Fighting Cell Phone Robbery with Software

Written by Alex Gronke 

There would be fewer cell phone robberies in the Bay Area and elsewhere if more iPhone owners upgraded to the latest version of iOS, according to recent articles in the East Bay Express and Oakland Local.

At the moment, it’s fairly easy for thieves and fences to turn a stolen iPhone into a device that can fetch hundreds of dollars in market stalls from the East Bay to Lagos. But by upgrading to Apple’s newest mobile operating system, iPhone owners can make it much harder for stolen phones to be erased and reactivated. Once robbers realize that iPhones with Activation Lock are useless outside the hands of their rightful owners, the risks of robbery will outweigh the diminishing potential for ill-gotten rewards.

Still, as the Express notes, Apple’s software fix may only spark the black market’s ingenuity. It’s possible hackers could find a way to defeat Activation Lock. What’s really needed is a hardware solution, but Apple and its Android competitors have been reluctant to craft thief-foiling hardware, according to the Express.

For now, here are the instructions from Apple on how to make sure Activation Lock is working once your iPhone is running iOS 7:

Activation Lock is enabled automatically when you turn on Find My iPhone in iOS 7, or when you upgrade to iOS 7 from a previous version of iOS that has Find My iPhone already turned on.

To turn on Find My iPhone on your device:

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap iCloud.

For other police-related news on Berkeley Patch, see our "Police and Fire" section.