Protecting your data from phone snatch gangs using AirPods

Phone snatching is a huge problem in the UK, particularly in London. One of my biggest concerns should this ever happen to me isn't losing my iPhone, it's the thieves having access to all of my data, particularly banking. If you phone is in a position where it can be snatched, then it is also likely unlocked.

One step you can take to protect yourself from this is to use the Apple Shortcuts app to automatically lock your device in response to certain events.

For example, I rarely walk out in public without my AirPods in, so setting up an automation to lock my screen when my phone disconnects from my AirPods provides reasonable protection.

Thieves will also often immediately put a device in airplane mode once snatched to prevent Find My iPhone from being used to track/wipe the device. So setting up an automation to lock the device in response to this is another good step to take.

Unfortunately you can't use the disconnection of an Apple Watch as a trigger in Shortcuts app, but lets hope Apple fixes that...