Q: ios7 activation lock,previous owner,apple id,

This new apple lock down is a win win for Apple as it will sell more devices for them when you loose your as most will never get it back un less you are in New York City and it's been reported in fast and the police wants to help you find it and the key word is want to help. I too recently found an iPhone and was willing to get an email to the owner but as this lock shows it's lock down and you can't see or find the owners email it's now a paper weight. Yes there are YouTube vides that claim to show you the email but they don't work.

I posted an question in hopes to be able to get the owners email so I could send them one but few replies seem I will just throw it away, no it does not make sense I turn it in into the police as it 10,000 miles away I found it and coming from a law enforcement background I know it will end up in a box with the hundreds of other devices that will also end up being sold as scrap and also end up in the fire incinerator. Good job Apple to sell more devices, thumbs up for marketing sell sell more devices.

So I called Apple and they do have instructions to provide law enforcement with email address about found iphones. It is not owner's email, but someone or some department at apple. They didn't give me that email address for the simple reason that I do not have a badge number nor do I work for law enforcement.  But if police officer is reading that thread, please contact Apple and advise customer rep. to check instructions on how to work with law enforcement.

So Apple cant send an email  to or notify the previous owner about a lost or stolen iPhone but they can send me an email whenever my Apple account is used. Apple knows what happens with all iPhones activated with them but they refused to do anything within their power to help. Seems like they are just using this FindMyiPhone feature  to sell more new iPhones. Its not there to really help iPhone users.

That we already addressed. Apple does not interfere with ownership squabbles. So if you had a question, unless you got phone from Apple and have proof, there is no help for second or fourth hand users like you. Just do not buy locked phones. Found stolen/lost phone turn to police. They can actually call Apple and if presented themselves properly will get help.

it does not make sense I turn it in into the police as it 10,000 miles away I found it and coming from a law enforcement background I know it will end up in a box with the hundreds of other devices

Coming from a law background, you should know that lost property should be handed in to the police where it was found, not 10,000 miles away! What use is that to the rightful owner?

As you took the device half way around the world, you clearly had no intention of returning to the owner. If you had been able to contact him, would you have expected him to travel 10,000 miles to collect it?

i dont know why you people keep regurgitating the same stuff. The police do not deal with Apple because there is no policy that Apple has in place. Apple does not work with the police. If a lost phone is found you cant contact the legitimate owner thru Apple. if you drop the phone at the police station and the owner does not check there the police cannot contact the owner. Again there is no policy about this. If you buy an iPhone second hand and the previous owner does not turn off FindMyiPhone the police cannot help you. Apple will not help you.

So all you can do is to blame the person in possession of the iPhone.. thats ridiculous!! Apple has this scorched earth policy that serves to get people to buy new iPhones if there is a problem with FindMyiPhone. Its as simple as that.

Oh! snozdop if i find a lost iPhone.. say i found it in a Taxi i just got in ... i dont have to go out of my way and take it to a police station. Most good samaritans  in that situation would try to contact the owner somehow to notify them. Most likely by email. But Apple does not let you do that. Apple obviously wants a new iPhone to be bought. They throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Apple will not help people like you to get ownership of stolen or lost phone just because you want to. You found phone in taxi - have no time to go to police, give it to taxi driver. Owner of that phone is calling that taxi depot as we type. You held on to that phone so you can get your free breakfast later. No more free breakfast for you at expense of previous taxi passengers or mine. It is so obvious that you feel if you found something like a phone or wallet it belongs to you... Not anymore, I guess.

You parrot the same argument over and over again. You just cant deny that this issue is a black eye for iOS7 and Apple. Apple does not look good doing nothing. So if you lose your iPhone or get it stolen dont expect to get it back. You can thank Apple for that.

Trajan,

If someone loses their property, the first thing most people would do is return to, or contact the places they could've lost it. So in your taxi scenario, they are likely to contact the taxi company. If you hand the phone to the taxi driver the owner gets it back. Same as if it was a camera, wallet, bag or anything else without contact details available.

Apple DO work with the police, if the police put in a request. In fact they recently published info on exactly these sorts of requests. Read it here: http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/140127upd_nat_sec_and_law_enf_orders.pdf

> So if you lose your iPhone or get it stolen dont expect to get it back.

And what about cameras, wallets, purses and other personal property lost or stolen everyday?

<Edited By Host>

I know there is no common sense in you, so that post is not for you, but for people reading that thread. Continue your analogy, you found wallet in the taxi. Yes you picked up 50 bucks in cash, but the rest in credit and debit cards. You blame bank right now for protecting money by requiring pin for debit card and owners driver's licence for credit card. Then you find a way around it and use credit card online. You are a stealing and there is no other name for it. Black eye in credit card company for allowing you to do that. Thank you Apple for not allowing. Every one of your comments essentially sounds like "I am a thief and was deprived of my stable income". Veracity of your statements start lead me to believe that you are hurt. Somehow it makes me happy. Am I just as bad as you? Possibly. But the point that decision of what happens to my property after it is lost/stolen is not up to you or Apple. It is up to me and I thank company that allowed me to do just that.

Thats not true! The owner does not automatically get anything back from a taxi driver. You are foolish if you think that. Have you ever left anything in a Taxi cab? I have and i never get it back. My friend just left an iPhone in a Taxi in Japan. Did not get it back. But Apple could track that iPhone down if someone tried to activate it and notify the owner about who is using it. But Apple does nothing.

That link you posted is not about Apple working with the local police dept to return lost or stolen iPhones.  That link is about the issue of our government spying on Americans and Apple's response to NSA and FBI requests for information.

Just goes to show that you know little about the issue at hand and are just parroting the same old tired argument.

What type of weak analogy is that? Again.. this shows that you have no clue what the real issue is with FindMyIPhone.

In that situation with a credit card company. The credit card company will help you . You can call them and they will issue you a new card or they will be able to track down all the purchases that were made with a lost credit card and inform you if those purchases were legitimate or not. If you actually authorized the use of that card by a friend the credit card company can verify your identity and activate the card for further use.

Apple in that situation does nothing for its users. They will trash the card and then treat you like a criminal if you lose your credit card.

The fact that you are NOT trying to help people with legitimate problems with their iPhones will always keep you in the wrong. You cant take the stance that everyone with a problem  is a criminal and think that you are doing the right thing. Thats why your argument always falls flat.

The owner does not automatically get anything back from a taxi driver.

Where did I say they "automatically" get anything back? I said the person is most likely to contact the taxi company. Of course, that doesn't guarantee they'll get it back. But it's more likely than if they do nothing at all, and the taxi company/driver is a responsible one. Every taxi company I've ever dealt with has a lost property department. They even have auctions of thousands of items of unclaimed property, after a period of time.

That link you posted is not about Apple working with the local police dept to return lost or stolen iPhones.  That link is about the issue of our government spying on Americans and Apple's response to NSA and FBI requests for information.

Ha ha! You should learn how to read. 3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence:

"Law enforcement requests most often relate to criminal investigations such as robbery, theft, murder, and kidnapping."

If the "robbery" or "theft" doesn't involve an Apple device, what exactly do you think it does involve then, Sherlock?

Apple could track that iPhone down if someone tried to activate it and notify the owner about who is using it. But Apple does nothing.

Apple are not a law enforcement agency. Do HTC, Samsung, Google, Nokia, Blackberry, Huawei, Motorola, LG or any other manufacturers track lost and stolen phones? No, they don't. Why wold you expect Apple to be any different? Apple already gives every Apple user more tools to track and lock lost and stolen phones than any other manufacturer does.

If you want to cry to someone about doing nothing (as you claim) cry to all those other manufacturers, who really do, do nothing.

You should stop now, because you're just making yourself look a bigger fool with every post. You clearly have no idea what Apple actually does, and how much more it is than any other manufacturer.

Edit: I know this is a little off topic, but it's helpful

Apple will not allow me to post the link, but if you google around there is a iPhone repair site in Beijing offering to help find lost or stolen iPhones even ones that have been errased!

Here's a little bit from thier site..

"This service works perfectly and doesn’t  matter if the phone is switched on or not, or was connected to wifi or  not. When an iPhone is restored or activated with a SIM card, the phone number will be registered on Apple's database. We can get this important information for you. If there is no number found on the Apple server, we will refund you without any question asked!"

"The police usually takes 3-4 months to actually find the mobile number on the phone, but we can do it within 1 to 24 hours (may take up to 48-72 hours in rare cases)."

"Once you find the mobile number which is on your lost/stolen phone, just take it to the police, with a proof of ownership of the iPhone. They will handle the rest.

In a case when the actual number cannot be found, we can still get the ICCID which is a serial number tied to the SIM card of the new number. We will also provide the carrier name so that you can get in touch with them."

I'd like to also take this moment to stress just how important making regular backups is, and making use of the iCloud. The iPhone is replacable, the memories and data are not. Please protect yourself!

Also DO NOT use the 4 digit pin option. It is NOT secure and can be easily bypassed. Especially if your password is on the list below....

• 1234
• 0000
• 2580
• 1111
• 5555
• 5683
• 0852
• 2222
• 1212
• 1998
• 0852
• 7777
• 2345
• 1379
• 1739
• 1793
• 5656
• 1313

Also don't forget to add the option to do a full data erase after x amount of failed attempts.

That sounds like a perfect scam. They will charge your very little money, but you will not ever get anything reliable out of it. 95% of stolen in US phones is shipped out of country within 7 days and no phone number will help anyone to track it even if those guys did have access to Apple database. I would bet 2 penny's that they do not. But thank you, very entertaining information.

Or and my passcode is on your list.