AI News Feed
Market watch
Xi to Make First U.S. State Visit Since Obama Era; Trade Truce and AI on AgendaWhatsApp Expands Apple Watch Emoji Reactions to the Full watchOS Emoji SetAWS Strands Agents Team Releases Open-Source Strands Harness, Claims 28% Lower Token Cost at Comparable AccuracyiOS 27.2 beta 2 code points to continued work on Apple's unannounced iPhone anti-snatching featureGlobal AI Glasses Shipments Jump 263% in First Half of 2026 as Meta Tightens GripKRICT adds graphitic carbon nitride to lithium-ion cathodes, lifting power delivery in early tests
Xi to Make First U.S. State Visit Since Obama Era; Trade Truce and AI on AgendaWhatsApp Expands Apple Watch Emoji Reactions to the Full watchOS Emoji SetAWS Strands Agents Team Releases Open-Source Strands Harness, Claims 28% Lower Token Cost at Comparable AccuracyiOS 27.2 beta 2 code points to continued work on Apple's unannounced iPhone anti-snatching featureGlobal AI Glasses Shipments Jump 263% in First Half of 2026 as Meta Tightens GripKRICT adds graphitic carbon nitride to lithium-ion cathodes, lifting power delivery in early tests
Cybersecurity

iOS 27.2 beta 2 code points to continued work on Apple's unannounced iPhone anti-snatching feature

Code references in iOS 27.2 beta 2 show Apple is still developing an internal feature called AutoLock that would lock an iPhone automatically when it detects a snatch, using motion, Apple Watch, network and unlock-duration signals.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-22 07:38

The feature is referred to internally as "AutoLock," the report said. It can draw on several signals to determine whether an iPhone may have been taken from its owner: a sharp acceleration consistent with the phone being snatched; a paired Apple Watch remaining unreachable for a certain period; loss of connectivity to a paired Apple Watch; prolonged loss of network connectivity; and the device remaining unlocked beyond a certain interval.

The code also includes safeguards intended to prevent false positives. These include successful biometric authentication, certain foreground app activities that might otherwise be mistaken for signs the device has been taken, and a backoff mechanism that can temporarily suppress further automatic locks after repeated lock events.

According to the report, AutoLock uses a voting system in which a potential theft signal can request a lock, while safeguards such as biometrics, familiar locations, or certain app activities can veto it.

The new references add to details already present in the code, including a location-based safeguard similar to Stolen Device Protection that accounts for whether the iPhone is in a familiar place.

9to5Mac first reported earlier this year that Apple was working on the feature. The company has not officially announced it.

The feature remains under development and is not currently enabled or available as a user-facing option in iOS 27.2 beta 2. Apple has enabled the underlying AutoLock service in the background while keeping the component that actually locks the iPhone disabled, possibly to test the underlying behavior without triggering automatic locks. Whether or when the feature will launch remains up to Apple.

Editor's Summary

The iOS 27.2 beta 2 release contains new code references to an internally named AutoLock feature that would automatically lock an iPhone when it detects a snatch, relying on motion, Apple Watch connectivity, network status and unlock duration. The references indicate continued development, but the feature is not enabled for users and Apple has not announced it.