Apple Responds to Report About Thieves Spying on iPhone Passcodes to 'Steal Your Entire Digital Life'

An in-depth report published today by The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen highlights instances of thieves spying on a victim's iPhone passcode before stealing the device in order to gain access to the device, data, and money.

iphone passcode green
All of the victims interviewed said their iPhones were stolen while they were out socializing at bars and other public places at night. Some victims said the iPhones were grabbed out of their hands by strangers, while others said they were physically assaulted and intimidated. The report provides specific examples of these instances.

With knowledge of the iPhone's passcode, a thief can easily reset the victim's Apple ID password in the Settings app, even if Face ID or Touch ID is enabled. Subsequently, the thief can turn off Find My iPhone on the device, preventing the owner of the device from tracking its location or remotely erasing the device via iCloud. The thief can also remove other trusted Apple devices from the account to further lock out the victim.

The thief can also change an Apple ID's contact information and set up a recovery key in order to prevent a victim from recovering the account.


To make matters worse, knowing an iPhone's passcode allows a thief to use Apple Pay, send Apple Cash, and access banking apps using passwords stored in iCloud Keychain. Even if Face ID or Touch ID is enabled on the iPhone, thieves can simply bypass these authentication methods and an option to input the device's passcode is presented. In some cases, the report claims that thieves even opened an Apple Card by finding the victim's last four digits of their Social Security number in photos stored in apps like Photos or Google Drive.

Access to other passwords stored in iCloud Keychain allows the thief to further wreak havoc, as it could give them access to email accounts and other sensitive information. All in all, the report says thieves can essentially "steal your entire digital life."

Apple Responds

In response to the report, an Apple spokesperson said "security researchers agree that iPhone is the most secure consumer mobile device, and we work tirelessly every day to protect all our users from new and emerging threats."

"We sympathize with users who have had this experience and we take all attacks on our users very seriously, no matter how rare," the spokesperson added. "We will continue to advance the protections to help keep user accounts secure." Apple did not provide any specific details about any next steps it might take to increase security.

In a tweet, Stern recommended that Apple add extra protections to iOS and introduce additional Apple ID account recovery options.

How to Stay Protected

In a tweet, Stern recommended that users switch from a four-digit passcode to an alphanumeric passcode, which would be more difficult for thieves to spy on. This can be done in the Settings app under Face ID & Passcode → Change Passcode.

iPhone users can also use Face ID or Touch ID as much as possible when in public to prevent thieves from spying on their passcode. In situations where entering the passcode is necessary, users can hold their hands over their screen to hide passcode entry.

To protect a bank account, consider storing the password in a password manager that does not involve the device's passcode, such as 1Password.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
apple tv 4k new orange

Next Apple TV Expected to Launch This Year With These New Features

Monday September 22, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
The next Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Likely Features N1 Chip With Wi-Fi 7 Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the next Apple TV would be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, which is...
Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation

Monday September 22, 2025 11:15 am PDT by
With iOS 26.1, Apple Intelligence is gaining support for additional languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. Apple announced plans to expand the languages that can be used with Apple Intelligence last year, and now the added language support is here. Apple Intelligence is now available in the following...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
iPhone 17 Pro USB C Port

iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Monday September 22, 2025 7:29 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the iPhone 17 Pro Max's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 36W with the following Apple chargers:40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max 61W USB-C Power Adapter 67W USB-C Power Adapter 70W USB-C Power Adapter 96W USB-C Power Adapter 140W USB-C Power AdapterFor...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1

Monday September 22, 2025 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the first betas of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The new betas are the first updates to the iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS releases that came out last week. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going...

Top Rated Comments

GMShadow Avatar
34 months ago
...what, exactly, was the point of the 'report'?

"If someone steals your house keys, they could get in your house and take your stuff!" - Joanna Stern later today, probably.
Score: 143 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
34 months ago
This is why I disagree with the users on here who keep saying passcode is more secure and stop using Face ID if you don't want people to take your phone and point it at you, etc. Perhaps the passcode is technically more secure, but it is practically way less secure. Face ID is secure especially if you enable "attention required." Always use Face ID. Never enter your passcode in public unless you are sure no one is looking at your screen (and to be extra secure, that no camera overhead is looking down at you).

Apple is not innocent either. Somehow they think it makes the phone more secure to occasionally demand your passcode at the most inconvenient times. This is way less secure. I have been asked for the passcode while in public and I actually waited until I went to a private location before entering it. Ask for it every restart, fair. But if the phone has been on and there are no multiple failed Face ID attempts, DO NOT ask for the passcode.
Score: 77 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
34 months ago
You just have to be careful when using your iPhone outside in public.
Apple needs to consider bringing back Touch-ID. Two Factor Authentication: Touch ID + Face ID simultaneously
Score: 60 Votes (Like | Disagree)
compwiz1202 Avatar
34 months ago

This isn’t a sign of iPhones being less secure, it’s a sign of increased desperation in an increasingly impoverished world. If it comes to physically threatening the owner to unlock the phone before they run off it doesn’t matter if it’s a 4 digit, 6 digit, alphanumeric, or biometric passcode.
Then we need duress passcode that let the iPhone look normal for so many minutes and then totally lock down and broadcast itself as stolen, and will not allow anything vital to be done, or also make it appear it is working but nothing actually happens.
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
34 months ago
This is why you should enable Face ID
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
timshundo Avatar
34 months ago
This isn’t a sign of iPhones being less secure, it’s a sign of increased desperation in an increasingly impoverished world. If it comes to physically threatening the owner to unlock the phone before they run off it doesn’t matter if it’s a 4 digit, 6 digit, alphanumeric, or biometric passcode.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)