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Sorry about you losing your phone but it's not Apple's fault that you left your valuable out. As others said, would you leave your wallet on the table?

Why the heck would you need a holster? Put it in your pocket.

In terms of the video:
1. That's already fixed.
2. Android doesn't even come with anything close to Activation Lock. (Yes some companies offers it but they are typically an extra, paid service)

What have they done to fix it?
 
Ultimately you (OP) as the owner are responsible for your own goods. You seem pissed off at Apple, when in fact it was solely your own fault the device was stolen.
 
I think it's hilarious that people want to blame Apple for their own negligence in getting their device stolen. Would you blame the car manufacturer if someone stole your vehicle?

- With Activation lock, the phone is useless. The thief cannot reset it or anything without your iCloud password. There is no jailbreak or tweak to get around this. Android manufacturers don't even have this feature and can easily be reset, so you should be thanking Apple in that case.
- Even if they somehow guessed your iCloud password then the phone is still blacklisted from being used on any US network.
- You paid $800 for your device so treat it like one. I too paid full price for my 5S ($800 after taxes) and I never let it out of my sight. It's always either in my pocket or visibly beside me. People will steal anything with perceived value if they feel like they can get away with it. Lesson learned.
- I'm not sure what city you're in, but I doubt the police will be much help. They simply just don't have the time unless you actually know who has your phone.
- Despite the phone not being able to be used, it's still worth around $300 for the parts alone. So to a thief who got it for free, $300 is a good deal.

Lesson: When you pay that much money for something you need to be more mindful of where it is at all times. Also the fact that it was stolen from your house by someone you invited over means you need to keep better company. It's not Apple's fault, it's your own fault.
 
OP here is my thing, you are suggesting all sorts of things that apple should do to prevent theft, when you were the one that put your phone down in a room full of strangers. Who does that. What difference does a holster make when you have a pocket? As long as people leave their phones in vulnerable situations, thefts will occur no matter what. If the thief cant use the phone, he will not return anyway. Take it as a lesson learned.
 
If the phone is activation locked or not, there will always be a market for stolen phones. You cant just leave a phone laying around in front of strangers, and not think that it may be stolen. The OP is clearly careless.
 
Obviously you guys are under the age of 12 because you are contorting everything I am saying, blatantly unable to have matured reading comprehension skills. I am not blaming Apple. However, I am suggesting some ways Apple can be instrumental in preventing theft of its products and keeping user retention.

Additionally, you couldn't blame someone for being emotional after having a device of this value taken from them. Unless you're the type that likes submitting and bending over to criminals. In that case, you like having your things stolen and you will do nothing to track the criminals, receive justice, or secure your property.

Furthermore, I did not "carelessly" leave my phone done in a room full of strangers. Obviously I did not know one of them well enough to know that they were a thief. But, let's just put it this way, these were individuals that I did not think would steal it while I was in the same room. I had no way of knowing that someone would steal it while I remained in the same room. I quickly returned to my area after getting up and there were no people entering/exiting until after it turned up missing.

Unfortunately it was a bad mistake in terms of its consequences and I have learned from it. I mean, being totally paranoid about losing or getting your iPhone stolen I think is well warranted now. But I am not the criminal nor did I engage in intentional, highly negligent behavior or have any motivation to. The criminal is that person and they stole someone's iPhone worth many hundreds of dollars. They need to be hunted down, prosecuted, and brought to justice. If you disagree with that, then it's obvious you are benefiting from some sort of business from blackmarket iPhone sales or are just 11 years old and are totally ignorant.
 
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If the phone is activation locked or not, there will always be a market for stolen phones. You cant just leave a phone laying around in front of strangers, and not think that it may be stolen. The OP is clearly careless.

But I rather have the thief bust the phone apart for parts rather than compromise my digital identity. As such for now touch id is off, two step verification and no control panel, messages or email in notification panel when phone is locked.
 
Lesson 1-never leave your phone unattended.
Lesson 2-never leave your wallet unattended.
Lesson 3-car keys, same as above.
Lesson 4-anything of value, same as above.

Don't expect LE to do much, they have much bigger fist to fry. If they do catch who took it, by all means press charges.
Agreed. A phone is like a toothbrush. Never lend it to anyone. Unless I am in a locked place with only two or three rooms and as much people, I never leave any Apple stuff unattended. I often get asked to keep an eye on people's belongings, which I gladly do, but still move my computer and iPad even when going for a pee. Or a book. On the other hand my MacBook Pro may not have been so happy with so much moving around, considering the bad sectors on the drive.

On the other hand I often left my Nokia unattended for up to half an hour. Was never stolen nor even touched :D


if i was a thief, i'd dunk the stolen phone in water and sell the device for parts, or i'd take it to an apple store and get an out of warranty replacement. new iphone for $270 which i can sell for $500+
Depends on the model. I am not sure an out-of-warranty replacement for the 5s is just $270.

Just trying to figure out if there's a way to recover it. Sorry, I don't like bending over to criminals if that's something you're inclined to doing. Also, I don't have $800 just lying around, obviously. I'm not rich.
*cough**cough* if you were able to spit for a top-of-the-line, 64GB and unlocked phone while perfectly fine 16GB models, including previous-generation models and the 5c, are available, you may not qualify as rich, but definitely part of a class of people with a significant amount of disposable income.

I am not rich, and I now must choose between a SSD for the Mac alone and no NAS, or a higher-performance spinning HDD AND a NAS. That is not being rich.

Wouldn't they be able to identify the stolen IMEI and reject it/report it to LE?
They would be able to, but they would never actually do it. They have a non-interventionist policy when it comes to dealing with stolen devices. They know it's stolen but won't do anything.

Apple's going to record the serial number and ask the person brining it in for ID.
Apple never asks for any piece of ID. Merely ask you for the registered name, and even if it doesn't match, they will proceed with replacement.

However, I am suggesting some ways Apple can be instrumental in preventing theft of its products and keeping user retention.
Cynically, they will retain users because they already know their products are best. So even if they're stolen, victims will likely buy another Apple product anyway.

Furthermore, I did not "carelessly" leave my phone done in a room full of strangers.
When there's so much value left undefended, everyone is a stranger. Never trust anyone. I got swindled many times before because I trusted people too much.

They need to be hunted down, prosecuted, and brought to justice. If you disagree with that, then it's obvious you are benefiting from some sort of business from blackmarket iPhone sales or are just 11 years old and are totally ignorant.
The reality is that, more often than not, law enforcement will do exactly nothing to track down the thief, whatever the amount of valid information you send them. You may have a suspect in head, have its precise physical description, location of the phone, this person may already have been arrested before, but they won't move their butt to at least ask this person a few question. Simple, chasing petty criminals for the benefit of the common citizen doesn't pay. It does, however, to give them hefty tickets for overdue park-o-meter, speed violations, etc.

It's not profitable to fish for one-off $1000 criminals when you can fish for thousands of $100 violators.
 
Obviously you guys are under the age of 12 because you are contorting everything I am saying, blatantly unable to have matured reading comprehension skills. I am not blaming Apple. However, I am suggesting some ways Apple can be instrumental in preventing theft of its products and keeping user retention.

Additionally, you couldn't blame someone for being emotional after having a device of this value taken from them. Unless you're the type that likes submitting and bending over to criminals. In that case, you like having your things stolen and you will do nothing to track the criminals, receive justice, or secure your property.

Furthermore, I did not "carelessly" leave my phone done in a room full of strangers. Obviously I did not know one of them well enough to know that they were a thief. But, let's just put it this way, these were individuals that I did not think would steal it while I was in the same room. I had no way of knowing that someone would steal it while I remained in the same room. I quickly returned to my area after getting up and there were no people entering/exiting until after it turned up missing.

Unfortunately it was a bad mistake in terms of its consequences and I have learned from it. I mean, being totally paranoid about losing or getting your iPhone stolen I think is well warranted now. But I am not the criminal nor did I engage in intentional, highly negligent behavior or have any motivation to. The criminal is that person and they stole someone's iPhone worth many hundreds of dollars. They need to be hunted down, prosecuted, and brought to justice. If you disagree with that, then it's obvious you are benefiting from some sort of business from blackmarket iPhone sales or are just 11 years old and are totally ignorant.

You did not answer my question about which phone you would rather have and why it would be preferable.

I think everyone understood you perfectly. There's no need to lash out at people because they see things from a different perspective. If anything, your reading comprehension skills are lacking, not ours.
 
Furthermore, I did not "carelessly" leave my phone done in a room full of strangers. Obviously I did not know one of them well enough to know that they were a thief. But, let's just put it this way, these were individuals that I did not think would steal it while I was in the same room. I had no way of knowing that someone would steal it while I remained in the same room. I quickly returned to my area after getting up and there were no people entering/exiting until after it turned up missing.

You didn't know them well enough to pick out who might have done it? Sounds like strangers to me.
 
Obviously you guys are under the age of 12 because you are contorting everything I am saying, blatantly unable to have matured reading comprehension skills. I am not blaming Apple. However, I am suggesting some ways Apple can be instrumental in preventing theft of its products and keeping user retention.

Additionally, you couldn't blame someone for being emotional after having a device of this value taken from them. Unless you're the type that likes submitting and bending over to criminals. In that case, you like having your things stolen and you will do nothing to track the criminals, receive justice, or secure your property.

Furthermore, I did not "carelessly" leave my phone done in a room full of strangers. Obviously I did not know one of them well enough to know that they were a thief. But, let's just put it this way, these were individuals that I did not think would steal it while I was in the same room. I had no way of knowing that someone would steal it while I remained in the same room. I quickly returned to my area after getting up and there were no people entering/exiting until after it turned up missing.

Unfortunately it was a bad mistake in terms of its consequences and I have learned from it. I mean, being totally paranoid about losing or getting your iPhone stolen I think is well warranted now. But I am not the criminal nor did I engage in intentional, highly negligent behavior or have any motivation to. The criminal is that person and they stole someone's iPhone worth many hundreds of dollars. They need to be hunted down, prosecuted, and brought to justice. If you disagree with that, then it's obvious you are benefiting from some sort of business from blackmarket iPhone sales or are just 11 years old and are totally ignorant.

Apple has done a lot to deter phone theft as it is. In your situation nothing apple could do would have helped you. I lost my 4s when it fell off my holster. I no longer use holsters because of this. I know you feel bad, I did too.
 
This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXZ6yUsn0v8

This makes me feel like **** for buying an iPhone.
You're joking, right? It sounds far easier to water board you to get your password than it does to recreate what they did in that YouTube video.

Here's a list of the steps to pulling off this spoof (you can check out the process used by the Chaos Computer Club on our original article regarding the trick).

First, snap a photo of a perfect print from the finger that will unlock the device.

Use digital photo software to separate the print from the rest of the image and then "retouch as required." If your spouse or nosy friend has recently been taking Photoshop classes, this might be why.

Print the image of the fingerprint on translucent plastic using black toner.

Place the image of the print over a piece of photo-sensitive copper circuit board and then expose it to intense UV lighting. The folks from SRLabs used a face tanner for this. You have one or two of those laying around, right?

Develop the circuit board in a bath of Sodium Carbonate Monohydrate or Potassium Carbonate. You know, just whichever one you have in the pantry.

Etch the fingerprint into the copper by placing the copper board into an etching solution.

Cover the print mold with graphite spray to help spoof the capacitive properties of a normal human finger.

Cover the print in wood glue, let it dry, and then peel it from the mold.
http://m.tuaw.com/2013/10/05/oh-look-another-easy-way-to-spoof-touch-id-on-the-iphone-5s/
 
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