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stevesnj · Jul 21, 2009, 12:30 PM

I searched here but didn't find anything... when I go on to my iPhone and turn off 'Find my iPhone' service it lets me turn it off. My question is... shouldn't this be password protected or something? If someone steals my phone can that person, assuming they know about 'Find my iPhone', just turn it off?

Big Mac · Jul 21, 2009, 01:32 PM

I suppose that's what the general passcode lock is for.

stevesnj · Jul 21, 2009, 02:07 PM

I understand that but not everyone uses the lock feature on their phone. This was just an observation I was pointing out.

ghporter · Jul 21, 2009, 04:25 PM

I agree that the "Find my iPhone" functionality should be protected from the thief's ability to turn it off. This is something they probably forgot about in coding the feature. Recommend they correct that!

Spheric Harlot · Jul 21, 2009, 05:32 PM

Um.

Vastly simpler than bothering to switch off Find My iPhone would be to just turn the whole damn phone off until it's connected to a computer. I don't think this is a problem worth fixing.

stevesnj · Jul 21, 2009, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I agree that the "Find my iPhone" functionality should be protected from the thief's ability to turn it off. This is something they probably forgot about in coding the feature. Recommend they correct that!

Thanks

I sent them this suggestion;

"The 'Find my iPhone' switch can be set to 'off' without any password. If the phone is stolen the thief can just turn off this feature without any prompting and 'Find my iPhone' is rendered useless if the stolen iPhone needs to be tracked. Actually this feature should remain hidden and only be able to be activated/deactivated through iTunes. This way no thief would be able to even know that that feature is activated."

ghporter · Jul 21, 2009, 07:08 PM

I like the "through iTunes" twist. Much better than something that's protected by a potentially weak password on the phone itself.

ort888 · Jul 22, 2009, 02:09 PM

I doubt most thieves are this savvy.

Surely some are, but most people finding an iPhone aren't going after iPhones in particular, and thus won't know about these subtle intricacies. They surely won't know about "find my phone" and they probably won't even think to turn it off. Most of them probably won't even know how to turn it off.

Spheric Harlot · Jul 22, 2009, 02:34 PM

My point.

And if a thief is savvy enought to know about this, it's quicker/easier to just turn the damn thing off until it's connected to a computer.

JKT · Jul 22, 2009, 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot

My point.

And if a thief is savvy enought to know about this, it's quicker/easier to just turn the damn thing off until it's connected to a computer.

Hence the other reason for password protecting your iPhone. You can't turn it off if the phone is locked.

ghporter
Today, 12:08 AM
I like the "through iTunes" twist. Much better than something that's protected by a potentially weak password on the phone itself.

iPhone config utility. Use it so that you can require a strong password rathe than a pathetic 4 digit PIN. One of the great things about the iPhone keyboard is that it is really easy to generate rock solid passwords because of the way you can toggle into non-alphanumerics with ease.

JKT · Jul 22, 2009, 05:44 PM

Gah, you can turn it off even when it is locked. How fricking dumb is that?

SSharon · Jul 31, 2009, 01:37 AM

Originally Posted by JKT

Gah, you can turn it off even when it is locked. How fricking dumb is that?

And here I was thinking that there is finally a good reason for the integrated battery!

I don't see the point in an extra password to turn off find my iphone and more than I see a point in an extra password to read my emails or access any other content. I have the passcode lock set to one minute just for this reason and have it set to auto-wipe after 10 failed attempts.

stevesnj · Jul 31, 2009, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by SSharon

I don't see the point in an extra password to turn off find my iphone and more than I see a point in an extra password to read my emails or access any other content. I have the passcode lock set to one minute just for this reason and have it set to auto-wipe after 10 failed attempts.

Okay but not everyone wants a password at the startup screen so the only security issue I thought needs looking at is password protecting or hiding the 'Find my iPhone' feature.