Overview
- The Metropolitan Police has begun sharing device intelligence with Apple, creating a joint ‘intel picture’ to track whether stolen iPhones reappear in circulation and to test anti‑theft measures.
- Apple enabled Stolen Device Protection by default with iOS 26.4 in March 2026, requiring biometric checks and delays before resetting or removing protections so thieves cannot quickly factory‑reset or reactivate stolen phones.
- Early joint data from Apple and the Met show a sharp fall in successful reactivations of stolen iPhones, which police say is reducing the devices’ resale value and undercutting the criminal business model.
- The Met has boosted street enforcement with interceptor teams, Sur‑Ron e‑bikes, drones and a 10‑day crackdown called Operation Reckoning that led to hundreds of arrests and thousands of recovered phones.
- Police are asking the Home Office for new laws to force industry transparency and set minimum technical standards for phones, while Samsung and Google have also made recent security changes that could widen the impact.