Thief can put a passcode protected phone offline without first having to access the phone.

Question

Hello there,
my daughter's passcode protected i phone was stolen the other day. the first thing the thief did is to put the phone offline, thereby effectively disabling the find my iphone feature. Quite frankly, i do not understnad why the design allows this to happen. I would suggest that putting the phone offline should only be possible after you have entered the correct passcode. If not, the find my i phone feature is in effect of no use (to the rightful owner)
regards,
Robert Vornis

Answer 1

vornis wrote:
Hello there,
my daughter's passcode protected i phone was stolen the other day. the first thing the thief did is to put the phone offline, thereby effectively disabling the find my iphone feature. Quite frankly, i do not understnad why the design allows this to happen. I would suggest that putting the phone offline should only be possible after you have entered the correct passcode. If not, the find my i phone feature is in effect of no use (to the rightful owner)
regards,
Robert Vornis
So, you want it set up so that you have to enter a passcode in order to turn off the phone. 
Tell, me, what is the legitimate iuser supposed to do if the screen is not responding (which is the only way to enter a passcode), and the recommended troublehsooting step is to resest the iPhone?
In your proposal, that user would be stuck with no way to reset their non-responsive iPhone.  So, they're supposed to do what, then?  Just buy a new one?  Go to the Apple Store to get the device fixed?  And what about those people that don't leave near an Apple Store?
Requiring a passcode to turn off the phone is a very, very bad idea.