Make stolen phones unusable, Met Police urges tech giants

The Metropolitan Police is calling on tech firms to make stolen phones harder to reuse and prevent criminals from profiting.

The force revealed on Thursday that it had started sharing data with Apple to build a "global picture" of what happens to stolen handsets, including whether they are being reconnected to a network.

"If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them," Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said.

Sir Mark has asked the home secretary for legislation to make phone companies publish data on stolen devices, and to enforce measures rendering handsets effectively unusable.

In working with Apple to improve security, Sir Mark said only a minority of stolen phones were being reactivated compared to a few months ago, making it "harder for criminals to profit".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that, currently, illicit software enables phone snatchers to "factory reset" devices, which means they can be sold as if they are a new device on foreign markets.

But now, he said, Apple believes it has "cracked" the engineering problem and data is starting to show that "the vast majority of phones" stolen in recent weeks in the capital were not factory reset.

Apple recently turned an existing security setting called Stolen Device Protection on by default for iPhones in a system update (iOS 26.4).

When an iPhone user is not identified as being at a familiar location – such as their home or work – the setting delays the ability for thieves to change critical security information, like passwords or biometric info, to gain access to or wipe the device.

The delays aim to give the device owner time to access their account on another device, and mark their iPhone as lost to protect it.

Sir Mark added that the Met has also entered into an "intelligence sharing agreement" with the company, which will see the two share data to better understand criminality in London and whether security upgrades on phones need improving.

"I'd never say we're going to get down to zero crime, but this is going to make a massive difference," Rowley told the BBC. "If they can only be broken up for parts, if you start to make it harder for criminals, they will steal fewer of them."

Meanwhile, a Home Office spokesperson said the government is also taking "tough action" on phone theft, which includes "equipping police with new powers to search properties without a warrant where stolen goods have been electronically located".

It follows an ultimatum the Met Police chief gave firms in March to enforce steps which woul