I assume it's still an issue for some users who have done both of those since thieves are going to steal a phone first and discover that it's locked and unusable later. Phone thefts won't go down until remote wiping and locking is pretty much universal.
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New York Mulls New Anti-Theft Measures as Smartphone Thefts Continue to Surge
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I assume it's still an issue for some users who have done both of those since thieves are going to steal a phone first and discover that it's locked and unusable later. Phone thefts won't go down until remote wiping and locking is pretty much universal.
The thief can just restore, unlock, jailbreak the phone. Then it can be "safely" connected to the internet again.
Actually he doesn't have to go to China to do that. Given the pathetic cellular signal in the US, he just need a basement.
eBay makes money when a stolen phone sells. Apple makes money when you replace the phone and the insurance company makes money too.
Same goes for water damage. Apple could copy Sony and make a water proof device but, no, they make money when phones are stolen or get wet.
They have zero incentive to fix this
Problem is, this doesn't stop people from stealing your phone. It just prevents the thief from using it as an iPhone. And a thief isn't going to notice if you're running iOS 7 when he grabs it. I wonder if their some way they can keep Find My iPhone on even when powered down and SIM removed.
Don't know how real it is but there are quite a few people selling activation lock bypass on ebay.
eg: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Iphone-5s-5...me_Phones_Other_Phones_ET&hash=item20db230592
eg: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Iphone-5s-5...me_Phones_Other_Phones_ET&hash=item20db230592
Well, I've heard that argument before... Anyone sane buying an iPhone via Craigslist, will test the phone before making the deal. If you don't, then you deserve any outcome.
That is outrageous, really. Hopefully congress is listening to that.
I get your point but the activation lock is a long term solution. Indeed it will not prevent a phone from being stolen but in a few years, when every iPhone is on iOS 7 or later, it will not be such a good deal to steal an iPhone. I imagine other phone manufacturers could adopt this technique <s> assuming they pay royalties to Apple.
</s>I think it has to come with a learning curve. Thieves are going to have to learn about activation lock with time, and that will change some behaviour. It wont be instantaneous.
How about this? The first thing a thief does after stealing an iPhone 5s is to turn it off. What if Apple updates iOS 7 so in order to turn it off you must do a fingerprint scan? The thief is running down the street with the iPhone trying to turn it off and it's asking him to scan his fingerprint in. Of course if the thief has a gun or knife they can force you to scan your print and turn it off for them. Still 90% of iPhone thieves are "grab and run" so this would be a good deterrent.
Of course if the thief has a gun or knife they can force you to scan your print and turn it off for them. Still 90% of iPhone thieves are "grab and run" so this would be a good deterrent.
How is that different from turning off the phone, removing the SIM card, joining a WiFi without internet connection?
Neither method can workaround the kill switch in iOS 7, unless he can guess it correctly your password.
I haven't seen a single feedback on his profile related to one of those sales (4 sold). Even if that was possible, it would not work on stolen phones or bad IMEIs. So instead of paying someone to remove activation lock for a legitimate case, just go with the free regular Apple process to do it.
Oh this is nothing, wait until NY and the rest of the country gets the wonderful scourge that's hitting Baltimore of vending machines that buy your smartphone. People literally drive around looking for people using a smartphone and then smack you over the head and take them.
Think your fingerprint key, or ios lockout will help, nope. The thieves no longer care one bit if the phone gets bricked, they can still sell it for cash at the kiosk.
Think your fingerprint key, or ios lockout will help, nope. The thieves no longer care one bit if the phone gets bricked, they can still sell it for cash at the kiosk.
Instead of requesting the shops to have records, a better approach is to establish a public record of all phones reported as stolen. And, whoever sells a stolen phone would be considered the thief unless he could bring whoever gave him the phone to answer for it.
Well, there is no doubt that this method can be executed very well, unfortunately the police department will never agree to it -- they want everything to be their own secret, even if these information should at its first place have been a property of the public.
Well, there is no doubt that this method can be executed very well, unfortunately the police department will never agree to it -- they want everything to be their own secret, even if these information should at its first place have been a property of the public.
Don't those machines hook up to the phone to make sure it is working? If they're counting bricked phones as "working" they need to improve those machines.
Over time they will know that and stop targeting iOS devices.
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That doesn't work until there is ONE global centralized database for this. Nowadays, AT&T stolen phones can be used on T-Mobile network and vice versa, and both types can be used in Europe, while phones stolen in Europe can be used in the USA.
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Only when a jailbreak is available, which is more and more scarce nowadays.
No hacks can currently bypass the activation lock. Even after complete DFU and restore the phone will not activate without the original iCloud account password. This applies even if the customer does not enable lost iPhone mode after it is stolen. A simple pin code will protect your phone from all other situations.
Many of them will buy a "broken" phone, you just get less money for it. They can still "recycle" it. A lot of the machines will buy other types of electronic too for recycling. The thieves still get the best money for smartphones though.
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If you buy an iPhone without testing, you're stuppid and deserve being stolen.
Ahh the interwebs. Where anonymous people can go spout off about things which they don't understand and profess to know it. @hkenneth there is no jailbreak for iOS7 yet and you should also read up on how activation lock works.
Unless the user has an iPhone that cannot be unlocked without the owner's password.
Jailbreak wouldn't help, except perhaps if the jailbreak happens before the theft.
