Craiglist flooded with iCloud locked iPhones

[nox5]

For last couple days I've been looking for iPhone 5 on craigslist and met few people. All iPhones had activation locks and sellers were lying they did not know that and that it is someone else's iPhone etc.
Looks like because of icloud activation lock there is fewer good used iPhones available out there.

 

[CEmajr]

Activation lock has made buying used iPhones even more annoying. A lot of people aren't even aware of it so they'll reset their phones thinking it's all good and sell it and the buyer finds out later that they can't get through to activate it without the old owner's Apple ID. It's pretty annoying.

 

[MyiBill]

Its also been raising the prices on used iPhones in general because there is less good supply of them.

 

[MacDawg]

On the flip side, it has rendered stolen iPhones virtually useless
And hopefully made the temptation to steal them less appealing

Apparently a good portion of the "good supply" of used iPhones was coming at the expense of legitimate owners

 

[Applejuiced]

Activation lock has made buying used iPhones even more annoying. A lot of people aren't even aware of it so they'll reset their phones thinking it's all good and sell it and the buyer finds out later that they can't get through to activate it without the old owner's Apple ID. It's pretty annoying.

Its only annoying for the thieves or those that want to buy stolen property.
If you know what you're doing you will make 100% sure that the seller removes the find my iphone feature. If they refuse to remove it or don't remember the password or give you any excuses then you just walk away.

 

[Gjwilly]

Activation lock has made buying used iPhones even more annoying. A lot of people aren't even aware of it so they'll reset their phones thinking it's all good and sell it and the buyer finds out later that they can't get through to activate it without the old owner's Apple ID. It's pretty annoying.

Except that you can't reset your phone without first turning off the activation lock.
These annoying phones are stolen, pure and simple.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

For last couple days I've been looking for iPhone 5 on craigslist and met few people. All iPhones had activation locks and sellers were lying they did not know that and that it is someone else's iPhone etc.
Looks like because of icloud activation lock there is fewer good used iPhones available out there.

What exactly is an "iCloud activation lock"?

 

[Gjwilly]

What exactly is an "iCloud activation lock"?

Since iOS 7, every iPod/iPhone is locked to whichever iCloud account activated it.
If someone "finds" your phone and tries to activate it, the activation will fail unless you input the original owners iCloud password.
The phone is essentially locked and unusable.
Erasing or restoring an iDevice is impossible without first turning this feature off so the idea that people are selling their devices without first disabling this feature just doesn't wash.
Who would sell their phone with all of their contacts, apps, and appointments still on the phone?

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Except that you can't reset your phone without first turning off the activation lock.
These annoying phones are stolen, pure and simple.

Not true. I bought a used iPad mini that the seller had reset but did not realize that he needed to go on icloud and remove it from his devices. It was his since he was able to login and remove the lock.

Sure most of them are probably stolen, but there are cases of ignorance too.

 

[Gjwilly]

Not true. I bought a used iPad mini that the seller had reset but did not realize that he needed to go on icloud and remove it from his devices. It was his since he was able to login and remove the lock.

Sure most of them are probably stolen, but there are cases of ignorance too.

Nope, you're wrong.
Removing the device from iCloud has nothing to do with activation lock.
Activation lock follows "Find my iPhone" which has to be turned off in order to perform either a reset or a restore.
There's just no way around it.
I guess it's possible that someone would forget to erase their phone before selling it but that's got to be a teeny tiny minority.
Even eBay is now reminding sellers to erase their devices and remove all passwords before shipping.

 

[eyoungren]

Well…it's sure led to a lot of "How do I bypass the Apple ID lock" threads here.

 

[nox5]

I thought the only way to erase iphone with find my iphone on and without password is by DFU mode and by doing this create activation lock.

 

[Gjwilly]

I thought the only way to erase iphone with find my iphone on and without password is by DFU mode and by doing this create activation lock.

You can erase a phone via DFU but even after it's erased it's still going to have to be activated again and that's when it's going to prompt you for the original owners password.
The device's serial number is linked to an iCloud account on Apples own servers so it doesn't matter what you do the the phone itself -- it's still going to be linked at the server end until it gets unlinked.
It's the turning off of "Find my iPhone" that unlinks it and that's why the iOS prompts you now to turn it off before allowing any resets or restores.
At that point the new owner activates it with their own iCloud account, "Find my iPhone" gets turned back on, and the servers then link that serial number to the new owner.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

Since iOS 7, every iPod/iPhone is locked to whichever iCloud account activated it.
If someone "finds" your phone and tries to activate it, the activation will fail unless you input the original owners iCloud password.
The phone is essentially locked and unusable.
Erasing or restoring an iDevice is impossible without first turning this feature off so the idea that people are selling their devices without first disabling this feature just doesn't wash.
Who would sell their phone with all of their contacts, apps, and appointments still on the phone?

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[nox5]

another way to create activation lock is to erase it on icloud.com so at the end if someone sells you activation locked iPhone it has to be stolen/lost and the excuse that he/she reset the phone and forgot to turn off icloud is a lie

 

[Mike Boreham]

Removing the device from iCloud has nothing to do with activation lock.
Activation lock follows "Find my iPhone" which has to be turned off in order to perform either a reset or a restore.

I don't want to test this, but I remember in the past trying to sign out of iCloud completely, and getting a message that I had to deactivate Find my iPhone first.

I can't remember when, or if it was a mac not a phone, but I have a clear memory of that happening.

Sellers also need to remove the device from their Apple Support Profile if the new owner is going to be able to register it on theirs. This is separate from iCloud. Only really important if there is warranty remaining. I have fallen foul of this with a second hand Mac I bought.

EDIT reading this Apple article about Activation Lock I see Activation Lock only applies to phones not macs, so my comment above may not be relevant.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Nope, you're wrong.
Removing the device from iCloud has nothing to do with activation lock.
Activation lock follows "Find my iPhone" which has to be turned off in order to perform either a reset or a restore.
There's just no way around it.
I guess it's possible that someone would forget to erase their phone before selling it but that's got to be a teeny tiny minority.
Even eBay is now reminding sellers to erase their devices and remove all passwords before shipping.

After testing it, I'll give it to you that it does ask me to turn off Find My iPad before resetting.

So how was is that I bought a used iPad mini last month that had been reset to the "Hello" page asking me to choose a language and country but then asked me to login to a specific iCloud account? The only way I could get past it to login with my iCloud account was to have the seller go onto iCloud.com and remove it from his devices. This was in early April before iOS 7.1.1.

 

[Mlrollin91]

After testing it, I'll give it to you that it does ask me to turn off Find My iPad before resetting.

So how was is that I bought a used iPad mini last month that had been reset to the "Hello" page asking me to choose a language and country but then asked me to login to a specific iCloud account? The only way I could get past it to login with my iCloud account was to have the seller go onto iCloud.com and remove it from his devices. This was in early April before iOS 7.1.1.

Maybe the seller did a DFU restore or put it into recovery mode and restored it. Both would bypass having to turn off find my iPhone and leaving activation lock in place.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Maybe the seller did a DFU restore or put it into recovery mode and restored it. Both would bypass having to turn off find my iPhone and leaving activation lock in place.

Seems like more effort than going into settings to reset and removing activation lock. Especially since he was willing to spend an hour figuring out how to remove the activation lock through iCloud.com on his PC.

Oh well. Now I know that if a thief somehow gets me to reset my iDevice through settings, they have full access to it and I'm SOL. Good work, Apple.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Oh well. Now I know that if a thief somehow gets me to reset my iDevice through settings, they have full access to it and I'm SOL. Good work, Apple.

How would a thief persuade you to reset your device? seems an unlikely scenario to blame Apple for not covering....or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[Newtons Apple]

This will means that phone parts are more available and at cheaper prices.

 

[i1280]

Craiglist flooded with iCloud locked iPhones

I'm looking to sell my iphone 4 (ios6) and I did the delete and reset. It's at the iPhone screen now...

How do I know it's alright to sell and not activation locked? Thanks...

 

[maflynn]

How do I know it's alright to sell and not activation locked? Thanks...

iOS 6 does not have the activation lock.

 

[mjschabow]

Hmmm. So I'm confused. I just sold my iphone on eBay. Before shipping it I reset everything. Was there another step I needed to take? If it helps, I already activated another iphone both on my Sprint and iCloud account.

 

[maflynn]

Did you have Find my Phone turned on? What about the lock screen?