Does Find My iPhone persist after a successful formatting?

[nnauq]

I'm looking into buying a second-hand iPhone, "without the box because I lost it", which sounds a bit suspicious. It isn't locked by Activation Lock, so either the seller is speaking the truth, or it is a lost/stolen phone, but the original owner isn't actively looking for it.

If I were to buy the phone and fully restore it, and started to use it normally after setting it up completely, would a potential original owner be able to turn on Activation Lock on a later date, or does the tie to the original ID get lost after successfully linking it to a new one?

 

[aristobrat]

the tie to the original ID get lost after successfully linking it to a new one?

That's been my experience, and until the recent problems (which sound to be on Apple's end), I haven't read any situation otherwise.

The other situation you might want to consider is that the phone being sold was bought on a carrier payment plan, and all payments haven't been made. If the person making those payments to the carrier stops (even though the phone has since been sold to you), the carrier can blacklist the phone on their network.

 

[willmtaylor]

I'm looking into buying a second-hand iPhone, "without the box because I lost it", which sounds a bit suspicious. It isn't locked by Activation Lock, so either the seller is speaking the truth, or it is a lost/stolen phone, but the original owner isn't actively looking for it.

If I were to buy the phone and fully restore it, and started to use it normally after setting it up completely, would a potential original owner be able to turn on Activation Lock on a later date, or does the tie to the original ID get lost after successfully linking it to a new one?

Are you in the U.S.?

 

[Applejuiced]

If iCloud find my iPhone is not turned on then they cannot turn it on later.
If it's already turned on under someone else's iCloud account you will not be able to remove it without the correct Apple ID and password.