[turtle777]

Why is there no app that would allow the user to remotely lock their iPhone if it gets stolen or lost ?
I know the current restrictions from Apple won't allow this, but it still stinks.

At least, Apple, give us a feature where you'd require the iPhone to be unlocked once every x days / hours by entering the password.

Just something.

-t

[ghporter]

I can think of a number of reasons to keep the user him/herself from remotely locking the phone. Here's one: Joe Dude gets ticked at his ex girlfriend and, having some inside information about her phone, he remotely locks it just to mess with her.

Having to go through an intermediary that can say "your story is fishy" and not do the actual locking protects users.

That may not be Apple's motivation, but it sounds like a good reason.

[auto_immune]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Why is there no app that would allow the user to remotely lock their iPhone if it gets stolen or lost ?
I know the current restrictions from Apple won't allow this, but it still stinks.

At least, Apple, give us a feature where you'd require the iPhone to be unlocked once every x days / hours by entering the password.

Just something.

-t

Did you get the idea from seeing that the new Blackberry Storm has that feature?
It specifically requires Blackberry Enterprize Server software to do that.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by auto_immune 

Did you get the idea from seeing that the new Blackberry Storm has that feature?

No, I got the idea from common sense.

-t

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I can think of a number of reasons to keep the user him/herself from remotely locking the phone. Here's one: Joe Dude gets ticked at his ex girlfriend and, having some inside information about her phone, he remotely locks it just to mess with her.

Having to go through an intermediary that can say "your story is fishy" and not do the actual locking protects users.

I can't follow your argument.

a) the owner of the iPhone should be in control of the lock feature and be able to change the needed password
b) even IF someone remotely locked the iPhone, you could always unlock it. I'm just talking about a lock like requiring a password to enable the use of the phone
c) How could a third party (intermediary) ever make an informed decision ? They can't. The owner of the iPhone should have the ultimate say.

-t

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I can't follow your argument.

a) the owner of the iPhone should be in control of the lock feature and be able to change the needed password
b) even IF someone remotely locked the iPhone, you could always unlock it. I'm just talking about a lock like requiring a password to enable the use of the phone
c) How could a third party (intermediary) ever make an informed decision ? They can't. The owner of the iPhone should have the ultimate say.

-t

If it's just locking the phone so that it takes the phone's master password to unlock it, that's different from what I was thinking of. I was thinking of a lock that disables the phone and requires service to re-enable it. But what you're talking about makes more functional sense anyway; how many people lose phones and think they're in the last taxi they took or they've been stolen, when they're actually just between the sofa cushions? Much less embarrassing to be able to just unlock the thing when it turns up than to have to go to an AT&T store or something to have it unlocked.

On the other hand, if you could remotely lock it, wouldn't it be relatively trivial to have it report its location back to you? I can see that as VERY useful in finding lost or stolen phones, but that also seems to be setting up the phone to be a stalker's tool... I'm assuming that many users of the iPhone are less technical and more "shiny" oriented, and passwords and such are just too much hassle for them to keep up with, thus "boyfriend" can pretty easily get access he shouldn't have. That sort of capability I'd certainly leave in the hands of a more objective agent, like Apple. "But sir, I can't tell you where 'your' phone is, because the phone you're talking about is registered to a female."

[pcryan5]

Just my 2 cents -
Being able to lock and wipe a device is a legal requirement for our gov't agency. We use this all the time with lost/stolen Blackberries. At this time it blocks the on boarding of iPhones to our organization.