Lockdown Mode is a sometimes overlooked feature of Apple devices that broadly make them harder to hack. A court record indicates the feature might be effective at stopping third parties unlocking someone's device. At least for now.
Six presses on the power button and iPhones disable biometrics. I believe for most threat models, biometrics is better than typing a passcode, between the hotspots of fingerprints and shoulder surfing risk. Lock out biometrics before sleeping or other leaving unattended scenarios if raids are a risk
Not sure about the laptops; probably best to do a password there.
between the hotspots of fingerprints and shoulder surfing risk
If ICE is close enough to you to shoulder surf you, they are close enough to manhandle you, shove you and “”“assist”“” you into touching your privates (aka biometrics).
Just tested it and can confirm it works. For those that don’t have their phone handy or are worried about trying it:
Just 5 presses is enough. You could do 6, or just spam the power button to make sure you’ve got at least 5 in. Any presses after the 5th don’t do anything different
when you do it, it opens up a menu with options to:
Power off
Make an emergency phone call to 911 (there is no option to select an emergency contact. It just calls 911 immediately)
Show emergency medical info
Afterwards, you need to enter in your pin/passcode to unlock your phone. I have Face ID and the ability to unlock my phone via my Apple Watch. Both methods are disabled until I unlock my phone with my code.
Biometrics are an issue because in most jurisdictions (not just the US but globally), you can’t be coerced to provide your password/passcode - but absolutely nothing stops LE from forcing you to provide biometric data to unlock the device.
That’s the point of the biometric lockout. Most people are not in a situation where they can be compelled at any second to unlock their device; however if they’re pulled over or on community patrol, they can press six times and it disables the biometrics.
It depends on what your risk profile looks like. Sure, from a generalized risk standpoint punching in a number is vulnerable to physical snooping, but for folks who live in police states the greater risk is your information being accessed by people who physically have you in custody and can physically force you to use your biometrics to unlock a device.
Just to clarify and expand a bit: It’s 5 presses not 6, and you can do it in your pocket because it gives you a haptic feedback signal when it works, of a quick vibration in a unique pattern.
No it doesn’t. It just locks the screen and requires passcode. It’s the same thing that happens if you hold power and volume to bring up the emergency call or power off screen.
Six presses on the power button and iPhones disable biometrics. I believe for most threat models, biometrics is better than typing a passcode, between the hotspots of fingerprints and shoulder surfing risk. Lock out biometrics before sleeping or other leaving unattended scenarios if raids are a risk
Not sure about the laptops; probably best to do a password there.
If ICE is close enough to you to shoulder surf you, they are close enough to manhandle you, shove you and “”“assist”“” you into touching your privates (aka biometrics).
Tried this on my pixel and it opened the emergency call menu.
On pixel it’s double tap the home screen.
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Just tested it and can confirm it works. For those that don’t have their phone handy or are worried about trying it:
Biometrics are an issue because in most jurisdictions (not just the US but globally), you can’t be coerced to provide your password/passcode - but absolutely nothing stops LE from forcing you to provide biometric data to unlock the device.
That’s the point of the biometric lockout. Most people are not in a situation where they can be compelled at any second to unlock their device; however if they’re pulled over or on community patrol, they can press six times and it disables the biometrics.
It depends on what your risk profile looks like. Sure, from a generalized risk standpoint punching in a number is vulnerable to physical snooping, but for folks who live in police states the greater risk is your information being accessed by people who physically have you in custody and can physically force you to use your biometrics to unlock a device.
Just to clarify and expand a bit: It’s 5 presses not 6, and you can do it in your pocket because it gives you a haptic feedback signal when it works, of a quick vibration in a unique pattern.
It’ll also trigger a call to 911, which is gonna be hard to disable in your pocket
Edit: this is configurable behavior
No it doesn’t. It just locks the screen and requires passcode. It’s the same thing that happens if you hold power and volume to bring up the emergency call or power off screen.
I just tested on my iPhone and it does. Guessing it’s a setting.
… and after checking it is indeed a setting. Not sure if I turned that on or if it was on by default.
Which setting is it?
Emergency SOS, few different settings in there that change the behaviour
It did for a hot minute. I just checked and it no longer does.
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