I lost my iPhone 13 yesterday and I was able to use the Find My app to track it to a specific address. I used Find My to put it in Lost mode.
Is the phone now basically a brick to whoever has this in their posession? I entered my number in the hopes they might contact me (doubtful as they should have turned it in to lost and found), but I would be happy in the knowledge they can’t profit off their theft.
Any modern Apple device, iPhone, iPad, or Mac is basically a brick to thieves while they remain registered to the users Apple ID. They are all protected by Activation Lock.
Putting it in lost mode allows you to leave a message on the screen so if they’re found by an honest person they’ll know how to contact you to return it. Just make sure you never remove it from your Apple ID account and all they’ll be able to do with it is use a few salvageable parts.
Even Apple can’t unbrick such a device? How does one verify Activation lock has been removed if you want to purchase a device from someone?
Likewise, if you were selling a decide can A. lock be used almost like escrow? Say I want to sell my phone to you, but you don’t want to send the money first. I could mail you the phone, then once you paid I could remove the lock.
When buying used Apple devices there are two things everyone should check for before paying.
Activation lock has been removed. This just requires that the device is not logged in to an Apple ID.
The device is not managed by a Mobile Management Profile. Schools and companies use these to manage the devices of students and/or employees to restrict what they can do with the devices.
I’ve never heard of anyone using activation lock as a sort of escrow to keep the device locked until they confirm payment.
Personally, I would never buy an Apple device from someone unless it is in person so I could verify the two things I pointed out above have been removed.