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My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

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Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#21

Post by rsynnott »

Adding “running” to the list of things that Google engineers apparently don’t do.

Where it joins “walking”. Google Maps will suggest almost arbitrarily bonkers public transport directions to avoid walking. Personal favourite: the sensible way to get from my house to work, unless the weather is terrible, is six minutes on a train and a 15 min walk. Google Maps would, generally, prefer that I spend 15 mins on the train going mostly the wrong direction and 15 minutes on a tram, then a five minute walk. It will also contemplate a ten minute walk, ten minutes walking being within the threshold Google deems physically possible, plus an arbitrary amount of time on a rather slow bus. Apple Maps and Transit are better at this.

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#23

Post by mapmeld »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #9
hbn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is "snatching a phone and running off" a common enough problem in some regions that this is worth having? Yes absolutely https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/phone-london-snatch-9.7204104

Why bother stealing iPhones? Is it just for the scrap/recycle->repair value?

There's also a scam where they contact the owner from abroad, offering to return it, claiming they're an innocent trying to activate a used phone they spent their last dollar on, or threatening the original user into unlocking it. They will say that they're hackers, connected to criminals in your home city, using your name and recent photos to say that they're going to expose your text messages. Anything to get an unlock.

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#24

Post by juujian »

rsynnott wrote: post #21

Adding “running” to the list of things that Google engineers apparently don’t do. Where it joins “walking”. Google Maps will suggest almost arbitrarily bonkers public transport directions to avoid walking. Personal favourite: the sensible way to get from my house to work, unless the weather is terrible, is six minutes on a train and a 15 min walk. Google Maps would, generally, prefer that I spend 15 mins on the train…

I remember Google maps working well for walking around in Europe. Ever since I've moved to America, not so much. Go figure...

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#25

Post by skobes »

Waterluvian wrote: post #5
hbn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is "snatching a phone and running off" a common enough problem in some regions that this is worth having? Yes absolutely https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/phone-london-snatch-9.7204104

Thanks! Given this was CBC, my jaw hit the floor when I saw London. I live 20 mins from London, Ontario and 70k thefts in a year would be _insane_. Then I realized it was about London, U.K. and my jaw only hit the table. 70k is still insane, though.

Even the CBC thinks of London, England before London, Ontario.

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#26

Post by rsynnott »

juujian wrote: post #24
rsynnott wrote: post #21

Adding “running” to the list of things that Google engineers apparently don’t do. Where it joins “walking”. Google Maps will suggest almost arbitrarily bonkers public transport directions to avoid walking. Personal favourite: the sensible way to get from my house to work, unless the weather is terrible, is six minutes on a train and a 15 min walk. Google Maps would, generally, prefer that I spend 15 mins on the train…

I remember Google maps working well for walking around in Europe. Ever since I've moved to America, not so much. Go figure...

This is in Ireland. I’ve also noticed it doing very silly things in Germany and the UK.

It’s fine for pure walking directions, but it gets unhappy about the idea of someone using public transport walking.

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#28

Post by sam_lowry_ »

juujian wrote: post #24
rsynnott wrote: post #21

Adding “running” to the list of things that Google engineers apparently don’t do. Where it joins “walking”. Google Maps will suggest almost arbitrarily bonkers public transport directions to avoid walking. Personal favourite: the sensible way to get from my house to work, unless the weather is terrible, is six minutes on a train and a 15 min walk. Google Maps would, generally, prefer that I spend 15 mins on the train…

I remember Google maps working well for walking around in Europe. Ever since I've moved to America, not so much. Go figure...

I remember the time when roundabouts were round in Google Maps.

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#29

Post by NoDodgeQuestion »

rsynnott wrote: post #21

Adding “running” to the list of things that Google engineers apparently don’t do. Where it joins “walking”. Google Maps will suggest almost arbitrarily bonkers public transport directions to avoid walking. Personal favourite: the sensible way to get from my house to work, unless the weather is terrible, is six minutes on a train and a 15 min walk. Google Maps would, generally, prefer that I spend 15 mins on the train…

At risk of summoning an army of vibe coders, I wish map apps were more configurable and let you set "I'm happy to walk 20 min" or "someone can drive me a few miles and drop me off"

Re: My phone detects going on a run as “someone snatching my phone and running off”

#30

Post by kotaKat »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #20
hparadiz wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They send them to countries where they aren't locked or break it down for parts.

> They send them to countries where they aren't locked iphones will remain locked regardless of what country they're in. I presume you're talking about states who are seemingly unwilling to pursue/prosecute claims of theft?

there's still a fairly lucrative parts stripping market and there are extreme efforts that are used to "unlock" locked devices - it has been known in the Chinese marketplace that you could get paired chips to do SMD rework with a "clean" set of identifiers. they'll swap the SOC, the flash, and the wireless all for a few bucks.

older iOS devices as well are also vulnerable to having their syscfg rewritten via exploits, so you can "clean" a locked device that way as well with a good set of serials. Apple Watches are a hot one for this.

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