Find My iPhone Activation Lock in iOS 7 cant contact previous owner what else can i do?

Again, Nokia has not yet deployed their anti theft lock measure and Samsung's is two weeks old.

You apple fanboys are annoying, how do I stop this idiotic conversation from sending me emails?

I logged into WindowsPhone.com and tracked, locked and unlocked my phone, stop telling me it isn't active...

AGAIN, that is not an anti theft measure and of course you can do that.

Wait awhile and buy used devices that have the system activated and then run your tests.

The market shares don't lie... the s4 had twice the sales of the iPhone 5 in 2013.. the s5 is a blow out lol... the iPhone is a dying technology lol

The market shares don't mean squat. Apple sales continue to increase and they can only make so many.

How much does Samsung make from their music store?

So which iPhone did you have?

Phone not reported stolen, and not deactivated using iCloud? Apple should indeed unlock those devices.

Where is this database of every reported stolen iPhone?

Apple would need to verify it is not reported stolen.

What if it is reported stolen but the report simply hasn't been added to this magical database of every stolen iPhone?

snactolate wrote:

The market shares don't lie... the s4 had twice the sales of the iPhone 5 in 2013.. the s5 is a blow out lol... the iPhone is a dying technology lol

Samsung does not report number of units sold.

And the iPhone 5 was discontinued in Sept and iPhone 5S was released.

But according to most estimates, both iPhone 5S and iPhone 5 (separatlet) sold more than the S4.

-> http://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-5s-beats-galaxy-s4-as-top-smartphone-worldwide/

Chris, speaking only of the US, there is such a database, the National Crime Information Center, but more than half of all crimes are not reported and often there are reporting delays. And Apple has no access to NCIC.

And speaking as a retired law enforcement officer, NCIC will not accept an entry on a cell phone unless it exceeds a certain value. State rules also do not allow you to enter a phone based on the total retail value but the price paid, so if you get an iPhone subsidised and only pay $199 for it, that is the value that has to be claimed in the theft report, so it would not qualify. Many departments do not work with the NCIC statistics, so they do not enter phones. Many of the state databases will not forward cell phone thefts to NCIC, but I have a feeling this is going to have to change given the value of smartphones and the fact that the federal government wants to include the kill switches in all phones sold in the US. Just my $0.02.

And back at you, in Texas the value used is what the reporting person states or the MRSP so small electronics do qualify.

Since receipt of grant funds require reporting their are very few departments that don't enter information into NCIC

But I'd bet only 40% of smartphone theft victims report it.

Well, again different state rules, but I know the rules to NCIC are universal. The value has to exceed $500 for NCIC entry of a cell phone, but the issue of determining value can be very convouted. I concur with your percentage, but I think there is also a percent that may try to report and the agencies don't take the report, again possibly conforming with their state rules. A lot of grant monies depend on a lot of things. I can account for that since the last 7 years of my tenure were spent writing grant applications.

deggie wrote:

But I'd bet only 40% of smartphone theft victims report it.

But more to the point, missing smartphones are not necessarily theft.

and snacolate wants Apple to activate all iPhone unless they are reported stolen.

I go back to LEAA days.

The NCIC rules are not universal and allow the agency to override. Several agencies around me use replacement value which in the case of a 5s would be over the $500 guideline. But like all small articles they are only kept in the system for one year. So most of the phones discussed here could have fallen out of the system by now.

Federal Financial guide requires law enforcement agencies to list with NCIC and report crime stats to remain eligible for funds.

Regardless, Apple does not have direct access.

Working on a COPS grant as we speak.

Ah, LEAA. That is what I got hired in under, but I digress. I'm retired now, so living the dream!! I agree there are lots of rules, and I'll even go so far as to say that agencies write their own rules when it comes to cell phones. Because the US cellular providers did not offer a blacklist database until very recently, no one cared that much about cell phone theft, especially the old type. I imagine that rules are changing as I said before, due to the values of smartphones. Very true that Apple does not have access to the database. I'm guessing now, but I see larger agencies needing to add special sections to deal with smartphone theft, the same as they did with white collar crimes years ago. Good luck with the grant!!

Ah, another old person.

NYPD has created such a unit I'm sure you are right and others will follow.

Thanks.