“Apple picking” is the term applied to a growing wave of crimes that targets mobile devices likes iPhones and iPads. And the company whose devices are stolen than most from its many buyers are taking a step to stop it.

CNN reports that Apple is adding a “kill switch”-style feature aimed at making mobile gadgets less valuable to thieves in the new version of the phone’s software, iOS 7. The feature is called Activation Lock.

“We think this going to be a really powerful theft deterrent,” said Craig Federighi, a senior vice president of Apple, speaking to CNN.

Activation Lock will require an Apple ID and password before the phone’s “Find My iPhone” feature and can be turned off or any data can be immediately erased.

During the first day of Apple WWDC 2013, it’s highly anticipated annual conference for developers, at a keynote address, the company said that the same ID and password will be required to reactivate a device after it’s been remotely erased.

Apple’s announcement of the “kill switch” came the same week as the district attorney in America’s tech hub San Francisco, George Gascon, plans to meet with the New York state attorney general and representatives of cellphone companies to discuss ways of discouraging mobile-device robberies, according to CNN.

The wireless industry trade association released details of the voluntary effort to “help law enforcement deter smartphone theft” in a letter last year to the Federal Communications Commission chairman.

As increased use of mobile devices gain more traction, stealing them has become a new crime category.

In New York, a special police unit has been created to deal with stolen mobile devices.

Crime rate in the city has spiked primarily because of the number of Apple product thefts, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.

Advocates have been requesting for a feature similar to the “kill switch” in mobile devices for some time.

Gerry Smith of the Huffington Post, in an article on the blog last April wrote that according to mobile-security firm Lookout, the total value of lost or stolen phones in the U.S. is about $30 billion a year.