Questions about the Part Locking on iOS 18.x

1. Not possible.
2. Most probably not.

Tracking of any iPhone requires the Apple Account information for that iPhone and that Find My was set up on the iPhone before it's stolen. Without that information, tracking an iPhone, even an intact one, is not possible. And once Activation Lock is set on such an iPhone, the parts won't be usable or may not function correctly.

About Activation Lock and Self Service Repair - Apple Support

As to a legal owner tracking just the parts to his or her stolen iPhone, I doubt that's possible though I'm not sure.

Regards.

There is no way to track the original owner. You would be left with a device that is unusable and the only option is to recycle it. Even Apple would not even touch that device to correct the problem.

I'm not quite sure I follow. If you are asking whether Apple will help should you or a repair shop try to use a stolen part that has Activation Lock on it, no, Apple absolutely will not help. That part will be unusable.

As has been said, that's the entire point of this feature, to make it less attractive to thieves to steal iPhones to sell the parts since as people learn that such parts will be unusable, which will be more and more the case as time goes on and more iPhones are upgraded, peoplel stop buying parts from the thieves.

Regards.

Maybe one more about it: If you’re an victim to a Activation Locked Part limbo where you’re unable to contact either the repair shop, the owner, or else; can you still call Apple to replace the locked battery with a brand new one and escape the limbo?

If you are a victim of purchasing a device that is Activation Locked, whether it is due to a single part or not, Apple is not going to help you. Buyer Beware. Be smart about any purchase you make if you value your device at all. That includes purchasing at Apple or Authorized Apple Seller and getting it serviced at Apple or Authorized Apple Service provider. Otherwise you are on your own and assume all the risk. At that point turning to Apple for assistance is not going to happen.

Fuskiye wrote:

I want to ask the Community about the new iOS 18 Part Locking feature:

If you’re an third party repair shop and you installed the wrong, stolen iPhone 16’s part that is locked to someone’s else Apple Account, what to do? 1. How would you gonna contact the owner of that stolen iPhone part?

As a owner of a stolen iPhone, if the thief successfully sold the serialized parts of your iPhone and installed to multiple iPhones, would that enable you to track down multiple iPhones at once? For example, the thief took battery and display out from your iPhone 16 and then installed these to two of someone else’s iPhones. 1. What to do? What are your options to deal with another person’s iPhone with your iPhone’s part on these?

I doubt if this is about letting you track the location of stolen parts.

I think it's about making stolen parts less valuable – if not completely worthless. Chop shops who pay thieves for truckloads of stolen iPhones are in it for the money. If the stolen parts are worthless, then it's no longer attractive for the chop shops to buy stolen phones from the thieves. When the thieves find that they can't even sell "their" Activation-Locked "bricks" as "bricks", they may learn that stealing iPhones doesn't lead to an easy payday.

It reduces the risk of iPhone theft going forward, even if it does nothing to recover the pieces of a particular phone that has already been stolen.

I believe it’s not about tracking the stolen phone parts or disabling the device which uses them. Stolen iPhones are practically useless due to activation lock and are dissembled for parts. By locking parts Apple is making them less desirable. Even if the phone functions perfectly, activation locked parts message will be displayed which majority of the people would want to avoid.

I would suppose that it depends on which part was replaced.

As to your second question, once an iPhone has been serviced by an unauthorized person or shop using unauthorized parts, Apple typically will no longer provide any service for that phone. And if they learn that a stolen part was used, then they definitely will not.

That would only happen in the case of a person purchasing a used device from a third party and ignoring the advice to purchase only from Apple or Authorized Apple Seller. Yes, there are many times those users have found their purchase was a total loss and that would just be another example to add to the list. The more common way that a device will just become unusable is when purchased, the original seller files a lost claim and the device gets blacklisted. This can happen at any time and is the risk you take. In your case, there is no way to avoid it, just like the many other ways listed in this User Tip where the device becomes a total loss.

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying … - Apple Community

Hello once more~ Out of curiosity is this an actual iPhone that you have or just some type of scenario? If it is actually an iPhone that you are in possession of can you give us the exact message that you are seeing?

~Katana-San~

Hello~ Apple will not help you with an iPhone in that condition as previously mentioned by others posting. Recycle it responsibly.

~Katana-San~