It's much easier on Android to setup all kinds of alternatives. You could setup a 'dummy' key that if entered would alert the police, for example. Failing that, you can setup different keys for different services with different levels of access, as well as have third party equivalents to 'Find my iPhone'.
Not being in the walled garden provides a lot of freedom and flexibility to setup contingencies.
Maybe... But ignoring the fact this lgel of customisation is unlikely for any normal and most tech people, you'd likely require root to override the core system and password auth I'd imagine. I believe this ends up invalidating what is core functionality for most people - banking, wildvine, etc.
If we're moving into the realm of the ultra paranoid, high security over convenience focused user - sure. In fact I dare say such a user might prefer a Linux phone with physical keyboard, or no phone at all. But if we're talking average iPhone or Android users here, I can't imagine the scenario would change much at gunpoint.
> But ignoring the fact this lgel of customisation is unlikely for any normal and most tech people,
This is HN though...surely there are a lot of people who care about security and have experience using custom roms.
> you'd likely require root to override the core system and password auth I'd imagine
Honestly, even a simple solution would be putting on something like Prey, which is free and easy to use, and using a third party applocker tool. Those two things don't need a custom rom or any other customization.
Not being in the walled garden provides a lot of freedom and flexibility to setup contingencies.