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(Picture: Flickr/ Ricky Romero)

A ‘kill switch’ added to iPhones has cut crime and should be mandatory on all smartphones, US prosecutors said.

Since Apple added the option to its ‘Find My iPhone’ app, robberies involving the company’s products have dropped 19 per cent in New York in the first five months of this year.

However, those involving rival Samsung soared by 40 per cent.

‘The statistics released today illustrate the stunning effectiveness of kill switches,’ New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said.


Tech hub San Francisco also saw Apple-related robberies drop 38 per cent, while those involving Samsung devices increased 12 per cent.

Meanwhile, London saw robberies involving iPhones and iPads drop 24 per cent, compared with a three per cent rise for Samsung.



San Francisco district attorney George Gascon called for legislation ‘at all levels’ to make anti-theft solutions mandatory.

Microsoft plans to offer ‘theft-deterent features’ as an update for phones running Windows 8.

Apple introduced the ‘activation lock’ and ‘delete phone’ options last September.