3 ms·

Because thieves know that all iPhones are locked like this and thus don’t steal them. If they knew that some significant percentage were not locked they would

by jaas 3y ago

Because thieves know that all iPhones are locked like this and thus don’t steal them. If they knew that some significant percentage were not locked they would be worth stealing again, and if it’s locked they just throw it in a dumpster. The fact that your phone is locked protects everyone else as well.

j-bos 3y ago
Somehow I doubt even a percent of owners would choose to unpair. And if they do for repair purposes, there's no reason they couldn't re pair/register. What am I missing?
- M4v3R 3y ago
  Nothing, the argument for pairing the parts is so weak that I’m genuinely surprised to see it here on HN so often.
ghostpepper 3y ago
There have been reports of thieves threatening victims with weapons and demanding they disable icloud. Not saying that negates the benefit necessarily but it's a relevant data point.
cantSpellSober 3y ago
> thieves know that all iPhones are locked like this and thus don’t steal them Do you even believe this? I haven't seen any examples of thieves saying "stick em up! Oh, iPhone? Have a nice day" Easy counterexample: > an entire wall of iPhones (approximately 436) were gone https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/07/apple-store-robbed-half-million-washington-mall/11622949002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/07/apple-...
- Detrytus 3y ago
  But those were brand new iPhones, not activated, and therefore not locked...
  - cantSpellSober 3y ago
    ...and Apple presumably have the IMEIs. Another easy example: > In the UK in 2016, there were almost half a million mobile phones stolen [...] _most of them iPhones_ https://www.trustonic.com/opinion/smartphone-crime-turning-the-tide/ https://www.trustonic.com/opinion/smartphone-crime-turning-t...
- paulmd 3y ago
  > Comparing data in the six months before and after Apple released its anti-theft feature, police said iPhone robberies in San Francisco dropped 38 percent. In London, they fell 24 percent. > In New York City, robberies (which typically involve a threat of violence) of Apple products dropped 19 percent and grand larcenies of Apple products dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014, compared with the same time period from 2013, according to a report from the New York attorney general’s office, which included data from the New York City Police Department. By comparison, thefts of Samsung products increased 51 percent in the first five months of 2014, compared with the same period a year ago, the report said. https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/antitheft-technology-led-to-a-dip-in-iphone-thefts-in-some-cities-police-say/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/1...
  - cantSpellSober 3y ago
    2014 would be prior to most of the features mentioned in this article (parts pairing) and not the subject of your article (kill switches). The article does tell us that: * iPhones are very commonly stolen * Android devices introduced a similar kill switch in 2014 > Samsung introduced to kill switch for its Galaxy S5 in April, so it will be sometime until its effects can be evaluated

by jaas 3y ago

j-bos 3y ago

Somehow I doubt even a percent of owners would choose to unpair. And if they do for repair purposes, there's no reason they couldn't re pair/register. What am I missing?

M4v3R 3y ago
Nothing, the argument for pairing the parts is so weak that I’m genuinely surprised to see it here on HN so often.

ghostpepper 3y ago

There have been reports of thieves threatening victims with weapons and demanding they disable icloud. Not saying that negates the benefit necessarily but it's a relevant data point.

cantSpellSober 3y ago

> thieves know that all iPhones are locked like this and thus don’t steal them Do you even believe this? I haven't seen any examples of thieves saying "stick em up! Oh, iPhone? Have a nice day" Easy counterexample: > an entire wall of iPhones (approximately 436) were gone https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/07/apple-store-robbed-half-million-washington-mall/11622949002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/07/apple-...

Detrytus 3y ago
But those were brand new iPhones, not activated, and therefore not locked...
- cantSpellSober 3y ago
  ...and Apple presumably have the IMEIs. Another easy example: > In the UK in 2016, there were almost half a million mobile phones stolen [...] _most of them iPhones_ https://www.trustonic.com/opinion/smartphone-crime-turning-the-tide/ https://www.trustonic.com/opinion/smartphone-crime-turning-t...
paulmd 3y ago
> Comparing data in the six months before and after Apple released its anti-theft feature, police said iPhone robberies in San Francisco dropped 38 percent. In London, they fell 24 percent. > In New York City, robberies (which typically involve a threat of violence) of Apple products dropped 19 percent and grand larcenies of Apple products dropped 29 percent in the first five months of 2014, compared with the same time period from 2013, according to a report from the New York attorney general’s office, which included data from the New York City Police Department. By comparison, thefts of Samsung products increased 51 percent in the first five months of 2014, compared with the same period a year ago, the report said. https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/antitheft-technology-led-to-a-dip-in-iphone-thefts-in-some-cities-police-say/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 https://archive.nytimes.com/bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/1...
- cantSpellSober 3y ago
  2014 would be prior to most of the features mentioned in this article (parts pairing) and not the subject of your article (kill switches). The article does tell us that: * iPhones are very commonly stolen * Android devices introduced a similar kill switch in 2014 > Samsung introduced to kill switch for its Galaxy S5 in April, so it will be sometime until its effects can be evaluated