Apple adds ‘police button’ feature to iPhones that lets you quickly switch off the fingerprint scanner

Daily Mail

Apple’s new operating system will come with an option to lock your iPhone‘s fingerprint scanner and bring up a hotline to the police.

The ‘Emergency SOS’ feature was uncovered by programmers with access to the beta version of iOS 11.

They found that TouchID was temporarily disabled by rapidly hitting the power button five times.   

This means that users could not be forced to unlock their phones by attackers or thieves.

The Emergency SOS feature can be activated on an iPhone by rapidly clicking the power power button five times

It also gives users the option to speed-dial emergency services

The ‘Emergency SOS’ feature was uncovered by programmers with access to the beta version of iOS 11. It also brings up a shortcut to dial emergency services

It also brings up a shortcut to dial emergency services, allowing the user to simply swipe right to dial 999.

TouchID is then reactivated by entering your password.

On activation, the Emergency SOS feature will send a message to the user’s saved emergency contacts, and also shares their location.

The feature will be available on new iPhone models when i0S 11 is publicly released later this year, The Verge reported.

It could be a desirable asset for iPhone 8 buyers, which is rumoured to offer facial recognition unlocking.

However, concerns have been raised over the potential for users being forced to unlock their phones using facial recognition.

Emergency SOS will allow the person using it to quickly disable the instant-unlock capabilities, should they believe someone might try and forcibly bypass their phone’s security.

The iOS 11 operating system is expected to be released alongside the iPhone 8 in September.

ENCRYPTION, PRIVACY AND THE FBI: WHY COOK WOULDN’T BUDGE ON A ‘BACKDOOR’

Unlocking phones using fingerprints and encrypted messaging have remained controversial issues since Apple launched TouchID in 2014.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said previously that he won’t weaken the unbreakable encryption technology on Apple products to allow the US government to access iMessages because it could actually damage national security.

Cook said he will not create a ‘back door’ for the government unless Apple is served with a warrant.

Apple’s encryption technology makes it impossible for anyone but the intended recipient to see a message and it’s so strong even the company can’t get to communications.

Ex-FBI Director James Comey, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and others had all called for Apple and other tech companies to create ways to access messages sent by suspected criminals.

Cook said: ‘If the government lays a proper warrant on us today then we will give the specific information that is requested.

‘Because we have to by law.

‘In the case of encrypted communication, we don’t have it to give.

‘And so if like your iMessages are encrypted, we don’t have access to those.

The Apple CEO added: ‘There have been people that suggest that we should have a back door.

‘But the reality is if you put a back door in, that back door’s for everybody, for good guys and bad guys.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4804768/Apple-adds-police-button-feature-iPhones.html#ixzz4qDDFYAwQ
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7 thoughts on “Apple adds ‘police button’ feature to iPhones that lets you quickly switch off the fingerprint scanner

  1. Apple has crossed the line here. Privacy gone, communism abound. Anybody can now access your 1200 dollar smart, “stupid” phone.

    Any hacker can access more easier now.

    Additionally, police have you coming and going, they can check you out as you communicate with them.

    They will be able to read your files, any police hacker has you by the balls now.

    1. Exactly. You could not give me one.

      Android is a spyware platform. I doubt that Apple or any other smartphone platform is any different.

      Let’s face it, a political machine with no integrity, that has unlimited funds (pretty printed paper) and the power to turn your life upside down, can basically get anything they want.

  2. “Cook said he will not create a ‘back door’ for the government unless Apple is served with a warrant.”

    What a crock!

    The so-called ‘government’ has some of the best hackers mammon can buy… they don’t NEED a back door.

    1. While I don’t think Big Brother’s hackers are necessarily any more talented than those who work for private interests, they do have a lot more resources available to them.

      Also, I strongly suspect that when “Big Tech” executives like Cook make statements in opposition to back doors, they are doing so only for public consumption. I think the back doors already exist in many products. (If they don’t, then it’s only because of practical difficulties in concealing the back doors from lots of lower-level employees who would inevitably discover them.)

      Whatever the case may be, I don’t trust most tech companies — especially American ones.

      1. “Whatever the case may be, I don’t trust most tech companies — especially American ones.”

        Ditto, BMF.

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