This also depends on the phone and which version of the operating system it runs. I think both iOS and Android have snatch detection in their latest versions, i.e. the phone can realize it’s been ripped from the hands and subsequently traveled fast away from the point of snatching. Phones are then supposed to lock so the thief doesn’t gain access.
A good security option is not to have financial apps and credit card numbers in the clear on your phone, or to have this stuff hidden behind a fingerprint scan or other ID, if the phone is unlocked or not.
If you don’t want to buy 13 guns to shoot a mugger with, as has been suggested in this thread, consider something as silly as a sturdy lanyard to anchor your phone to your person. Now you’re only interesting to the criminals who will rob you at gun/knife point. The snatchers tend to look for easy marks. In the US, a vital defense against having your phone stolen is having an Android phone to begin with.
a vital defense against having your phone stolen is having an Android phone to begin with
Sorry, but this is just a laughable claim to make. Phone thieves aren’t going to hold back and try to figure out if the small slab in your hand is an iPhone 14 or a Pixel 9, they’re just going to take it and figure out what they’ve taken after the fact.
If anything, if they were paying attention to what targets were carrying, they’d be more likely to avoid iPhones because they can’t easily strip them for parts any more.
I remember reading a headline somewhere that thieves returned a couple of snatched phones to the owners specifically because they were Androids.
The rest of the world has a much higher share of Android phones than the US. There was and still is stigma around being green bubble in text threads on iMessage. Apple is dominant at home. Teenagers refuse to date folks without iPhones. Etc.
This also depends on the phone and which version of the operating system it runs. I think both iOS and Android have snatch detection in their latest versions, i.e. the phone can realize it’s been ripped from the hands and subsequently traveled fast away from the point of snatching. Phones are then supposed to lock so the thief doesn’t gain access.
A good security option is not to have financial apps and credit card numbers in the clear on your phone, or to have this stuff hidden behind a fingerprint scan or other ID, if the phone is unlocked or not.
If you don’t want to buy 13 guns to shoot a mugger with, as has been suggested in this thread, consider something as silly as a sturdy lanyard to anchor your phone to your person. Now you’re only interesting to the criminals who will rob you at gun/knife point. The snatchers tend to look for easy marks. In the US, a vital defense against having your phone stolen is having an Android phone to begin with.
Sorry, but this is just a laughable claim to make. Phone thieves aren’t going to hold back and try to figure out if the small slab in your hand is an iPhone 14 or a Pixel 9, they’re just going to take it and figure out what they’ve taken after the fact.
If anything, if they were paying attention to what targets were carrying, they’d be more likely to avoid iPhones because they can’t easily strip them for parts any more.
https://9to5mac.com/2023/12/04/stolen-android-phone-returned-iphone/
I did not make this up. But it was more than a year ago.
🤣 So do theives just look at my android phone and be like “pfft this peasant got an android” and walk away?
I remember reading a headline somewhere that thieves returned a couple of snatched phones to the owners specifically because they were Androids.
The rest of the world has a much higher share of Android phones than the US. There was and still is stigma around being green bubble in text threads on iMessage. Apple is dominant at home. Teenagers refuse to date folks without iPhones. Etc.
https://9to5mac.com/2023/12/04/stolen-android-phone-returned-iphone/