ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — “Find My” is a great antitheft, anti-loss feature to locate a lost or stolen iPhone and disable the phone but it can be turned off when stolen.

What most people know is that someone can turn off your ability to find your device, even a passcode locks your phone. They can just turn off Bluetooth, WiFi and cellular.

How can someone do that on a locked device? They can swipe down from the top right corner and open “Control Center”.

To test it out, I asked a stranger to try it on my locked phone. After she swiped down to the control
panel, she had access to those settings and could turn them off. That leaves the phone impossible to track.

It took about three seconds.

It’s a setting you should change on your phone right now as it serves no purpose for you.

Open settings and scroll down to Face ID and Passcode. See that option for “allowing access when
locked”? Find “Control Center” and toggle it off. It isn’t going to affect you, because when you swipe to use the control panel, the phone unlocks with your face ID.

Now, this isn’t going to stop someone from stealing your phone. There’s a good chance if they can’t turn off the connections, they might just leave the phone where you can find it using the Find My App.

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