MPs want cloud-based blocking from Google and Apple to combat the rise of phone theft in the UK
The Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee, Dame Chi Onwura, has written to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, asking how and when the UK Government will use technological solutions to combat the growing rate of phone theft.
The letter follows a Committee evidence session in June 2025, where Apple, Samsung, Google, and the Metropolitan Police appeared in front of MPs. During this session, the Metropolitan Police said phone theft was a ‘growing problem’.
The letter outlines the Committee’s conclusion that phone theft can be designed out of phones using technical measures. Cloud-based blocking would stop stolen handsets from connecting to cloud accounts in foreign countries – making phones less valuable when being stolen, shipped overseas, and resold, Onwura wrote.
“We challenged the Metropolitan Police on their efforts to tackle snatch theft and disrupt the export of stolen devices. We welcomed the recent news that the Metropolitan Police have apprehended a large number of stolen phones and suspects.”
However, it was the responses – or lack thereof – from major technology companies that gave us the most concern, Onwura said.
“We pressed Apple, Google and Samsung on why they have not implemented robust technical measures, such as cloud-based blocking or IMEI-linked device locks.
“This would mean that handsets could not connect to cloud accounts in foreign countries if they were registered as stolen, something that only the cloud provider can do, rendering the phones far less valuable when shipped overseas.
“Their repeated pivots to answering questions about data security rather than devices, and insistence that the phones were broken down and sold for parts, without any evidence to support this assertion, was telling.”
The letter urges the government to take a ‘robust stance’ on this issue. It asks for details about whether the Home Secretary supported the Met’s ask for Apple and Google to implement cloud-based blocking, and when the next phone theft summit will take place.
The last summit, held in February 2025, aimed to drive action between law enforcement, tech companies, and the Mayor of London. Despite a second summit originally planned for May, no date for this has been announced.
