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IOS 7 Kill Switch: new lock on stolen/lost phone

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dan330

Extreme Android User
just read about a new feature on the new iphone with ios 7...
SF, NY officials wait to judge Apple 'kill switch'.

a kill switch that can make a lost or stolen phone useless.. until the activation IS and Password are entered. Even if the phone is data wiped clean!

now.. that is great! innovative!

with all the new NFC and data and personal info these little powerful devices have of their owner/users.. I would think a way to wipe the data.. then lock the device to a brick! would reduce thieves' desire for them.

this should be built-in all smartphones!
 
sntaylor said:
Can't that be done via the networks any way? Shut down and completely block the phone using imei code?
Click to expand...

They can blacklist it from the network, or from any network. It can still be used as a WiFi device tho. :(

Don't a few of the android security suites offer this, like cerbrus?
 
Yeah you can remotely wipe and lock an android phone with some apps. I dont know how strong "lock" is though but in UK, i think the carrier can disable a lost/stolen phone by its IMEI and it takes a bit of hackery to make it usable again.
Imo though, making a stolen phone unusable just makes a theif throw it in the river.. pointless :beer:
 
I use "Where's My Droid" that works great, allows me to erase, lock, and GPS my phone, I can even make the alarm go off, with just text message commands. Which can be sent from another phone or computer. Pretty handy.
 
dan330 said:
just read about a new feature on the new iphone with ios 7...
SF, NY officials wait to judge Apple 'kill switch'.

a kill switch that can make a lost or stolen phone useless.. until the activation IS and Password are entered. Even if the phone is data wiped clean!

now.. that is great! innovative!

with all the new NFC and data and personal info these little powerful devices have of their owner/users.. I would think a way to wipe the data.. then lock the device to a brick! would reduce thieves' desire for them.

this should be built-in all smartphones!
Click to expand...

I think that this is a great feature to have in a device.
 
It's not a great idea: it's a blindingly obvious, why-the-freak-hasn't-it-always-been-there idea. Kinda like making things specifically designed to be used OUTSIDE where it RAINS resistant to water.

Re IMEI blacklisting: this only blocks the phone from being used on networks that subscribe to the same blacklist. Since the blacklists are all national, simply taking the phone abroad makes it completely irrelevant. Hence the reason so many stolen phones end up in developing markets.

As mentioned above, IMEI codes can be hacked, though I don't think it's easy to do: I did some work for a leading UK network around blacklisting cloned IMEIs and there were only maybe a dozen they knew of at the time (maybe 5 or 6 years back).
 
Changing bad ESN's or IMEIs is illegal, period.

Cloning ventures into a grey area, and most of the time that is illegal too.

I agree, this is a good thing iOS is implementing because it'll push android to include this stock.

The only rub I see is if apple decided to patent everything and sues everyone, including the android developers who distribute apps for this purpose. We'll see.
 
Granite1 said:
Changing bad ESN's or IMEIs is illegal, period
Click to expand...

Absolutely true.

Though, in the context of stolen phones, it's probably moot :D

Granite1 said:
Cloning ventures into a grey area, and most of the time that is illegal too
Click to expand...

I believe it's also illegal.

Certainly it ought to be as operators block IMEIs that are identified as cloned (e.g. when they find more than one of 'em) and this inevitably means that, if the legal phone is in the same country, it also gets blacklisted. Actually, the specific problem I was working on.

Granite1 said:
I agree, this is a good thing iOS is implementing because it'll push android to include this stock
Click to expand...

Absolutely!

Granite1 said:
The only rub I see is if apple decided to patent everything and sues everyone, including the android developers who distribute apps for this purpose. We'll see.
Click to expand...

You'd think, given HTCs had similar functionality nearly 3 years ago, that couldn't happen ..

.. but if recent history teaches us anything, its never underestimate an Apple lawyer :D
 
XplosiV said:
Still, as good as the feature is, it's been done before on Android, just another copy from Apple.
Click to expand...

Things like this were bound to happen, so it really does not matter whio came up with the idea. If it works, that's that. With everything going online and with our "need" for email and SMS on the go, it is silly not to have something that tries to protect us one way or another.
 
Bob Maxey said:
Things like this were bound to happen, so it really does not matter whio came up with the idea
Click to expand...

Good luck convincing Apple :D

I agree that it is ridiculous, though: some things really are too obvious to be patented.

What's even worse is when Apple sues over how something looks. If that worked with cars, half of Asian cars would have to be banned as they're direct steals of European or US designs: how often do you see a Beemer or a Merc out the corner of your eye, only to realise it's actually a Lexus or a Honda? A couple of years ago, Citroen's adverts for their new car were all about how it would definitely be mistaken for something German!
 
I've had this feature for a long time using Avast. I can send a text command to either locate the phone with a good degree of acuracy or text another command to junk and wipe the phone. Pretty nifty.
 
SiempreTuna said:
Good luck convincing Apple :D

I agree that it is ridiculous, though: some things really are too obvious to be patented.

What's even worse is when Apple sues over how something looks. If that worked with cars, half of Asian cars would have to be banned as they're direct steals of European or US designs: how often do you see a Beemer or a Merc out the corner of your eye, only to realise it's actually a Lexus or a Honda? A couple of years ago, Citroen's adverts for their new car were all about how it would definitely be mistaken for something German!
Click to expand...

Nothing new, I am afraid. We have had these kinds of suits since the beginning. There was a term, "Look and Feel" lawsuits.

As for cars, I have no experience or worries over how much my car looks like another. Not too many Super Eighty-Eights or Packards out there and my favorites do not look anything alike.
 
Anything to discourage people from stealing these devices is good. Although it is already available on Android devices, most people either don't use or don't know about it. Having this security feature standard on all iOS 7 devices will discourage people from trying to steal them because the device will be rendered useless by the thief. I do think Apple made a good decision to include this on iOS 7. This is one of the things I would like to see standard on all phones. It would save many people a lot of grief and possibly injury.
 
I think a few of you don't get what I am saying is new...

yes.. we have had the ability to: Wipe and find our phones. I have had this feature.. for years.
IOS has had that function too!

but the devices are still usable! they can be used as WIFI devices.. or moved to other networks! or other countries. So the thief can still make $$$ .. even if YOU wipe the device clean.

the new function.. LOCKS the device completely down! NO one can use it.. for nothing!
Only once you re-enter the correct activation and password.. will the turn fully back on.

Yes.. it means that the device is useless to thieves!! and everyone else! so, they throw it away....
that is the POINT! if they are useless... and this will get around... then the thieves will have no reason to steal more smartphones!

I don't know of any way to do this currently on android phones.. or any phones!!! or any devices!
 
dan330 said:
I think a few of you don't get what I am saying is new...

yes.. we have had the ability to: Wipe and find our phones. I have had this feature.. for years.
IOS has had that function too!

but the devices are still usable! they can be used as WIFI devices.. or moved to other networks! or other countries. So the thief can still make $$$ .. even if YOU wipe the device clean.

the new function.. LOCKS the device completely down! NO one can use it.. for nothing!
Only once you re-enter the correct activation and password.. will the turn fully back on.

Yes.. it means that the device is useless to thieves!! and everyone else! so, they throw it away....
that is the POINT! if they are useless... and this will get around... then the thieves will have no reason to steal more smartphones!

I don't know of any way to do this currently on android phones.. or any phones!!! or any devices!
Click to expand...

This was my original question Dan. I was under the impression that you could lock the device with Avast or Cerberus, I was wrong.

What you're describing is something android doesn't have yet, that I'm aware of.

This should be a part of an ESN, or IMEI blacklist from the carrier. Lock it down, and render it useless, both from any network communication and from any physical use.
 
Its not something id use simply because the phone theifs here dont sell it abroad or anythin smart. They really need a bag of smack so it gets sold/swapped fast for 20/40qid. I dont care how the buyer uses my phone. I want him to be able to use it until i track it down and 5mins of words later, he hands me it back and tells me who sold him it :thumbup:
 
funkylogik said:
Its not something id use simply because the phone theifs here dont sell it abroad or anythin smart. They really need a bag of smack so it gets sold/swapped fast for 20/40qid. I dont care how the buyer uses my phone. I want him to be able to use it until i track it down and 5mins of words later, he hands me it back and tells me who sold him it :thumbup:
Click to expand...


that is looking at the small picture.. and not very reliable.
also has a lot of loss..
your time looking for it..
your time not being able to use it..
the buyer who is now out of money..
only winner is the thief!



if you take away the worth of a product that is stolen. then it will never be stolen. people would more likely try to return it (if lost) for a reward.
 
I didn't realise that the render-unuseable bit of the iOS solution was new - it seems so obvious, but I guess the issue was making it work on a droid?

Given it's new, Apple wil definitely have patented it, so I guess we're never going to get it on a droid now :(
 
Cerberus already does everything I could ask. I've tested most of its features and they all work. Haven't tried wiping the device (for obvious reasons) but assuming it would work.
Looking at my dashboard on the PC and it has my location spot on sitting in my apartment.
I also set up a separate Gmail account not tied to my phone for tracking it. It's hidden from the app drawer and installed as a system app (need root for that) so it's extremely hard to uninstall. I'm pretty happy about the setup. :)

For a lot of things iOS fans love, there's more than likely a third party app solution with Android to take care of it. Should it come stock with the device? Absolutely! But, I'm cool with having the inconvenience of installing some other app to do what I need.
 
I don't currently have anything like this on my phone so I'm wondering what Android app gives the best protection.

Does Cerberus do this bit where it locks the phone and prevents thieves from getting any access at all or could they still somehow do a factory reset or root the phone to get it to work, if not get access to your data?
 
I have cerbeus.. it is good. and I am rooted.
so it does give a good deal of protection. but it is only an add on app.

with a little know how.. you can wipe the phone clean.. and get rid of everything. start over. device now has value and sellable.

if it was a feature that is built into the BIOS.. or some hardware. the phone is useless to 99.99%.. way to much trouble to by pass and get working again. a stolen phone has no resale value. then no one will want to look at stealing a smartphone!

then with NFC and future plans of our cell phones being how we pay for stuff..
how we are starting to have almost every personal info on our cells..
I would feel soooo much better.
 
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