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iPhone remains findable after power off

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Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#71

Post by pfranz »

Jtsummers wrote: post #53
pfranz wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found iPhones way too fickle to trust them to stay off. If you plug in a charger or tap the power button they power back on. If you don't want to be tracked turn off your phone and put it in a faraday bag.

I would expect tapping the power button would turn most devices with a power button on. With respect to charging it, for most users that's probably the correct behavior. There are 2 reasons people seem to turn off (not just airplane mode or disabling some things) their phones: 1. To preserve a low battery or because the battery has died. 2. To fully disable the device. (1) is by far the most common of the two. In tha…

> I would expect tapping the power button would turn most devices with a power button on.

I believe I was thinking of my older phone. Tapping the home button, perhaps even the volume buttons, would turn it back on. On my Xs, I have to hold down the power button for a few seconds before it would turn on. I find this a bit more reliable if I want my phone to be off for awhile.

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#72

Post by pfranz »

hyperstar wrote: post #58
pfranz wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's a hardware component required. Unless it's only in a beta OS, I have and Xs and I see a different wording for that setting. Mine omits "and powered off."

Why? wouldn't it just be a matter of activating a low-power mode and turning off the screen? It's been said a long time that this is done by certain malwares.

I found an article that specifies phone models and explains why[1]. It's iPhone 11 and 12 because it requires a UWB/U1 chip. This thread (via Craig Federighi)[2] asserts UWB isn't the part that's used, but those phones have a newer Bluetooth chipset.

[1] https://beebom.com/how-find-lost-iphone-turned-off-erased/

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSBeta/comments/otcn02/iphone_rema...

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#73

Post by bowmessage »

lucideer wrote: post #5
krageon wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you don't want to be tracked sometimes, and you expect turning off your device to turn it off.

Exactly. For example, when you're a phone thief.

Won't phone thieves just have some faraday bags to pop their winnings into?

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#74

Post by baybal2 »

chewmieser wrote: post #8

Apple is very clear that this is how things work now. They even give you a dialog prompt now to inform you of this change the first time you try to shut your device off - https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/07/ios-15-find-my-network-can-fi... I'm not sure why this is presented as some new thing, or a gotcha or whatever this is. We've known about it for months... And IMO, it's a positive change although it does sound a little…

Some Android phone do this too to let NFC being usable when the phone is off.

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#75

Post by macintux »

Bilal_io wrote: post #17
chewmieser wrote: post #8

Apple is very clear that this is how things work now. They even give you a dialog prompt now to inform you of this change the first time you try to shut your device off - https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/07/ios-15-find-my-network-can-fi... I'm not sure why this is presented as some new thing, or a gotcha or whatever this is. We've known about it for months... And IMO, it's a positive change although it does sound a little…

Maybe they started showing the warnings recently, but this practice was in place for at least a few years. I remember reading an article by a journalist who was on a trip and his iPhone died. Later he discovered it still logged his locations, not only when off, but when dead (I assume the iPhone is designed to shut off with some juice left)

Logging locations and being remotely findable are two separate features.

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#76

Post by jdavis703 »

Someone wrote: post #45
NineStarPoint wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s almost strictly better to leave your phone home in that sort of circumstance though. Your phone looks like you stayed home all day, and you don’t need to worry about things like whether any information gets sent out despite being “off”.

I think you would have to leave your phone home a lot more often than on days you don’t want to be nailed to where you are. Imagine a case where evidence puts you near a protest or crime scene while your phone is home. That’s coincidence, but if your phone also was home only at the three days three similar events happened, it becomes circumstantial evidence.

Most of the time protests in America only start involving law breaking, riot police and mass arrests after the sun goes down. I’d never endorse perjury, but an argument of “I decided to spend the evening inside” seems like it ought to be pretty reasonable for most people.

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#78

Post by jdavis703 »

nixgeek wrote: post #16
amimrroboto wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What situation are you going, "I don't want big tech to be tracking me right now"?

Given the prevalence of geofence warrants nowadays, I don’t think the situation needs to be especially nefarious in nature. Perhaps you don’t want to be scrutinized just because you and 370 others were within 300 yards of a crime occurring? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/16/geofence-war...

My understanding is the power off tracking uses NFC. This is encrypted. If Apple’s documentation is to be believed, the location information cannot be decrypted by law enforcement.

Re: iPhone remains findable after power off

#80

Post by ArchOversight »

hungryforcodes wrote: post #60
wlesieutre wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "slide to power off" prompt literally says "iPhone Findable after Power Off >" right under it every time, but 99% of users will never see it or care about this feature because no one ever turns their phone off. But if you're one of those few people who does turn the phone off, it says right there, and you can tap on it to shut down to unfindable state this time instead. Note that it requires a passcode to disable…

I turn off my phone but never that way. It either runs out of power or I hard reset it. Either way I don't want it spying on me.

> Either way I don't want it spying on me.

It literally isn't spying on you, it's allow you to find your after you've lost it.

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