Because the threat model that it protects against doesn’t apply to anything but the iPhone. The concern is a thief shoulder-surfing a passcode, then snatching an iPhone and running. Before this, they could use the passcode to change the Apple ID password and take over the person’s life. That’s unlikely to happen with an iPad and even less likely with a Mac.
With Stolen Device Protection enabled, Face ID or Touch ID will be required to make certain changes.
What I haven’t had a chance to check yet is if, once enabled, it also applies to your other devices.
Honestly my guess is that Siri on the watch, which is unlocked on your wrist, is the one changing the focus and syncing the change to the rest of your devices. I change focus modes on the watch sometimes and on the phone sometimes, though generally not with Siri. Just from control center on whichever device is handy.
Is that true? I get the Mac, but I bet there are many people with an iPad that in spite of all warnings use a 4 or 6 digit code. If they can be observed typing it in on their iPhone, the same could apply to their iPad, couldn’t it?
It’s not inconceivable, but the Wall Street Journal hasn’t mentioned any iPads being compromised in this way. The exploit seems to be focused on crowded bars where people are careless and potentially drunk. It’s not my scene, but I’d be surprised if iPads were commonly used in such situations.
I sure get that. I guess I’m just trying to verify that there is nothing fundamental preventing this scheme from being exploited on an iPad as on iPhone.
AppleInsider just posted an overview of Stolen Device Protection:
One thing I noticed is that there are certain system features that will require biometric authentication without any ability to fall back to a passcode. These include:
Erasing all content and settings
Adding or removing Face ID or Touch ID
Turning off Find My
Now, these all make perfect sense from the standpoint of security, but I’m wondering what you can do if, after activating this feature, your phone’s biometric sensor fails. Suppose the dot-projector in your phone dies so FaceID no longer works. Is there any possible way to recover? It seems that the stolen device protection will make it impossible to disable FaceID or wipe the device.
Will you be able to put it into recovery mode, clean-install the OS and restore a backup? Or will your device permanently lose access to all of the protected features?
UPDATE 1/24/2024
Now that I’ve updated my phone to 17.3, I tried this out. I enabled SDP. Then I tried to disable it while holding my finger over the FaceID sensor array. After two failed attempts, it asked for the passcode, which worked (I assume because I was trying at home, which is a truste location).
In such a case you’d just turn off SDP. Turning off SDP allows for passcode fallback. Usually, that will come with a 1-hr delay (for protection), but if you do this in a trusted location (home, work) there isn’t even that delay. No need for erase/restore. Apple has thought this through.
Can SDP be turned off with just a passcode from a trusted location? The AI article seemed to say that it will also require biometric authentication (with the hour-delay and reauthentication if not in a trusted location).
I may have to test this after I get around to upgrading my phone.
No, the article is quite clear. Turning off SDP is listed in the 2nd list which is the set of tasks that support passcode fallback. Only tasks on the 1st list absolutely require biometric authentication.
The 1-hr delay is an additional feature, not related to fallback yes/no.
Unless it’s marked as lost or stolen, I’d guess it could be restored from a backup or iCloud. Having no backup in the first place is just asking for trouble.
Yesterday I did test this after upgrading my phone. @Simon is correct. I blocked the FaceID sensor with my finger and after two failed attempts at face validation, it asked for the passcode, which worked.
Bleh! Looks like you’re right. I positioned myself far enough away from my phone that I could still hear it, but not be recognised by it, and even with an unlocked watch my phone’s Siri would not let me change focus without unlocking first. Awww … that’s too bad! Thanks for clearing that up.
No mention thus far whether SDP knows where Home and Work are if Settings > Privacy > Location Services > SystemServices > Significant Locations is turned off. Hmm… [EDIT: ok, I completely didn’t read this thread…]
I have not had a positive experience updating to 17.3. First on my iPhone 12 Mini it updated by itself —no input from me. Right after, the phone totally froze! I tried pushing the volume and power buttons to no avail. Then I did a Google search on how to unfreeze a phone. I finally found a YouTube video that fixed it.
I have a Zagg keyboard attached to my iPad Air 5 (newest one), (Other than the unauthorized update and freeze)— I didn’t encounter any problems on the phone using the update . So I updated my iPad. NO EMOJI’S!!!. The “globe/emoji” key on the Zagg keyboard no longer works!
I realize an emoji is not important to some people, but I used them all the time! I see on Google that there are many complaints about the way Apple has handled emojis. Supposedly you click on stickers, then faces and you see them. Why add 2 extra steps when they were already convenient? And from what I have read, Apple has made the “globe” key on 3rd party keyboards non-functional! I am not happy!
HOW TO FORCE RESTART YOUR IPHONE IF IT IS FROZEN
1.YOUTUBE VIDEO
Here is the link to that You Tube video to unfreeze your Apple device… This is the best one I looked at. He showed what to do all the way until the iPhone started again and had to add the passcode. My iPhone took a while. I almost gave up and lifted my finger off the Power button. Do what he says —keep your finger on the power button!
If iPhone isn’t responding, try forcing it to restart.
——-
Note: Apple’s page shows you the steps to take. For me, watching the YouTube and actually seeing what to do was better. YMMV
Maybe this is a little off-topic, but this article prompted me to immediately update my iPhone to iOS 17.3. After this update I discovered that I can no longer successfully search my calendar. I’m wondering if this is a known issue or if anyone has experienced this problem.
Essentially, no matter what I search for, the response is “No Results”. I have several calendars and the weird thing is that through experimentation I discovered that it is actually searching two seldom used calendars, but not all of my calendars and not my main calendars. My two main calendars, my “Personal Calendar” that I share with my wife, and my private “Work Calendar” will return no results, but a Calendar of Japanese Holiday schedules that I subscribe to, and an NFL Football Schedule Calendar that I subscribe to WILL return results (though that’s not much use really). I’ve tried turning calendars on and off, restarting my phone etc. but nothing helps.
