Tristan Merritt

Q: Find my iPhone - prevent from theif turning it off with passcode?

G'day,
Due recently I lost my iPhone 3GS as fall out of my tracksuit pants at the shopping centre while kneeing down and 45 seconds after I stood up = iPhone is gone. I immediately calling my iPhone from work's phone it was switched off. I had no hope to call it. I did have the passcode with 4 digit code on, but you still can switch it off.

Since now I have iPhone 4 setup with mobileme, and my wife's iphone setup as well so i can track both. But both iphones still can switch it off without passcode.

What I am asking, if a thief picks it up and does a runner - 2 minute later it can be switched off that way I cannot track it. Is there a way to install passcode at switch off so I can track it if it happens again.

Cheers

iPhone 4, iOS 4

Posted on Apr 12, 2011 4:35 AM

Close

Q: Find my iPhone - prevent from theif turning it off with passcode?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next
  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Apr 12, 2011 4:53 AM in response to Tristan Merritt
    Level 7 (24,865 points)
    Apr 12, 2011 4:53 AM in response to Tristan Merritt
    Sorry, no, there is no way to disable the ability to power off the iPhone.

    It is one of the limitations of any sort of find-my-device approach - the device must be on and it must be within range of some form of network data connection.

    Also note that if a thief is savvy enough to know to power off an iPhone to disable find-my-iPhone, he probably also knows to not power it back on until he is somewhere where it cannot make a network connection. Then he can muck about with it at his ease. At the least, he can just restore it as new, and then your stuff is gone including find-my-iPhone settings, and it is his to do with as he pleases.

    While find-my-iPhone is a good feature with some valid use, it is simply not something you should count on to find a lost or stolen device - it is not at all infallible.
  • by Tristan Merritt,

    Tristan Merritt Tristan Merritt Apr 12, 2011 5:04 AM in response to Michael Black
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 12, 2011 5:04 AM in response to Michael Black
    Hmm that is something apple needs to work on!
    Cheers
  • by apost,

    apost apost Nov 22, 2011 3:20 AM in response to Tristan Merritt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 22, 2011 3:20 AM in response to Tristan Merritt

    absolutely agree...the device should require the passcode to allow someone to switch it off..sounds terribly simple, right? that way find my iPhone would have some real use apart from finding it when it's on silent or under a pillow...

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Nov 22, 2011 3:23 AM in response to apost
    Level 10 (94,615 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 3:23 AM in response to apost

    And exactly how would that work, given the fact that the sleep/wake button is a hardware switch, not a software switch.

  • by Dave Hutch,

    Dave Hutch Dave Hutch Nov 22, 2011 3:41 AM in response to wjosten
    Level 4 (1,479 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 3:41 AM in response to wjosten

    Sleep isn't the same as off though is it.

    Whilst asleep, Find My iPhone still works.

     

    By holding the Home and Sleep buttons until the slider appears, Apple could then build in a passcode request to switch the phone off.

     

    Not a bad idea

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Nov 22, 2011 3:45 AM in response to Dave Hutch
    Level 10 (94,615 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 3:45 AM in response to Dave Hutch

    Dave,

     

    You can turn the phone off by pressing both the sleep/wake button & home button at the same time. As I've said. they are hardware switches, not software.

  • by Dave Hutch,

    Dave Hutch Dave Hutch Nov 22, 2011 3:48 AM in response to wjosten
    Level 4 (1,479 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 3:48 AM in response to wjosten

    Yes they are, but the operation to turn the phone off is software controlled. They are not hardware pole switches which disconnnect the battery

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Nov 22, 2011 3:55 AM in response to Dave Hutch
    Level 10 (94,615 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 3:55 AM in response to Dave Hutch

    And exactly how, using software, do you prevent someone from pressing both the sleep/wake button & home button at the same time to turn the phone off?

  • by Dave Hutch,

    Dave Hutch Dave Hutch Nov 22, 2011 4:05 AM in response to wjosten
    Level 4 (1,479 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 4:05 AM in response to wjosten

    You can't. But what you can do is, when the buttons have been pressed, tell the operating system to take the dual button button press as a request to switch off the phone. At that point you tell the OS to generate a passcode request screen.

    Currently the OS takes the dual button press as a simple request to power down the phone and just switchesit off with no validation

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Nov 22, 2011 4:08 AM in response to Dave Hutch
    Level 10 (94,615 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 4:08 AM in response to Dave Hutch

    Ain't gonna happen, given the fact that you use this technique to also troubleshoot a non-performing iPhone.

  • by Dave Hutch,

    Dave Hutch Dave Hutch Nov 22, 2011 4:45 AM in response to wjosten
    Level 4 (1,479 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 4:45 AM in response to wjosten

    But is is possible

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Nov 22, 2011 4:50 AM in response to Dave Hutch
    Level 10 (94,615 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 22, 2011 4:50 AM in response to Dave Hutch

    The reality is, given the present iOS & physical design of an iPhone, there is no practical way to prevent a thief from turning the device off. Thieves seem to be smarter than users, and all seem to know they only have to turn the phone off to defeat Find My Phone.

  • by richardfromsheffield,

    richardfromsheffield richardfromsheffield May 15, 2012 4:11 PM in response to Tristan Merritt
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 15, 2012 4:11 PM in response to Tristan Merritt

    So there is a way, and I realise this may be coming a year late, this only applies to Jailbroken idevices also. An app called iLocalis.

    iLocalis is and app that transmits the location of the phone discretely at set intervals to a server, it had user defined intervals and a web access terminal much the same as Find My iPhone HOWEVER it has an option to disable the power off button.

     

    With the disable power off enabled you can hold the power button until you are blue in the face and get nowhere but locking the iPhone. Also, holding the home and power button will trigger a soft reset, but the iPhone will power on to the pass code screen regardless. The only way to prevent the phone being tracked with iLocalis under Jailbreak are:

    Remove the sim card, location would be stored on the phone and uploaded at next date connection.

    Wait until the phone dies.

     

    The buttons themselves are prices of hardware, but they don't Activate hardware on the phone, it's just a machine executing a command on the iOS so it can be changed, by Apple... Or a jailbreak developer. Of which I am not.

     

    Hope this helps! ( for my first post )

  • by razmee209,

    razmee209 razmee209 May 15, 2012 4:26 PM in response to richardfromsheffield
    Level 7 (33,447 points)
    May 15, 2012 4:26 PM in response to richardfromsheffield

    As your first post - you should have read the forum TOS - not allowed to talk about jailbroken phones in these forums.

Page 1 Next