what does icloud locked mean?

The disadvantage is that without the AppleID and passcode used to originally

setup the iPhone, you will not be able to activate it. You will not be able to complete

the setup process. You will have an unuseable iPhone.

You cannot use it fully because you do not have the needed credentials.

For more information, you may wish to read here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5818?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4515

sdc100 wrote:

In fact, I'm pretty sure the law doesn't require any found items to be turned over to the police. A item found on the street does not constitute a "stolen item," even if the owner lost it unwillingly.

This is not exactly correct, at least in the UK and very likely also in the USA. If you find an object of value, you are obliged to make a 'reasonable effort' to locate the owner: turning it in to the police contitutes a 'reasonable effort'. If it's not claimed after a period you may then be able to assume its ownership, but you are definitely not allowed to just pick it up and keep it.

"If you buy an iCloud locked iPhone or iPad off eBay, you are in possession of a stolen good..."

Not necessarily. My neighbor's father died so she sold his possessions to pay off debts and funeral expenses. Among the items is an iPhone, for which no one else has any account information. She sold it on eBay for parts (ie the camera, touch panel, etc), stating that it was locked.

In this case, where's the illegality? Are you saying that the phone dies with its owner? A social worker told me that such scenarios are increasingly common in the Information Age, where a deceased's passwords are unknown to survivors. This is especially true of young people who die unexpectedly, never having had the need to write a will, etc. And they are the demographic with the most online accounts and electronic gadgets.

I can think of several other scenarios where a locked iPhone doesn't mean theft. For example, abandoned property at a Lost-and-Found or storage facility. There is no legal requirement to turn such items over to the police or Apple. In fact, I'm pretty sure the law doesn't require any found items to be turned over to the police. A item found on the street does not constitute a "stolen item," even if the owner lost it unwillingly.

I have a similar question and hope someone can help. I don't yet have an iPhone (or any Apple product) so please forgive the ignorance. I need an iPhone 4S to run one specific medical probe. That's it. I don't need to make calls or access the internet (except to download the app, although I can probably sideload it through my laptop). I found a 4S on eBay that is cosmetically very good. It is a bargain at $7 with free shipping. But it is described as iCloud locked. Will I be able to run my app? Or is an iCloud locked device totally inaccessible? I think it's running iOS 4 (maybe up to iOS 6). Thanks!

sdc100 wrote:

I have a similar question and hope someone can help. I don't yet have an iPhone (or any Apple product) so please forgive the ignorance. I need an iPhone 4S to run one specific medical probe. That's it. I don't need to make calls or access the internet (except to download the app, although I can probably sideload it through my laptop). I found a 4S on eBay that is cosmetically very good. It is a bargain at $7 with free shipping. But it is described as iCloud locked. Will I be able to run my app? Or is an iCloud locked device totally inaccessible? I think it's running iOS 4 (maybe up to iOS 6). Thanks!

Leave it alone. 'iCloud locked' (Activation Locked) means it's unusable at all. Even if it's working when you get it (which as it's so described it presumable isn't) it would lock itself if reset or updated. Once locked only the person who set the lock can unlock it - there is absolutely no other way round this. There's a fair chance this item is stolen.

No, in the US, the finders-keepers rule generally applies when it comes to lost or abandoned property. In other words, the finder of such property becomes the new owner. The exception is mislaid property, where an item is intentionally put somewhere, then forgotten. A legal case can be argued to claim mislaid property if found someone else. Laws do vary from state to state. California law comes close to what you have in the UK, where property worth more than $100 must be turned over to the police for 90 days. But that is the exception. Most states let you keep found items immediately.

Regardless, found items are never considered "stolen" as the original poster claimed. The link below has an excellent article on this very subject. It even mentions the laws in London.

http://time.com/10118/california-gold-coins-finders-keepers-john-mary/

When you first turn on an iOS device and after telling it WiFi info, the iOS device says something like “activating”. I don’t know much, but I am guessing that this is similar to “activating” Windows when installing it. I can only imagine that when the device claims to be “activating” itself it is contacting Apple and determining if the device should shut down permanently or otherwise allow Apple to log that a particular device with a particular serial number was turned on.

This is completely different than activating your SIM card or phone service. Even iPods and iPads without cellular data have to be “activated” before you can use them at all. Activating your SIM card gets you cellular access and is done directly through your cellular service provider and has nothing, I assume, to do with your iOS device.

Why can't you use it fully, I mean what are the disadvantages?

Before you can do anything on it at all it will want the previous owners apple id and password and without it you'll have a really expensive paperweight.

I'd be buying one of these just for the logic board. Would taking that out and putting it into my phone still give me the icloud lock problem? I'm guessing yes....?

Yes, you will still be facing Activation Lock even if you relocate the logic board

to another iPhone.

Could you be more specific -- by "anything at all" do you mean that literally? I've used unactivated (but not "locked") iPhones in the past, and everything worked -- Web use, iOS updates, camera, Apps, Store, etc. -- I just couldn't make phone calls. In particular, I want to use an iPhone 5 purely as a camera, so don't need to activate it. But one person in AppleCare said I wouldn't be able to view the pictures taken. What's the REAL story?

If the iPhone has been protected by Activation Lock, you will not be able to

do anything - play music, use camera, backup existing data - without the AppleID

and passcode originally used to put Activation Lock in place. This is is a

security feature of iOS 7. Previous versions of iOS could be restored without

the required information; iOS 7 cannot. There is no workaround for Activation Lock.

Thanks; that clarifies the issue.

Does Apple offer any "Find my iPhone Owner" service to allow identifying and/or contacting the person who set the Activation Lock? In the case of loss or theft, this would be useful to owners and law enforcement, respectively. In my case, I have a seller who alleges the phone isn't stolen, but can't himself unlock it for an as-yet unknown reason. The only reasons I can imagine are 1) the phone is stolen or was lost and subsequently found by the current "owner", 2) the activation ID/password has been forgotten, 3) the original owner is dead or incapacitated, and the present "owner" (heir, caregiver, etc.) doesn't know the ID/password. For 1), the true owner would probably love to know where his phone is, for 2) there MUST be some way for the true owner to recover his credentials, and for 3) there should be a way for the current possessor to access the phone, perhaps with the authority of a court order or other legal document.

I have heard that an Original owner with proof of purchase can get it reset, but an original owner can also retrieve their credentials without Apples assistance.

Apple does not and will not undo the activation lock under any normal process nor do they offer a find the owner service.

It is a theft deterrent and the ability to bypass that security would render it not effective.

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