How iPhone thieves are locking owners out of devices l GMA

The Wall Street Journal reports thieves are now exploiting an iPhone security setting called the “recovery key,” a unique 28-digit code originally meant to protect users from online victims.

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[bombaybeach]

Apple needs to help their customers get their data back.

[KING-CALAMITY]

So basically Apple saying there's nothing they can do 😅

[Naviss]

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of not just more people, But also keeping it in the news forcing Apple to do something. As Apple expects us to put more of our personal, and financial info on their devices, It's important for Apple to make it as safe as possible. I'm hoping to see big changes to fix things like this in iOS17.
The fact a simple or even hard passcode can unlock the ability to change a persons iCloud password is insane to me!

[Unpopularopinion]

First set up two hardware keys. Then go to settings, screen time on, set a passcode different from your unlock passcode to get into your device, go to content & privacy restrictions, scroll down to passcode changes and select “don’t allow”, and then select account changes “don’t allow”. These measures will block out a hacker and also a thief who physically took your phone while it was unlocked. It will be useless to them.

[obxurity]

my recommendations:

1. change your 4 digit passcode to an alpha numeric password instead. it will be harder for thieves to figure out what you typed as your password to enter your phone.

2. try to always use face id or touch id (if you still have a phone with touch id) when in public spaces like a bar, grocery store, etc.

[Hello-xpwz]

A. Stop using your phone to store payment cards.
B. Download your photos - good ones to desk top device
C. Treat your phone like your house/car keys. Stop leaving it out & vulnerable to theft.
D. I've never dropped my phone in a toilet, because I don't use my phone in the bathroom - obviously. Hygiene.

[zzizahacallar]

I seen this weeks ago Washington Post did a report. Thank you for bringing it up again. It angers me that the memories are forever gone.

[dtxgmoney]

The lesson here is to protect your passcodes and don't make them easy to guess!

[cmel]

I love how the main concern for most people was the videos and pictures, do the old school thing, plug it into any computer, you don't need ITunes, then when it asks, say allow to access, then just drag and drop them onto your PC or laptop, for the most part computers at home aren't usually targets of theft, then if you really want a backup, copy those onto USB. However, the majority of pictures and videos are never watched again so you can help yourselves by first deleting all the garbage pics before backing up

[bloodlinegaming]

yea I worked with apple support first hand, and I can say that this happens all the time, it happened with 2fa ALL the time because when a phone gets stolen the phone number does to, so unless you can have that number transferred to another phone you are locked out. This usually became a problem when people would forget to update from an old number before the phone is stolen.

[mrcuttime]

And here I thought GMA was going to advise us how to make the "Recovery Key" ourselves, so thieves couldn't possibly. But nah. Anyone with knowledge about this?

[JasonB]

When traveling change from a 4 PIN code to complex code. Set up Face ID or Touch ID. They wouldn’t know how to open your phone. When out and about, make sure you gripping the phone tightly so they can’t steal if from your hands. Secondly they can’t change your Apple ID if you have more than one Apple Device. To change your Apple ID PW they would need a code generated from a secondary device like iPad or Mac. It’s not a text message code. It’s a pop up code that also shows the location of the device that is trying to change your settings.

[bdarci]

This only works if the thief has seen you use your passcode. Since I only use Face ID, or in earlier phones Touch ID, that couldn’t happen. Sometimes the phone asks you to input your passcode to open the phone, I will never do that in a public place. I feel for the folks who’ve had this happen to them, but it’s easily avoided.

[userb]

To prevent someone from accessing your account when your device is unlocked (or even when they know your device password)

Enable "screen Time" with a strong password. **keep this in a save place at home**

Go into "Screen Time" / "Content & Privacy Restrictions and disable" and change the permissions to "Don’t Allow" for:

Passcode Changes
Account Changes

[tragediesrequiem]

That's why you back up your photos & videos onto your laptop/computer/external hard drives instead of relying on cloud storage. Furthermore, there may be people who gets their icloud hacked too...so do what you will with that info.

[posthocprior]

Don't think I understood how the theft works. All the thieves need is your 28-character code? My phone was bought using my real name. When I call Apple customer support, they ask for the serial number. So, they link the serial number to my real name. Why doesn't your government issued ID enough to prove that it was stolen and you own the phone?

[andyd]

They didnt say HOW his phone got hacked. What happened?

[Malaka-rp]

Obviously it’s either someone he knows who knew the passcode or he entered in front of strangers looking at his iPhone in plain sight.


iPhone setting if activated by the real owner gives only 10 consecutive attempts and wipes everything from iPhone to factory settings reset and locked out.

The best hackers can’t even hack clean.

[JuanWayTrips]

They suggest using Touch ID but iPhones (not counting the SE) haven't had that in years. Only Android flagships have kept fingerprints/touch ID (embedded in the screen too), so most iPhone users default to the passcode since face recognition can be slow too.

[AMD-]

All Apple needs to do is enforce users to set a cloud passcode while setting up the phone and also ensure that user cannot set same passcode for their phone and cloud passcode.