Over the years, Apple’s Touch ID technology has proven to be a legal gray area whenever law enforcement or border patrol asked you to hand over your iPhone.
A new feature may have surfaced in a beta of iOS 11 that essentially functions as a “cop button”, wherein the iPhone owner can set up a provision in the update allowing you to choose whether to keep TouchID on or not. Instead of relying on Touch ID, users could incorporate a long, complex password, thus locking out cops and anyone who doesn’t know the passphrase.
Currently, police can force you to use your fingerprint to unlock the phone, but they can’t force you to use your password — something that has been proven by law to be protected.
In the iOS 11 build, the user can push the power button rapidly five times and it will open a second screen, while also forcing anyone with the phone to use the longer passphrase to unlock it.
This process could prove useful in an emergency when an iPhone needs to be unlocked to contact an emergency number.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via TechCrunch, Twitter and Engadget