Back in May, Ars spoke with Aaron Gach, an artist and college lecturer, who was stopped by border agents at San Francisco International Airport who asked him to hand over his iPhone so they could search it. When asked why the agents needed to check his smartphone, Gach wasn’t given a straight answer. The agents only said they were looking for “information pertinent to our investigation.”
This new trick in iOS 11 won’t totally get you out of a situation like this—Customs and Border Patrol protocol states it can detain devices for five days or seek “technical assistance” when looking to search a device. At the very least, the new feature could temporarily prevent others from forcing you to unlock your smartphone with your fingerprint.
This feature currently only affects Touch ID in the iOS 11 public beta, but it’s possible that a similar feature could roll out if Apple introduces facial-recognition unlocking in the next iPhone. Facial recognition is one of the many rumored features of the next iPhone model, presumably to be announced in September.