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iOS 11 Has a Feature To Temporarily Disable Touch ID (cultofmac.com)
A new feature baked into iOS 11 lets you quickly disable Touch ID, which could come in handy if you're ever in a situation where someone (a cop) might force you to unlock your device. Cult of Mac reports: To temporarily disable Touch ID, you simply press the power button quickly five times. This presents you with the "Emergency SOS" option, which you can swipe to call the emergency services. It also prevents your iPhone from being unlocked without the passcode. Until now, there were other ways to temporarily disable Touch ID, but they weren't quick and simply. You either had to restart your iPhone, let it sit idle for a few days until Touch ID was temporarily disabled by itself, or scan the wrong finger several times. The police, or any government agency, cannot force you to hand over your iPhone's passcode. However, they can force you to unlock your device with your fingerprint. That doesn't work if your fingerprint scanner has been disabled.
I know this probably sounds difficult to believe, but it's actually true.
Officers have become increasingly frustrated with criminals who refuse to hand over the passwords for their encrypted mobiles, denying them access to vital information.
But the Metropolitan police have come up with a novel solution, by snatching an iPhone from a suspect on the street before he had a chance to lock it.
Officers investigating a credit card racket realised that crucial evidence was stored on the phone of suspect Gabriel Yew, 45, that would be inaccessible without his password.
To get round the problem covert officers from Operation Falcon, the Met police team that investigates major fraud, seized the mobile from Yew's hand as he took a call in the street. They then tapped the screen to prevent it from locking while the evidence was being downloaded.
Yep, I'm even older and can attest that the phrase was very common from before I was born. It used to be electronics jargon, and software adopted it later.