This is a very handy tool but poorly implemented.
Try checking using an iPad - can't be done as the ipad browser isn't supported. So if you're selling your shiny phone and your buyer doesn't have his PC or Mac on him then the tool can't be accessed.
If you are selling your iPhone, deactivate activation lock, and it doesn't matter whether the seller can use this tool or not. If you buy face to face, you don't need this tool - you just try to activate the phone and if you can't activate it, you don't pay. And if you are buying a phone online, surely you must know _someone_ with a computer?
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How does this prevent the seller from reporting the phone as stolen after sale and the carrier blocking the IMEI though? IF you can't prevent that, iphone sales are pointless...
In that case the seller has committed a serious crime. In the UK, it would be called "perverting the course of justice", and since the police absolutely hates when you interfere with their job, and they hate it more than committing crimes, they will come down very, very hard on you. Expect to go to jail for that kind of joke. And it's not as if there wasn't plenty of evidence of what you did; it's hard to imagine any crime where the perpetrator is easier to catch.
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This makes no sense to me. What true value does this tool provide? Couldn't a phone get locked in between the time I check the status of it and the time I receive the phone from the seller?
Why would anyone do that?
This tool helps with two cases: Buying a stolen phone, where the thief _cannot_ unlock the phone. And if the thief could unlock the phone, they would have no reason whatsoever to lock it again. The other case: Stupid seller who doesn't realise that activation lock is turned on. You check, you call them to tell them it's turned on, and they turn it off. They would have no reason whatsoever to turn the lock on again.
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Right. I'm sure glad Apple is making things simpler.
Why can't someone send you the IMEI of some unlocked phone and still send you a locked one? This might help individual to individual, but unless it's in person I don't see where this actually helps.
They can send you the IMEI of some unlocked phone, and then post a brick to you.
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What would happen if a person forgot the password to the device?
If you forget the password to your phone and can't unlock it, you're stuffed. You can only sell it for spare parts. If you are tempted to sell it at full price, this tool will warn the buyers.
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Isn't this tool easy to abuse though? Someone could potentially give out a legit number, while selling a device with another...
Apart from some other comments, this would change what's happening from being an honest mistake (some people sell their own perfectly legitimate iPhone with activation lock because they don't know better) to fraud. You are now committing a serious crime.
