How To Prevent Watch-And-Grab iPhone Theft

[@WillPalenscar]

You can also use a privacy screen protector!

[@PaullHutchh]

Everyone who owns an Iphone should watch this video!!!

[@timo1079]

You should have added the trick with Screen On Time restrictions for settings

[@Gauchosister]

Great suggestions and information about a sensible topic, always properly explained without charge any anxiety! Thanks Gary!

[@mikerisner]

I saw this story over the weekend. So glad you created this video to provide much needed perspective and common sense.

[@vmobile890]

When do we get eye ball scan or blood drop

[@pineappleroad]

The 2 levels of access thing made me think of a bank app i use, passcode or phone biometrics grants access to the app, but to do certain things the app needs to turn on the camera to verify its you (and i think it actually sends a short clip of video to the server) The bank app has its own separate passcode, and apart from verifying thats its you im not sure what other things the system does with the clip of video (maybe it tries to make sure you are alone)

[@dplj4428]

My favorite tips the longer passcode @4:35 plus don’t expose typing to prying eyes.

[@georgee3401]

Thanks for providing a common sense approach to this problem.

[@richardclark8656]

Thanks for this video. It’s the best video I’ve seen on this topic. Unlike many others, you have the knack for talking to your audience in a way they are actually likely to understand, and discuss, explain and give context to the points you’re making so we will be more likely to digest what you’re trying to convey. Explaining context and giving real life examples are super important for those of us who aren’t techies who spend hours going over iPhone manuals. And the natural conversational pace you maintain is so appreciated - n o m a n i c e d i t i n g ! THANK YOU!

[@bobp3738]

Well done. Thanks for putting this into perspective. As convenience increases security decreases and vice-versa. Common sense prevents most threats.

[@kennymccannYT]

Thanks for the tips. Could also set screen time limits for banking and emails apps.

[@loisskiathitis8926]

A very useful and informative video tutorial today! As always thanks for the visuals. Thank you, Gary! 👏❤️

[@dmengle-6538]

You took the words right out of my mouth there at the end… “use common sense”. 👍 Thanks as always Gary! Great stuff!

[@rhettshipley4593]

When you open an email, is there any way to type something on that email? As in when you open your favourite ones like BILLS . Would be handy to write on it paid or I don't like that one or what ever.

[@simonochana3189]

I remember back in 1987, in Reading, I saw a black cab with a bale of hey in the back. I then heard a rumour that it was a legal requirement for all taxis to carry spare hey in the back. This dated back to when all taxis were horse drawn.

[@ranimungcal]

Thank u always for the tips and for these reminders👍🏻

[@RonnieGreher]

There are probably more news stories on this watch and grab in the last week or so, then actual incidents in the past few years. News loves clicks. Thanks for this informative video Gary

[@Joshua_Eron_Miller]

Take note: I have had a 6 digit passcode forever. I recently changed it to a 24 digital alphanumeric passcode (on both my iPhone and iPad). I have noticed iOS prompting me on both devices to enter my passcode a LOT more frequently compared to before I changed it. I can't help but assume that Apple/iOS does this to help make sure you don't forget it. Makes perfect sense, but no where does it tell you it's going to do this.

[@macmost]

It wouldn't do this more often to hep with your memory. It is probably doing it more often now since you just changed it and there are situations where you are accessing things the first time since you changed it.

[@Joshua_Eron_Miller]

@@macmost It literally does it every single morning after waking up. The first unlock of the day. Not clicking on any notification, just swiping up to unlock the phone. iPad does the same thing, first unlock of the day. It's very coincidental.

[@randallyons8745]

thanks Gary and common sense is great part of this

[@daphetidroberto797]

I frequently get a prompt on my iPhone and iPad saying to continue using FaceID i must enter my passcode. Am i missing some setting to turn this off?

[@macmost]

If you get that there must be a reason at that point where you need your passcode to continue. Like I point out in the video, you can only go so far with just Face ID.

[@ralphhenson3192]

Really Good Advice! Thanks for dispelling histeria while identifying proper protective habits. RH

[@CMG78]

I have been using touch so far but thankfully I live in one of those towns with only 250 people where everyone knows everyone else so these kind of crimes are rare when i am out of town to a larger city like Milwaukee or Madison (the big cities in my area) I don't use my phone in public and if i need to use it i go sit in my car

[@RyderCragie]

300k subs! Congrats!

[@robertgerard6200]

Well done, Gary, brining some perspective to this business. Unfortunately, now that news of this explore it is out there in the wild, you can be sure that there are going to be copycats doing this and we'll see a lot more of it in the future.

[@macmost]

I don't know. It is still such a risky crime. And the thief has no idea if the account info of a random person is going to get them anything worthwhile enough to justify the risk.

[@sundaynightdrunk]

This sort of thing has been known as long as cellphones with passcodes have existed, and in the US there's a lot of people on iPhone using FaceID, which is pretty damn secure for all the reasons Gary explained. I've seen a ton of cellphone snatching in videos from Brazil, for instance, but those tend to be cheap Android phones and from what I understand they just wipe them and sell them on the black market.

[@StefanGruber]

I'd love a feature that shuffles the position of the buttons of the key-pad screen.

[@tritontek425]

use screentime! for extra layer in screen time -> privacy close Apple ID with another code

[@javtimestwo]

how does that work? can you explain a bit more, please?

[@tritontek425]

@@javtimestwo for a better explanation kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGbaeGRtaLV_abc

[@macmost]

The idea is to turn on Screen Time with a separate passcode. Then have Screen Time content blocking with Account Changes restricted. So then you need a second passcode to change account info. The problems with that is you can still get to your passwords in Settings if you know your passcode, and that is what a thief might go to first anyway. You can also restrict access to the Settings app, but that will be such a pain that most people will abandon this technique pretty quick. Also, among the people that do this, some will forget this second passcode and end up in trouble. Lots of other issues. Using only Face ID in public is a much better solution.

[@tritontek425]

@@macmost Apparently you don't know how it works. If you block Apple ID, you can't get your password either. Passcode and Face ID disappear from the menu! And if you don't have a password manager today.

[@ckbelludi]

@@macmost Hi Gary, This is an amazing video and it is a quite an intriguing problem. I have mixed opinions about the separate Screen Time passcode. When getting to my "Passwords" (iCloud Keychain), I purposefully failed the Face ID test (mimicking a theft) and it did not give me an option to use my 4-digit passcode to access it. I don't know how you could do that. Also, I am wondering what is at stake here if I forget my "Screen Time passcode" ?? Can I recover my account using another trusted device, say my wife's or someone else's?

[@johnconstable8512]

you're the best gary. ty

[@AntonioMRosario]

Thank you for this Gary. I'm going to share and tell my people about your suggestions. One other thing: what are you using to capture your finger touches on your iPhone screen? I need to do screen vids from my phone and would love to be able to see my finger presses and the like. Thanks.

[@macmost]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2aVdYCYrsh5naM

[@AntonioMRosario]

@@macmost Thank you sir!

[@callmeNeno]

You’re phenomenal!! Awesome content info

[@abdulhussain8872]

Your videos are always really timely and exceptionally informative. I have heard suggestions of locking account settings behind the Screentime password, what are your thoughts on this

[@macmost]

That makes it very difficult to do other things on your phone.

[@Anarcath]

Another great reason to have an Apple Watch: if your phone is grabbed off your hand, you can lock it down using your watch in under 10 seconds.

[@Nutwigg1]

How does this option work? I have an Apple Watch (series 7) and would love to know. Thanks in advance.

[@Anarcath]

@@Nutwigg1 Hi. Locate "Find Device" app on your watch, tap iPhone, scroll down until you see "lost mode".

[@Nutwigg1]

@@Anarcath Ahhhh. I didn’t know that’s what that does. Awesome. And thank you!!!

[@OK-Computer]

This is misleading. With your Apple Watch you can mark the iPhone as lost which displays a message on the iPhone’s lockscreen with your contact info and also disables Apple Pay. However if the thief knows the passcode, they can still unlock it and then go ahead and change your Apple ID password as well as disabling “find my”. The only working solution would be to remotely wipe your iPhone before the thief changes your Apple ID PW, which for some reason is NOT possible on an Apple Watch.

[@Anarcath]

@@Nutwigg1 You're welcome.

[@desertpatient]

Thanks bunches

[@leonardrichards2052]

Thanks, Gary! You knocked it out of the park again! Quick “?” - My wife says she’s prompted several times a day to enter her passcode although she has Face ID enabled on her 13 Pro Max, v16.3.1. Could she have a conflicting setting? Thanks as always for this informative tutorial!

[@macmost]

It depends on what she is doing. As I mention in the video there are lots of things that require a passcode, not just Face ID.

[@leonardrichards2052]

@@macmost Thank you, Gary. I’ll have to find out exactly what she’s doing. I appreciate your reply.

[@JunkionMarnot2005]

@@leonardrichards2052 Question: is it her “passcode” or “Apple ID”? In both instances, it’s likely a bug in iOS. I can confirm the “Apple ID” request bug. There are variations (Apple ID, Google/Mail account password, iTunes password); Google the issue and you may find some decent solutions. I recommend reputable sites like the official Apple Support message boards, Macrumors, 9to5 and the like. Good luck. 👍🏾🍀

[@leonardrichards2052]

@@JunkionMarnot2005 Thanks for your response. She says she’s prompted several times during her workday to enter her passcode when she expects Face ID to step in. Says she’ll have her phone sitting on her desk and she’ll take a moment to quickly check notifications, etc but then has to manually enter her passcode to unlock. Yeah, I’ll check further with Support and those creditable sites. Of course, supportive sources like you and Gary are greatly appreciated. 👍🏾☘️

[@JunkionMarnot2005]

@@leonardrichards2052 Hey, don’t know if I was all that helpful, but you’re welcome. Might I recommend your wife delete her Face ID scans and start over. I still suspect this could be an iOS bug, but you might have luck resetting Face ID. At least your wife could use her phone as normal….provided my suggestion works. Also, be sure to check for updates, and Google that iOS version for any known bugs before installing the update. It’s a sad game of guessing if the update or just your phone/software/settings are the issue. And don’t be afraid to reach out to Apple.

[@BreakTime10101]

Maybe they should use Face ID to change your password instead or a secondary passcode that’s not the same as the phones unlock code?

[@pineappleroad]

I only ever use touch ID (i have an iPhone SE 2nd gen) when in public (athough ive noticed that sometimes my iPhone and iPad will prompt for my passcode, perhaps because I hadn’t entered my passcode for a while?) I do know someone who has trouble getting Touch ID to work at times (i got them an iPhone SE 2nd gen shortly after i got mine), we suspect the problem is damaged fingerprints, as they have trouble with any fingerprint reader (i can only hope that the next iPhone SE has Face ID instead of Touch ID, and for the benefit of anyone reading this in the future, the current iPhone SE is the iPhone SE 3rd gen, which still has Touch ID) In a year or 2 i may look into getting new iPhones (especially if apple have moved the iPhones over to USB C by then)

[@davidnoble1485]

Apple could easily resolve the AppleID issue by making you enter your actual AppleID password before allowing it to be changed. Just requiring the phone password is stupid.

[@flavioferlin3127]

This theft is ENDEMIC in São Paulo. They watch you waiting for Uber or so, iPhone unlocked, and come out of nowhere in a bike and snap it out of your hand, and the damage is done. Have seen it happening all the time. What puzzles me is people telling they had their phone password saved in Notes... the one which allows you to change your Apple id password.

[@ygt-cd3mg]

Hi Gary, there is a solve for this: ScreenTime> contains & privacy> disable password change & account change; then enable Screentime Passcode make sure its different than your iPhone passcode, then enable using iCloud Account as recovery in case you forget your 4 digits Screentime passcode. Problem solved!

[@kathleen8092]

Apple needs to institute a list of recovery codes that only user would have access to (written down in a physical place)

[@mattbosley3531]

But that would make it too easy to lose a critical piece of paper with a code on it, or have someone else throw it away, or have it burn in a fire. There are drawbacks to any method.

[@RM-jb2bv]

Watch and Grab is a low tech crime basically anyone can pull off. I expect it to become more and more common. It’s high reward and relatively low risk, seeing as how snatching a phone would be considered a petty theft in most cases, if even charged at all.

[@macmost]

I disagree. It is high risk and low reward. High risk because they have to be there and put themselves in personal danger and risk of getting caught. Like I say in the video it is much less risky to do ID theft online. As for reward, if they don't get the passcode then the phone can be easily rendered useless and only sold for parts for very little. Even if they get the passcode, they don't know what they are going to get, perhaps nothing at all.

[@ethanmenzel]

Do you recommend that the passcode if you make it alphanumeric be the same as your Apple ID password or not?

[@macmost]

No. Make it something different.

[@ethanmenzel]

About time, you could add a 9-digit password. For the longest time, it was limited to 4 or 6

[@JunkionMarnot2005]

These occurrences have been mainly happening here in NYC. It’s the first I’ve heard of it, but pretty sure it’s been a tactic for some time. Most reports are what is stirring Tech media, with the likes of Joanna Stern and Rene Ritchie covering this story. As mentioned, the likelihood of the majority being targeted, less likely hit, is still low. It’s possible, but not likely in most situations. There are a few more factors to consider, as setting, victim status (alone or with company) and if the mark it worth the score. Again, as stated, it may not be worth the chance of being caught/beat up/arrested. However, let’s still be vigilant with our iPhones in public. In the words of Dr. Mike: ALERT, not ANXIOUS.

[@angelopetrelli1083]

Cheers mate, 👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍

[@TonyPadgett]

The reason they do this is because people doing this are probably not hackers. Reading the WSJ article, the way to do this is very simple.

[@ToolsTechOutdoors]

One thing I hate is at random times I get “passcode required for face id” this has to be fixed

[@pineappleroad]

I have that happen to me as well, although for me it seems to happen if I haven’t used my passcode for a few days

[@qwincyq6412]

Very often my phone requires me to input my passcode before the touch ID works. It kinda defeats the purpose of the touch if in public. I don’t know why Apple does this.

[@macmost]

Right, when you first start your iPhone or need to unlock after an update or a long period of time. If any of that happens while in public then just use common sense and be careful like I mention in the video.

[@Cjmboo]

yea this happens often when the passcode comes up i just close it out and try it again it usually unlock then

[@dereckabackus5411]

I always use Face ID to unlock my phone. Numeric codes are too complicated to memorize.

[@edwinjackson9339]

Good job. Reasonable solutions.

[@dplj4428]

Secure is never 100% but more doors is better than none.

[@ToolsTechOutdoors]

Good way to get a massive beat down

[@mrcuttime22]

A clever code thief might just watch your thumb-knuckle for the pattern. They don’t need to see your screen.

[@BubbafromSapperton]

Cut back on soy and go android 🤣

[@philipgreenberg715]

Yeah, people will grab your phone because they can access your PayPal. Send money to friends wipe out your bank account----- wake up wake up wake up.