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Waiting time for password change: “Stolen Device Protection” on an iPhone 15 Pro

Photo: Matthias Kremp / DER SPIEGEL

Anyone who is deeply anchored in the Apple universe can and should install a number of updates these days.

On Tuesday night, the US company released software updates for almost all current product lines: iMacs, MacBooks, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, HomePods and iPhones.

All are intended to bring “performance and stability improvements”.

More than a dozen security holes are being plugged, that's important, the smartwatches are getting a new watch face, that's nice.

The fact that you can now create shared playlists with friends and family in Apple Music may also be a nice extra.

The most important innovation, however, is a new anti-theft system for iPhones, which Apple is introducing with iOS 17.3.

With the new feature, Apple is responding to a perfidious method that criminals use to circumvent the usual security methods.

Back in April, the Wall Street Journal reported that thieves spy on the PIN code of iPhones by first looking over their victims' shoulders as they unlock their cell phones before stealing their Apple cell phones.

Owners will be locked out of their accounts

This unlock code gives you full access to the stolen device.

What makes this method particularly dangerous is that the code not only gives thieves access to the cell phone, but can also use it to lock out its rightful owner from their Apple account.

The consequences can be serious.

Losing access to photos and videos saved in iCloud is often the least of your problems.

What's more serious is that criminals can use credit cards stored on the device to go on shopping sprees.

Apple's security system actually allows device owners to lock and delete them remotely.

This security can also be disabled using the unlock code.

The “Protection for Stolen Devices” introduced with iOS 17.3 is intended to prevent this.

No access without biometrics

If you have turned on the security function in the settings of your iPhone, thieves are faced with a number of hurdles that should at least make it more difficult for them to monetize the stolen devices or manipulate the owners' accounts:

  • In order to access passwords that are stored in the iPhone's so-called keychain, you must identify yourself using a fingerprint or facial recognition.

    So far, the unlock code can also be used for this.

  • Apple ID password changes are made more difficult by the system watching where you try to make them.

    If the “Stolen Device Protection” determines that the device is in a strange location, i.e. neither at home nor at work, it also requires a fingerprint or a face scan.

    As if that wasn't enough, it then takes a break of four hours before making the change after another fingerprint or facial recognition request.

  • If you want to change a phone number that has been stored as trustworthy or request a so-called recovery key - for example to change your Apple ID password - you also have to identify yourself twice using facial recognition or fingerprint.

    Here the waiting time between the first and second scan is one hour.

  • The unlock code is also not enough to turn off “protection for stolen devices”.

    Instead, you have to identify yourself biometrically twice.

    If you try to perform this action in a location that is not known to the iPhone, there will also be a longer pause that must be observed before the change takes effect.

This is how you arm the new fuse

The function is deactivated by default.

The function is activated in the

settings

under

Face ID & Code

.

To open this settings option, you have to enter your unlock code.

Once that's done, after the update to iOS 17.3 you'll find the new menu item

Protection for Stolen Devices

, which you can easily activate with a tap of your finger.

Important, Apple expressly points out: Before giving away or selling a device protected in this way, you should definitely switch off the new theft protection.

The new owners can then turn it back on and set it up with their own trusted places.

If it is not offered automatically, you can start the update to iOS 17.3 by tapping

on

Software Update

under

General in the

Settings

.

It may then take a moment before the update appears.

iOS 17.3 is available for iPhones 11 and later, the second-generation iPhone SE, and the iPhones XR, XS, and XS Max.