Apple's 'Activation Lock' feature introduced with iOS 7 has resulted in a notable drop of iPhone-related robberies, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced.
Phone theft is an increasingly alarming issue, especially since smartphones have become so advanced nowadays. While in the past a phone served for making phone calls, sending texts, checking the time, and not much else, today's smartphone powerhouses are portable PCs that often hold our entire lives. People now use smartphones to browse the internet, shop online, and do far more than just make calls, and high-end devices definitely don't come cheap.
As smartphones have advanced, however, phone theft is an increasingly pressing matter. Public officials have been pushing companies to implement "kill switches" into their smartphones in order to deter phone theft, and Apple already took important steps for extra security.
Apple introduced "Activation Lock" with its iOS 7 back in September, which basically acts like a "kill switch" allowing users to disable their devices in case of loss or theft.
According to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, this security measure has proved to be quite effective, leading to a "significant" decline in iPhone-related theft in three major cities - New York, San Francisco, and London, the New York Times (NYT) reports.
Measuring crime related to smartphone theft after Apple launched iOS 7 with Activation Lock last fall, San Francisco police revealed that iPhone robberies in the city dropped 38 percent, while London saw a 24 percent decline. The NYPD said that iPhone robberies fell 19 percent, while grand larcenies related to the device dropped 29 percent in the first five months of this year compared to the same period in 2013.
"The introduction of kill switches has clearly had an effect on the conduct of smartphone thieves," Mr. Schneiderman told the NYT in an interview. "If these can be canceled like the equivalent of canceling a credit card, these are going to be the equivalent of stealing paperweight."
Apple's Activation Lock feature in iOS 7 works by preventing unauthorized users from reactivating a stolen phone without an iCloud password. The feature has so far received high praise, and Schneiderman, along with San Francisco Attorney George Gascon, said it's the "world's first attempt to implement a technological solution to the global smartphone theft epidemic."
In lack of an iPhone with Activation Lock, smartphone users are always advised to beef up security on their devices by setting up passcodes to block unauthorized use. Various services also allow smartphone users to remotely wipe or to locate the device, but kill switches seem like a far more effective solution. Google and Microsoft will join this initiative and launch Android and Windows Phone devices with kill switches, and other companies are also expected to follow suit.
