The Metropolitan Police is calling on tech giants to render stolen phones impossible to reactivate, a move its commissioner says could collapse the black market value of snatched handsets and strip criminals of their incentive to steal. Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC on Thursday that Apple believes it has “cracked” the engineering problem that allowed thieves to factory reset devices and resell them, and data now shows the “vast majority” of phones stolen in London in recent weeks were not reset.
“If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them,” Rowley said. The force has already entered an “intelligence sharing agreement” with Apple to build a global picture of stolen phones and whether they are being reconnected to networks. The Met says its broader efforts to tackle phone snatching have already seen incidents fall by 18% compared to the previous year.
“Met Police urges tech firms to make stolen phones unusable; thefts down 18% as Apple helps block resets.”
But Rowley warned that illicit software still allows snatchers to factory reset devices and sell them as new on foreign markets. He has asked the home secretary to introduce legislation forcing phone companies to publish data on stolen devices and enforce measures that make handsets “effectively unusable”.
Apple recently turned on a security setting called Stolen Device Protection by default in its iOS 26.4 update. When an iPhone is outside a familiar location, the setting delays thieves’ ability to change passwords or biometric data, buying the owner time to mark the phone as lost on another device.
“I’d never say we’re going to get down to zero crime, but this is going to make a massive difference,” Rowley told the BBC. “If they can only be broken up for parts, if you start to make it harder for criminals, they will steal fewer of them.”
The Met’s push comes amid warnings from Rowley that polarised political debate is making policing a “political football”. The commissioner’s comments on political pressures came alongside the theft data, highlighting the broader challenges facing law enforcement. A Home Office spokesperson said the government is taking “tough action”, including “equipping police with new powers to search properties without a warrant where stolen goods have been electronically located”, following an ultimatum the Met chief gave firms in March.
Only a minority of stolen phones were being reactivated compared with a few months ago, Rowley said, adding the shift makes it “harder for criminals to profit”.