Overview
- The Metropolitan Police and Apple this week struck an intelligence‑sharing agreement to exchange device identifiers and publish joint data on whether reported stolen phones are reactivated.
- Apple enabled Stolen Device Protection by default in the iOS 26.4 update in March 2026, a setting that requires biometric checks or delays before erasing or disabling Find My and other security controls.
- Early partnership data show far fewer stolen iPhones are being factory‑reset or reactivated and London phone thefts fell about 18% year‑on‑year in the 12 months to May 2026 with Westminster down roughly 46%.
- Targeted Met operations, including a recent 10‑day Operation Reckoning and earlier crackdowns, produced hundreds of arrests, thousands of seized phones, and exposed a smuggling network that pleaded guilty to moving up to 40,000 devices abroad.
- The Met has asked the Home Office for laws requiring industry data transparency and minimum technical standards, while privacy experts warn of risks to repairers, recyclers and wrongly flagged owners if appeal and oversight processes are not set out.