Is it possible to set a passcode for iPhone shutdown?

This has been discussed in these forums before and it's generally agreed that it would be a very bad idea. Should something crash and lock up your iPhone so that it couldn't respond to screen touches, having the requirement to enter in a passcode before you could shut down or restart the iPhone would mean that the iPhone would now be completely (and possibly permanently) disabled.

If you wish to provide feedback to Apple, you can do so here:

Product Feedback - Apple

but I for one would hope that they would never implement such a requirement.

Regards.

Why?

Are you thinking that this would keep a thief from powering off a stolen phone so the owner cannot locate the phone using Find My?

Any iPhone thief or anyone else who knows anything about an iPhone will know how to get around this in a few seconds.

kini17 wrote:

Yes. So I think it will slow thieves from turning off the iphone hence tracking would be easier.

Not if the thief is carrying a special kind of bag or box that blocks radio transmissions, and puts the phone in it. Say goodbye to cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity – even if the phone is powered on – and the battery charge is at 100%.

And it would also deter thieves because ones they know that a passcode would be required, stealing it wouldn’t make sense to them to some degree.

Assuming that you were using a passcode, power cycling the phone would guarantee that it would demand that passcode, unless perhaps it learned that it had been Activation Locked and skipped to demanding the Apple ID and Apple ID password.

No power-down passcode required to trigger the power-up demand for one.

kini17 wrote:

Yes. So I think it will slow thieves from turning off the iphone hence tracking would be easier.

And it would also deter thieves because ones they know that a passcode would be required, stealing it wouldn’t make sense to them to some degree.

No, it won't slow them down for one second. And if knowing about Activation Lock and Stolen Device Protection doesn't deter a thief, having a passcode required to shut down the iPhone certainly won't. All that will do is make it more difficult for legitimate owners to recover from problems.

Option or not, I'm sorry but you still do not understand how a thief will laugh at the idea. Do you want us to explain?

Sure, you can suggest this to Apple using the link below. But, they have rejected this very poor idea for about 18 years.

Feedback - iPhoneAppleApple › feedback › iphone

Did you send your request to Apple yet?

As I said, they have rejected this idea for 18 years.....for very good reasons......but maybe your input will change their minds.

But eventually it will slow that process of turning off your iPhone.

No, it won't. Slow down? You do know that any iPhone thief can get around your idea in about 2-3 seconds, correct?

Or, maybe you don't.....and have not really thought through your suggestion.....which appears to be the case here.

Apple will never implement your idea for this reason and others.....such as trying to troubleshoot a phone that is acting up would be a nightmare for a technician.

kini17 wrote:

Yes. So I think it will slow thieves from turning off the iphone hence tracking would be easier.

No, it wouldn't. All the thieves need to do is put the phone in something that blocks RF. Do an internet search for "Faraday bags" for more information. And what do you expect to do with the tracking information for a stolen phone? The police are highly unlikely to do anything with it. And, if you try to recover it yourself, you're very likely to get hurt.

And it would also deter thieves because ones they know that a passcode would be required, stealing it wouldn’t make sense to them to some degree.

When Apple implemented the activation lock, iPhone thefts dropped dramatically. But they didn't stop. What you're suggesting wouldn't have a significant effect on theft but would result in making some comparatively simple issues impossible to troubleshoot.

It sounds like a dandy idea until you consider all the consequences.

kini17 wrote:

But what if the iPhone is working perfectly fine with any crash and touch free problems?

iPhones work fine until they don't. And then you may need to restart the phone without access to the keyboard. You won't know in advance that you might need to turn that feature off.

Better still Apple can implement it but it would be a turn on/off option, and me personally I would love to go that that option where passcode is required to turn of my iPhone.

Sure, they probably could implement it. But then customer service and the genius bars would be innundatated with people who couldn't restart their phones because of a little glitch.

You're not going to get the option.

But I still want it.

Use the link that was provided to tell Apple what you want. Users have asked for this for 18 years, but maybe your suggestion will get them to change their minds.

explain further

Faraday bag. A small bag that thieves put a stolen phone in to prevent the phone from either sending or receiving a signal. So, no need to even power off the phone to prevent the user from tracking it.

Amazon has them if you want to try it out to see if what we say is true.

I’m curious, why would you want a password to turn off your device?

Users often think that they can prevent a thief from powering off a stolen phone to keep the owner from finding it on Find My.

Of course, any thief knows how to get around this in a few seconds.