Only human touch can unlock the screen, so having to "Slide to Unlock" 10,000 times a day is unnecessary. I admit, it was a cute idea by Apple but it really doesn't make sense. True, something crazy could happen like you stick your phone in your pocket, accidentally push the sleep button, accidentally open the Phone program, accidentally call an ex girlfriend, and whatever else. But the chances of this happening are really slim to none and not worth the thousands of worthless slidings to unlock.

I second that. It was amusing the first thousand times. Apple should have had an option to disable it.

It's not quite a complete disable, but you can replace the artwork with a full width invisible button and background. Then all you have to do is touch the screen to unlock it, which is far less annoying. Plus, you can see your entire wallpaper.

Here are the paths. Do this at your own risk, of course (and keep a backup of the original files!):

/System/Library/Frameworks/TelephonyUI.framework/bottombarbkgndlock.png
/System/Library/Frameworks/TelephonyUI.framework/bottombarknobgray.png

You'll also need to edit the "slide to unlock" text to " " so it doesn't show up. The field is called "AWAY_LOCK_LABEL".
It's located inside this file:
/System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/English.lproj/SpringBoard.strings

Why I can see your point in the issue, tell me, is it really that trying to slide your finger a couple of inches, even if it is for "thousands of times"??

Geez, of course they're gonna offer a way to lock the keypad. It's not just a question of accidentally dialling a number or opening an app. Let me just detail a few of the things that may happen:

1. You might hit the power button and "unlock" the phone, and if you have auto-lock disabled, leave the screen on and drain the battery. Also, you might further accidentally launch some other application that takes up the CPU and drain it even more quickly.

2. You might push the power button for a few seconds on a stretch, and if you remove the "Slide to power off" as well, which I'm sure you find equally annoying, you'll accidentally power off your phone without realizing it. Given how most people don't keep just their phones in their pockets, and how the phone can come in contact with other things when you sit wearing even semi-tight clothes, this is quite plausible.



Face it. There'll always be a need to have a fail-safe manual unlock for phones. And I for one would rather slide a finger than press Menu + * a hundred times a day.

May I kindly explain why your arguments, at least for me, don't hold any water? You actually mentioned the flaws to your own arguments, which I bolded for reference.

Originally Posted by rohitk

1. You might hit the power button and "unlock" the phone, and if you have auto-lock disabled, leave the screen on and drain the battery. Also, you might further accidentally launch some other application that takes up the CPU and drain it even more quickly.

So basically, just leave auto-lock enabled and you'll be fine. Problem solved.

Originally Posted by rohitk

2. You might push the power button for a few seconds on a stretch, and if you remove the "Slide to power off" as well, which I'm sure you find equally annoying, you'll accidentally power off your phone without realizing it. Given how most people don't keep just their phones in their pockets, and how the phone can come in contact with other things when you sit wearing even semi-tight clothes, this is quite plausible.

Don't remove the "slide to power off" as well. (It is a far less often occurrence so it is no where near equally annoying.) Problem solved.



Once again, without slide to unlock, the only way to unlock the phone would be by accidentally pushing the sleep/home button. If that happens, your phone will autolock in just a few minutes so no fear. During those few minutes, no programs will launch since it requires human touch to make anything work. As long as you're not playing pocket pool in the same pocket as your iPhone all day, you really won't have a problem.

Leaving auto-lock enabled is actually, at least to me, far more annoying than sliding to unlock. There are a lot of times when you need that disabled to run scripts or for applications requiring wifi, and I'd rather not go to settings and disable it and enable it repeatedly, even if it's on a far smaller scale than sliding to unlock.


Anyway, eventually, it's just a matter of personal preference. Sadly, Apple (or any other company) can't cater to everyone's needs. In this case, it may be an unnecessary security measure to some, but they'd be less critisized for putting it in than for eliminating it.

[QUOTE=rohitk;299325]There are a lot of times when you need that disabled to run scripts or for applications requiring wifi, and I'd rather not go to settings and disable it and enable it repeatedlyQUOTE]

You can solve (I done that way) with Insomnia or iAwake2 icon on the springboard.. any time you need to SSH or wifi or whatever for some time you can switch on in one click without messing up with preferences etc. The same way I use swapBT and WiFiSwitch on main screen to have a one-touch switch for everything I need, cheers Swami.

is it possible for someone to make a program to disable the slide to unlock when passcode lock is enabled? I use passcode lock and it negates the usefullness of the slide to unlock feature.

Originally Posted by rohitk

Leaving auto-lock enabled is actually, at least to me, far more annoying than sliding to unlock. There are a lot of times when you need that disabled to run scripts or for applications requiring wifi, and I'd rather not go to settings and disable it and enable it repeatedly, even if it's on a far smaller scale than sliding to unlock.


Anyway, eventually, it's just a matter of personal preference. Sadly, Apple (or any other company) can't cater to everyone's needs. In this case, it may be an unnecessary security measure to some, but they'd be less critisized for putting it in than for eliminating it.

Use insomnia available on installer
u can even ssh in when insomnia in on but ur screen is off

all u have to do is click the icon and insomia is on and click on it again to turn it off

Originally Posted by wildonrio

Only human touch can unlock the screen, so having to "Slide to Unlock" 10,000 times a day is unnecessary. I admit, it was a cute idea by Apple but it really doesn't make sense. True, something crazy could happen like you stick your phone in your pocket, accidentally push the sleep button, accidentally open the Phone program, accidentally call an ex girlfriend, and whatever else. But the chances of this happening are really slim to none and not worth the thousands of worthless slidings to unlock.

wildonrio, I've been looking for a similar solution for months now. I can't understand why is that other people just don't get it that it's much too annoying having to 1) bring the phone from sleep mode clicking either sleep or home and 2) sliding my finger across the screen all the way right to unlock the screen.

I recall very much how impressive the described mechanism was for me, whenever Jobs showed it the first time, but now, I agree, after two years and several thousands slides, its seems far from functional. Apple has invested so much advertising about it that I don't think they will ever remove this mechanism or offer a simpler one or options at all, they seem to be dull for options, which by the way, works fine for the regular consumer.

Waking up the phone and then clicking the screen (instead of sliding) is not a solution for me at all. I really want to 1) wake up the phone and 2) unlock the screen --by pressing ONLY either the sleep button or the home button.

Once I got a solution that required three consecutive clicks on the home button, however I ended up never using it, three clicks is two much! I need only one click for doing the whole thing.

I'm crazy about finding a solution or a way to do it. Have you find any solution yet? I hope you have man!