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How to turn on Stolen Device Protection on an iPhone

Stolen Device Protection guards against the thief who watches you type your passcode, then snatches the phone. When the iPhone is somewhere it doesn't normally go, the most damaging actions need Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode fallback, and the worst ones (changing your Apple Account password, switching off Find My) are held for an hour and then need a second Face ID check. Since iOS 26.4 Apple turns it on by default, so this guide also shows you how to check it's on, and how to make it stricter.

What you'll need: An iPhone running iOS 17.3 or later (the wording below matches iOS 26). A passcode, with Face ID or Touch ID set up. Two-factor authentication on your Apple Account — see our guide if you haven't done that. Find My and Significant Locations switched on; if either is off, the iPhone tells you at step 4.

Open Face ID & Passcode

Open Settings, scroll down and tap Face ID & Passcode. On an iPhone with a Home button, the row is called Touch ID & Passcode instead.

Enter your passcode

The iPhone asks for your passcode before it shows the page. Type it in.

Find the Stolen Device Protection section

Scroll past the Face ID options until you reach Stolen Device Protection. The row shows the current state. If it already reads On, skip to step 6.

iOS 26.4 switched the feature on for everyone who hadn't already chosen a setting, so on an up-to-date iPhone it will often read On already.

Tap Turn On Protection

Tap Turn On Protection. If anything it depends on is missing, the iPhone names it here instead of turning the feature on: Find My, Significant Locations or two-factor authentication. The fixes for each are under Troubleshooting below.

Confirm with Face ID or Touch ID

Look at the phone, or rest your finger on the Home button, when it asks. The row changes to On. Nothing else on the phone changes day to day: unlocking, paying and opening apps all work as before.

Decide where the extra checks apply (optional)

Tap the Stolen Device Protection row. Under Require Security Delay there are two choices. Away from Familiar Locations is the default: the hour-long delay only applies when the phone is somewhere you don't normally spend time, such as a bar or a train. Always applies it everywhere, including at home.

Familiar locations are worked out from Significant Locations, which learns the places you go to regularly. You can't add a place by hand. Always is the safer choice if a thief could plausibly know where you live, at the cost of an hour's wait whenever you change your own passcode.

Variations

What the feature actually blocks

Away from a familiar location, Face ID or Touch ID is required, with no passcode fallback, to use passwords and passkeys saved in iCloud Keychain, to use payment cards saved in Safari, to turn off Lost Mode, to erase the iPhone or to use it to set up a new device. A one-hour delay followed by a second Face ID check applies to changing your Apple Account password, signing out of your Apple Account, changing the iPhone passcode, adding or removing a face or fingerprint, turning off Find My and turning off Stolen Device Protection itself.

Turning it off

Go back to Settings → Face ID & Passcode, tap Stolen Device Protection and tap Turn Off Protection. Away from a familiar location (or with Always set), the iPhone asks for Face ID, makes you wait an hour, then asks for Face ID again before it switches off.

Selling, trading in or handing the phone to someone else

Erasing the phone and signing out of your Apple Account are both protected actions. Do them at home, well before the handover, rather than in the shop, where the hour-long delay will catch you out.

Troubleshooting

It says Find My needs to be on

Open Settings, tap your name at the top, then Find My → Find My iPhone, and switch Find My iPhone on. Come back to step 4.

It says Significant Locations needs to be on

Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services. Check Location Services is on, then scroll to the bottom, tap System Services and switch on Significant Locations. The iPhone keeps this list on the device, encrypted, and Apple can't read it. Come back to step 4.

I'm at home but it still makes me wait an hour

Two likely causes. Significant Locations only counts a place as familiar once you've spent time there repeatedly, so a new home or a recently reset phone won't qualify yet. Or Require Security Delay is set to Always; check step 6.

Face ID has stopped working and I can't change a protected setting

The whole point of the feature is that the passcode alone won't do, so there's no way round it on the spot. Take the phone to a familiar location, where the restrictions don't apply unless you chose Always. If you did choose Always and Face ID won't recognise you at all, you'll need Apple Support.

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