Six months ago, phone snatchers in London could factory reset a stolen handset in seconds, wiping its identity and selling it as new on foreign markets. Now, the Metropolitan Police believes that window is closing.
On Thursday, the force revealed it had entered an intelligence-sharing agreement with Apple and begun sharing data to build a “global picture” of what happens to stolen handsets, including whether they are being reconnected to a network. The partnership follows an ultimatum the Met’s chief, Sir Mark Rowley, gave tech firms in March to make stolen phones less desirable for resale.
“Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley calls for legislation to force phone companies to make stolen handsets unusable.”
“If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them,” Rowley said. He told the BBC that Apple believes it has “cracked” the engineering problem that previously allowed illicit software to factory reset devices. Data now shows that “the vast majority of phones” stolen in recent weeks in the capital were not factory reset.
The breakthrough relies on a security setting called Stolen Device Protection, which Apple recently turned on by default for iPhones in a system update (iOS 26.4). When an iPhone is not at a familiar location, the setting delays thieves from changing passwords or biometric info, giving the owner time to mark the device as lost on another device.
Despite the progress, Rowley has asked the home secretary to introduce legislation forcing phone companies to publish data on stolen devices and to enforce measures rendering handsets effectively unusable. “I’d never say we’re going to get down to zero crime, but this is going to make a massive difference,” he told the BBC. “If they can only be broken up for parts… they will steal fewer of them.”
A Home Office spokesperson said the government is already taking “tough action”, including equipping police with new powers to search properties without a warrant where stolen goods have been electronically located. The spokesperson did not comment directly on Rowley’s legislative request.
London has some of the highest rates of phone theft per thousand people in the country. Rowley said that only a minority of stolen phones are now being reactivated compared to a few months ago, making it “harder for criminals to profit”. The question remains whether legislation will follow when the engineering fix is already showing results.