously owned an Android phone. The data comes from an extensive report using information gathered from 4,000 individuals by analysts at Counterpoint Research, and shows despite the challenges those who switch from Android to iOS (or vice versa) often face, it didn’t put almost half of current iPhone owners off.

The research then states it’s Samsung and Google suffering the most when someone decides it’s time to buy an iPhone, to the point the paper warns Samsung may see a marked fall in S-series ownership over the next two years if the trend continues. It’s added that Samsung, along with brands like OnePlus and China’s market leader Vivo, are using AI and flagship specifications to differentiate devices, in an effort to entice and retain buyers.

Read more
The iPhone 16e is crucial to the iPhone’s future, here’s why
Rear and front profile of the iPhone 16e

Apple has finally unveiled the new iPhone SE. Scratch that, the SE lineup is presumably dead and the latest member of the iPhone family is dubbed the iPhone 16e.

Designed to offer the best of the iPhone 16 series at a slightly more affordable price, the iPhone 16e brings a host of features found on its sibling devices, but it also brings something entirely new: it’s the first iPhone with the Apple C1 modem.

Read more
Screenshot-reading malware cracks iPhone security for the first time
A person holding an iPhone in their hand.

In the realm of smartphones, Apple’s ecosystem is deemed to be the safer one. Independent analysis by security experts has also proved that point repeatedly over the years. But Apple’s guardrails are not impenetrable. On the contrary, it seems bad actors have managed yet another worrying breakthrough.

As per an analysis by Kaspersky, malware with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities has been spotted on the App Store for the first time. Instead of stealing files stored on a phone, the malware scanned screenshots stored locally, analyzed the text content, and relayed the necessary information to servers.

Read more