if I were to delete my stolen iPhone, is the thief able to use that phone as if it were new?

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if I were to delete my stolen iPhone, is the thief able to use that phone as if it were new?

My phone got stolen this morning. It says it's offline, which I'm guessing means I forgot to turn on find my iPhone beforehand. I have turned on "notify me when found" "lost mode" and "play sound". It says it will do these things whenever it reconnects to the internet. I am hesitant on the last option though, "erase iPhone". If I do, it deletes everything off of the iPhone, right? I have Face ID and PIN number lock on, so they shouldn't be able to get in, right? When I "erase iPhone" the phone is pretty much new. So then the thief is then able to use the iPhone as if it were a new one? And I was leasing the phone with sprint, so would they be on my "plan" or whatever? would they be able to go activate it with sprint or another service provider?

Because, it's whatever getting my phone stolen, paying the some, 300 dollars to get it replaced, and that phone being disabled; unusable. But, what will suck, is if someone stole my 1100 dollar phone, and waits for me to pay for my new one, erase the one they have, and gets a free iPhone XS Max.

iPhone XS Max

Posted on Sep 14, 2019 7:22 PM

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Answer 1

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Limnos

Level 10

418,657 points

Sep 14, 2019 8:41 PM in response to dravenrussell

No, offline just means it can't be detected online right now. Find My will still be active if you activated it before losing it.

Erasing the phone will delete data, which should be hard to access anyway with a passcode set on the device. It won't undo the Find My feature unless you specifically turn off that feature. The data erasing is just an additional security measure. If you remove the Find My feature then a thief can reset the phone and use it as new. Because you have a passcode set the thief would, however, have to erase the phone in order to be able to use it; it would then be like new without any settings.

Apple - Find My iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch - http://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my-iphone.html (very general overview) and: iCloud: What is Find My iPhone? - https://support.apple.com/kb/PH2696?locale=en_US

iCloud: Lock and track your device using Lost Mode in Find My iPhone - https://support.apple.com/kb/PH2700?locale=en_US

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

418,657 points

Sep 16, 2019 4:34 AM in response to dravenrussell

Yes, the thief can use it. You may be able to get the device blacklisted with telephone companies in your country but you would have to contact them, this is not something involving Apple. The device could still be erased and used, but telephone companies where you live would refuse service. However, the thief could just send it to a different country and it would be perfectly usable there.

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Answer 3

Sep 16, 2019 7:57 PM in response to Limnos

Ah, understandable. Well, that guy got a really good deal on an iPhone. Do you recommend that I delete the phone? And just put the down payment on the replacement phone? Or wait and hold out that someone will turn it in or something; Because, I had filed a police report and gave the serial number.

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Answer 4

Sep 15, 2019 6:59 PM in response to Limnos

So, since I most likely didn't turn back on "Find My iPhone" the thief will be able to use the phone as new?

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if I were to delete my stolen iPhone, is the thief able to use that phone as if it were new?

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