Apple is building an iPhone lock for phone snatchers

Apple is building a feature that would automatically lock an iPhone the moment it's snatched from your hand. Code found this week in a test version of iOS 27.2 describes a system Apple calls "AutoLock", which watches for the tell-tale signs of a theft and locks the phone before the thief can get into it.

Apple hasn't announced it, and it may never ship. But for UK phone owners, and Londoners in particular, it's a feature that couldn't come soon enough.

What the code says

9to5Mac found the details in iOS 27.2 beta 2 and reported them on Monday. According to the site, AutoLock looks for several warning signs at once:

• a sharp burst of acceleration, like a phone being yanked away
• a paired Apple Watch losing its connection or becoming unreachable
• a long loss of network connection
• the phone staying unlocked for longer than a set time

MacRumors describes it as a kind of voting system. Theft signals can ask for a lock, and reassuring signals can veto it. To avoid locking you out for nothing, 9to5Mac says the safeguards include "successful biometric authentication, certain foreground app activities that could otherwise be mistaken for signs that the device has been taken, and a backoff mechanism."

According to MacRumors, once the phone locks it also switches on Stolen Device Protection. That's the existing iPhone setting that demands Face ID or Touch ID before anyone can see saved passwords or cards, and adds an hour's delay before key changes such as a new Apple Account password.

The feature isn't live yet. 9to5Mac says it "is still under development and is not currently enabled or available as a user-facing option in iOS 27.2 beta 2." TechRadar adds the usual caveat that "we can't be sure of if or when they'll actually launch."

Why Britain will care most

Phone snatching is a UK problem on a scale few other countries match. A House of Commons Library briefing says 78,000 people had a phone or bag snatched in the year to March 2024, up 153% on the previous year. The Metropolitan Police handled more than three-quarters of the cases. But it isn't only London. The next highest forces were Kent, South Yorkshire and Lancashire.

The picture has improved. The National reported on Thursday that 55,797 phones were stolen in London in the year to August 2026, down 29% from 71,979 the year before. Commander Andy Featherstone told the paper: "We've been on top of it for the last 18 months." Part of that success came from dismantling a gang that police say shipped around 40,000 stolen phones to China.

Tech companies have been under pressure for a while. In February 2025 the Home Secretary called a summit with police and tech firms aimed at trying to "break the business model of mobile thieves". In June, Computing reported that the Met and Apple now share intelligence on stolen devices. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley put the logic plainly: "If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them." The Met has also asked the Home Office for minimum security standards for phones sold in the UK if industry doesn't go far enough.

Catching up with Android

Here's Ada's take. This is Apple catching up, not leading. As MacRumors points out, "Android already has a Theft Detection Lock feature that locks a smartphone in a snatch-and-grab theft situation." Apple's Stolen Device Protection guards certain sensitive settings, but it doesn't lock the phone itself. That leaves a gap when a thief grabs an unlocked phone from your hand mid-scroll, the classic snatch-and-grab.

AutoLock is aimed squarely at that moment. If it works, the thief gets a locked brick rather than an open phone full of banking apps. That also makes each stolen phone worth less, which is the Met's whole strategy.

To be fair to Apple

Getting this right is harder than it sounds. A phone that locks itself every time you jog for a bus, drop it on the sofa or walk out of Wi-Fi range would be infuriating, and people would switch it off. The layered checks in the code suggest Apple is taking false alarms seriously rather than rushing something out. Apple also already works with the Met, and its stolen-device features have steadily improved. Taking longer to ship something that works is better than shipping something annoying.

Mind the hype. The best stolen phone is one that locks itself before the e-bike turns the corner.

Sources: 9to5Mac, MacRumors, TechRadar, The National, House of Commons Library, Computing