If I remove phone from trusted devices I understand the robber can use the device. All I need to know is do they have erase the device and all my data first before they can start using it. Thanks
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Others may chime in, but I do not believe that removing the phone from your list of devices will do anything to protect your data.
If your phone has learned that you have marked it as Lost, it will be displaying a "Locked to Owner" screen, and the thieves won't even be able to attempt to enter a passcode unless they can first provide the correct Apple ID and Apple ID password.
If it has not learned that yet, or if you remove it from your list of devices, the only thing protecting the data will be the passcode – assuming that the phone was passcode-locked with a passcode that the thieves didn't know and could not easily guess.
If you had a six-digit numeric passcode, it is extremely unlikely that the thieves could guess it within ten tries; the odds would be 1 in 100,000. But if the "Locked to Owner" screen appears, and they do not have a way of getting into your Apple account, it would seem that the odds would drop to 0 in 100,000.
Beware a common scam where the thieves claim that your phone is gone (true), but that they're "honest" people (a lie) who just want to scrub your phone of your personal data to "help you" avoid your data being published to "the Dark Web" (all lies). Of course, what they want in return for this "favor" is for you to remove your phone from your list of devices – to clear Activation Lock so they can "make your phone their own."
If they actually could get into your data, ransack it, and sell it to other criminals on the Dark Web, don't you think that they would do that regardless of whether you released the Activation Lock? Criminals are not exactly known for their trustworthiness. If this is the sort of communication you've received, they're trying to scam you by making you think they have much more power than they actually have.
Others may chime in, but I do not believe that removing the phone from your list of devices will do anything to protect your data.
If your phone has learned that you have marked it as Lost, it will be displaying a "Locked to Owner" screen, and the thieves won't even be able to attempt to enter a passcode unless they can first provide the correct Apple ID and Apple ID password.
If it has not learned that yet, or if you remove it from your list of devices, the only thing protecting the data will be the passcode – assuming that the phone was passcode-locked with a passcode that the thieves didn't know and could not easily guess.
If you had a six-digit numeric passcode, it is extremely unlikely that the thieves could guess it within ten tries; the odds would be 1 in 100,000. But if the "Locked to Owner" screen appears, and they do not have a way of getting into your Apple account, it would seem that the odds would drop to 0 in 100,000.
Beware a common scam where the thieves claim that your phone is gone (true), but that they're "honest" people (a lie) who just want to scrub your phone of your personal data to "help you" avoid your data being published to "the Dark Web" (all lies). Of course, what they want in return for this "favor" is for you to remove your phone from your list of devices – to clear Activation Lock so they can "make your phone their own."
If they actually could get into your data, ransack it, and sell it to other criminals on the Dark Web, don't you think that they would do that regardless of whether you released the Activation Lock? Criminals are not exactly known for their trustworthiness. If this is the sort of communication you've received, they're trying to scam you by making you think they have much more power than they actually have.
Believe me I don’t want to reward them. I just want my personal data removed from the device as soon as possible and if that means they keep the phone then so be it. My data is more important than a phone. And no I haven’t fallen for a scam.
Why would you want to reward the thief by removing the Activation Lock?
Did you fall for a "phishing" message?
Can a stolen iPhone be used without erasing data after removing it from trusted devices?
