Apple Applies for iPhone Killswitch Patent

By Geoff Duncan August 23, 2010

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple has applied for a patent on technology that could deactivate iPhones or other devices when it believes the device is being used illegitimately or by unauthorized users—and the devices could make these determinations both by how the device is being used, but also through biometric information like a user’s face, voice, and even their heartbeat.

The patent application surfaced last week, and targets a number of behaviors Apple describes as compromising or hacking a device, including removing the SIM card, unlocking, jailbreaking, and even moving a predetermined distance from a synced device.

The application also identifies a number of methodologies for determining whether a user is legitimate, including photographing the user and applying facial recognition software, analyzing their voice, and analyzing a users’ heartbeat using a “heartbeat sensor”—which, so far as we know, doesn’t exist in any current Apple product. In addition to potentially shutting down the device if unauthorized users are detected, the technology could also be used to wipe sensitive information—address books, email, passwords, account details, and those sensitive text messages—if it detects an unauthorized user.

Other implementations could have the device go into spy mode, recording and reporting the users’ activities, including sending pictures of the current user to a remote service, along with keylogs, location information, and data traffic.

Apple has received a good deal of criticism for tightly controlling the iPhone, iPad, and other device lines, often in ways that interfere with legitimate uses of the devices. However, there are undoubtedly uses of these sorts of biometric identification technologies that could appeal to some users, and Apple’s existing Find my iPhone service has found a number of supporters.

The Library of Congress recently ruled that jailbreaking mobile phones to switch carriers or add unauthorized applications is not a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Mobile

Have an iPhone that won’t turn off? Here’s how to fix it

person holding an iphne 15 pro max.

When you try to turn off your iPhone 15 or any other model, you may encounter a situation where it doesn’t turn off as expected. Maybe you're getting ready for bed, want to keep your phone silent while you head to the movies, or it's acting up and you need to reset it. There are numerous situations where you may want to turn your iPhone off, and if it refuses to, that can obviously be quite annoying.

Mobile

Google is making it easier to ditch your iPhone for an Android phone

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro in hand.

Switching phones is never a smooth process, even if you’re switching between two different Android phones. However, when you’re trying to switch from an iPhone to Android or vice versa, it can be extra complicated -- and you can lose data and apps that you rely on. This is especially the case with Apple-to-Android transfers because the iPhone has a much stronger ecosystem lock-in with things like iMessage, iCloud backups, and exclusive apps like Overcast and Hyperlapse.

The good news is that with its Data Transfer Tool (also called Pixel Migrate on Pixel devices), Google may be trying to mitigate some of the phone-switching problems that arise -- specifically, losing access to your Live Photos. According to an APK teardown from Android Authority, Google’s Data Transfer Tool will finally resolve the problem of migrating iOS Live Photos to Android. It will do this by converting them over as Motion Photos.

Mobile

Best prepaid phone deals: Android, iPhone, flip phone

episode 209 https cdn cnn com cnnnext dam assets 190910135448 20190910 apple event iphone 11 02

While many of the best phone deals include great cell phone plan deals when you purchase them, sometimes the best phone is a prepaid one. This is especially true with the prices many of the best phones come in at these days. Prepaid phones are great for budget shoppers, so whether you’re pinching pennies, shopping for a child’s first phone, or anything in between, we’ve rounded up all of the best prepaid phone deals out there right now. Read onward for more of those details, and if you’d like to see some other affordable phone options before deciding on a prepaid phone be sure to check out all of the refurbished iPhone deals, iPhone SE deals, iPhone 14 deals, Samsung Galaxy S22 deals, and Samsung Galaxy S23 deals taking place right now.
Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy A03s -- $40, was $60

Samsung makes some of the best phones on the market, and while the Galaxy A03s might not fall under that banner, it is a great budget phone. It has a 6.5-inch HD+ with a 60Hz refresh rate, which is pretty solid, and the 3GB of RAM is not too bad either. That said, it only has 32GB of internal storage, although that can be upgraded with a MicroSD card, so it's not so bad. The phone comes paired with a Straight Talk plan, which you can get for as low as $15 a month.