So what? Thieves will just find another way do to what they are currently doing. It's BS that Apple is punishing legitimate uses for the activities of a minority,
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Apple Removes Tool to Check if an iPhone or iPad is Activation Locked
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You are mistaken. The iCloud Find my Mac information is stored in NVRAM and erasing the drive like you described does not disable it. Give this a read.
This minority is causing more problems than the tool is worth. In a perfect world where people are honest and literate the selling and buying of used iPhones would have no issues, however we don't live in such a world.
I find that reasoning to be flawed. Someone that is trying to save money by buying a used phone certainly won't buy one full price.
I also find the reasoning for the bad guys to be flawed too. I really don't think if someone that has the equipment to remove the chip, reprogram it, and using the website to verify the serial number isn't taken to be not that high in the grand scheme of things.
iCloud lock is a BS scam to limit resale of used equipment to artificially keep prices high. I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a class action lawsuit against Apple for not having a clear disclaimer and option to opt out of Apple holding ransom on owners equipment with iCloud lock.
big impact on buying used Watches esp. online. The unpairing, unlock, passcode removal, iCloud lock can be problematic and is less understood than the phone unlock.
Now there is no way to check watch status remotely or quickly. only in person.
Theft or used sales, not sure the motive but I can see warranty check removal next.
Now there is no way to check watch status remotely or quickly. only in person.
Theft or used sales, not sure the motive but I can see warranty check removal next.
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No it's not BS. I think it's a great feature.
This. ^^^ Password protect the EFI, encrypt the disk, turn on Find My Mac and set up a guest user account to encourage them to power up the machine and get on the internet.
Thank you for incredibly informative posts you've done on this... it is much appreciated.. keep it up, you show exactly why Apple did this, and I am in debt to you. I hope I can return the favor on some other subject.
Find My Mac automatically shows a guest account, it's not necessary to set up a specific one. I believe there are certain scenarios when it displays (possibly x number of logins, or a change in location). There doesn't appear to be specific details from Apple but I have witnessed this behaviour myself and it wouldn't make sense if there wasn't a honeypot to enable tracking.
Not to mention Apple's response to California's Kill-Switch law for better or for worse.
This topic specifically addresses the exploit being used by thieves to steal SNs and force users who purchased their devices from Apple to have to phone Apple or visit a retail store with the receipt to have their iCloud locks removed.
If you read my previous post combined with this one, you would have realized out of the 1000 phones I've purchased 2nd-hand plus say 100 brand new sealed in the last year, the odds of at least one being exploited and having this issue is greater than someone who bought one or two brand new sealed phones in the last year. And because I buy so many phones and had never knowingly encountered this exploit before, I had no reason to hold onto any of my receipts. Thus, I have no problem to make up a fake receipt for one device that I know for certain is the victim of this hack(because as stated in my previous post, I was able to reset the phone from settings/general/about/erase all without any password needed) because I feel whatever immorality involves producing a fake receipt to represent a real product whose receipt I've discarded is far less than Apple locking people out of their own phones and only removing them with a real receipt(and often repeated calls to Apple for followup).
It's security at the cost of convenience. Most people have no idea how to locate their phones using FMI if lost/stolen. And the nice side effect is the kill-switch, which has reduced phone theft by 15-50% in some cities. But for the legal owner not being able to remove the lock or reclaim their phone is immoral. But it reduces crime so I guess it's justified.
If you read my previous post combined with this one, you would have realized out of the 1000 phones I've purchased 2nd-hand plus say 100 brand new sealed in the last year, the odds of at least one being exploited and having this issue is greater than someone who bought one or two brand new sealed phones in the last year. And because I buy so many phones and had never knowingly encountered this exploit before, I had no reason to hold onto any of my receipts. Thus, I have no problem to make up a fake receipt for one device that I know for certain is the victim of this hack(because as stated in my previous post, I was able to reset the phone from settings/general/about/erase all without any password needed) because I feel whatever immorality involves producing a fake receipt to represent a real product whose receipt I've discarded is far less than Apple locking people out of their own phones and only removing them with a real receipt(and often repeated calls to Apple for followup).
It's security at the cost of convenience. Most people have no idea how to locate their phones using FMI if lost/stolen. And the nice side effect is the kill-switch, which has reduced phone theft by 15-50% in some cities. But for the legal owner not being able to remove the lock or reclaim their phone is immoral. But it reduces crime so I guess it's justified.
Utter nonsense. Apple makes some of the best computer products bar none.
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Oh come on, that's just ridiculous. If you're going to hate on Apple , at least be credible.
There is something very grey about your business model. You buy brand new sealed iPhones and yet I presume somehow manage to turn those around for a profit. Did they fall off the back of a lorry? And then you buy 1000 second hand phones to sell on but don't keep any paperwork. How would you be able to file accurate tax receipts?
Resetting iPhone to factory setting will remove iCloud lock.
Am i wrong ?
If it is not then it is an issue, i am sure i gave my iPhone to my niece, i just erased my iPhone & set it to factory setting, done no iCloud lock.
I don't understand why people think Apple is controlling iPhone re sales by iCloud lock.
I think iCloud lock was useful to make Govt happy to reduce phone theft.
It's all about economics. When the risk of buying used iPhones outweigh the cost benefit, people will be less inclined to buy used iPhones. As the upgrade pressure accumulates, consumers will be lured to purchase new iPhones. Since Apple does not profit from 3rd party used phone market transactions, and the longer an iPhone's life cycle is, the more it cost Apple to support and maintain, it is in Apple's interest to control all transactions. When used iPhones are sold back to Apple at a lower-than-market price, Apple can then sell refurbished outdated iPhones to emerging markets. Capitalizing on those used iPhones is even more important when primary market is shrinking.
Yep, you sure are. It wouldn't be very effective if it did.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201365
Bet you feel foolish now.
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/01/30/activation-lock-website-used-in-hack/
Actually probably not.
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Wrong you didn't see today's article.
http://www.imeipro.info
Seems to still work though.... iCloud Activation cann still be checked there..
Seems to still work though.... iCloud Activation cann still be checked there..
Thanks for your post....Is there a similar website to check the Apple watches and tablets?
I fully realize most tech companies will do all they can to protect their reputations, even if their response at times may be shortsighted and cause more harm when the information is leaked or due to the circumstances ends up being divulged anyway. Yahoo withheld important information about their security hacks for a long time which made their situation even worse now with their future in doubt. I hope Apple learned something from Yahoo.
I had a password and whomever stole my imac was still able to format it, as I know via iCloud that it's name was changed but it's location has never turned up. I was told by Apple it was unable to track it as my icloud was turned off when the thief formatted it.
If all you had was a login password, that is easy to reset, then login and turn off iCloud and Find my Mac. So yes, if you turn off iCloud, it is also turned off in NVRAM like I mentioned. But if you have Filevault encryption turned on, the thief would have no way to get in and turn off iCloud, so FMM would stay active in NVRAM even if you reformatted or removed the drive.