Q: what does icloud locked mean?

An iCloud Activation Locked phone may be stolen, otherwise the real owner is likely to have removed the lock before selling. You shouldn't buy one as you'll never be able to use it fully.

Technical reasons why Find my iPhone may not work include: no power, no internet connection, not set-up properly, Location Services turned off, phone was wiped.

Why can't you use it fully, I mean what are the disadvantages?

Before you can do anything on it at all it will want the previous owners apple id and password and without it you'll have a really expensive paperweight.

The disadvantage is that without the AppleID and passcode used to originally

setup the iPhone, you will not be able to activate it. You will not be able to complete

the setup process. You will have an unuseable iPhone.

You cannot use it fully because you do not have the needed credentials.

For more information, you may wish to read here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5818?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4515

I'd be buying one of these just for the logic board.  Would taking that out and putting it into my phone still give me the icloud lock problem?  I'm guessing yes....?

Yes, you will still be facing Activation Lock even if you relocate the logic board

to another iPhone.

Could you be more specific -- by "anything at all" do you mean that literally? I've used unactivated (but not "locked") iPhones in the past, and everything worked -- Web use, iOS updates, camera, Apps, Store, etc. -- I just couldn't make phone calls. In particular, I want to use an iPhone 5 purely as a camera, so don't need to activate it. But one person in AppleCare said I wouldn't be able to view the pictures taken. What's the REAL story?

If the iPhone has been protected by Activation Lock, you will not be able to

do anything - play music, use camera, backup existing data - without the AppleID

and passcode originally used to put Activation Lock in place. This is is a

security feature of iOS 7. Previous versions of iOS could be restored without

the required information; iOS 7 cannot. There is no workaround for Activation Lock.

Thanks; that clarifies the issue.

Does Apple offer any "Find my iPhone Owner" service to allow identifying and/or contacting the person who set the Activation Lock? In the case of loss or theft, this would be useful to owners and law enforcement, respectively. In my case, I have a seller who alleges the phone isn't stolen, but can't himself unlock it for an as-yet unknown reason. The only reasons I can imagine are 1) the phone is stolen or was lost and subsequently found by the current "owner", 2) the activation ID/password has been forgotten, 3) the original owner is dead or incapacitated, and the present "owner" (heir, caregiver, etc.) doesn't know the ID/password. For 1), the true owner would probably love to know where his phone is, for 2) there MUST be some way for the true owner to recover his credentials, and for 3) there should be a way for the current possessor to access the phone, perhaps with the authority of a court order or other legal document.

I have heard that an Original owner with proof of purchase can get it reset, but an original owner can also retrieve their credentials without Apples assistance.

Apple does not and will not undo the activation lock under any normal process nor do they offer a find the owner service.

It is a theft deterrent and the ability to bypass that security would render it not effective.

You can give your feedback to apple at http://apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Well, that's too bad, but that, as they say, is that. Thanks.

DON'T BUY IT!!

Every iOS device has an unique id which associates the proper owner. It is built into the chip and impossible to fake. If you buy an iCloud locked iPhone or iPad off eBay, you are in possession of a stolen good and could be arrested! Definitely not worth the agony to try to save a few bucks

I laugh at the thieves who steal products from Apple store. The only way they can get rid of the hot potato is to fool people to buy it on eBay

"If you buy an iCloud locked iPhone or iPad off eBay, you are in possession of a stolen good..."

Not necessarily. You're just in possession of a device for which you know of no one who can or will tell you how to unlock it. I can think of several situations where this could happen, the most obvious might be purchasing the device at an estate sale. Or one spouse in a nasty divorce might be awarded the device, but the other spouse is the one who knows the password, and refuses to disclose it. Or the device is seized as evidence in a felony case and the owner refuses to tell the court the password. Lots of reasons to have a process in place to unlock the phone with appropriate protections.

To some degree, you might have the point. However, if a spouse refuses to disclose his/her credentials, The other spouse has no right or whatsoever to sell it on eBay. One way or the other, do not buy anything from anyone other then the proper owner. Would you rather spend thousands of dollars in legal fees so that you can save a few dollars today?