IOS 7 activation issues

Question

Level 1

0 points

IOS 7 activation issues

a big problem is that many of these ipads and phones are coming from trade in programs and store associates are not having customers remove their device from their accounts ,I buy, refurbish and sell hundreds of devices a year , this is becoming a major problem as the piles of activation locked ipads and phones grow good only for parts these major stores and apple have to realize not everybody can afford a new product and people like me make their dreams come true by offering an affordable product all of my devices come from these trade in programs , give these store associates the power to unlocked these devices before they are offered up for resale this will help stop this issue, thanks

Posted on Jul 8, 2014 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,435 points

Jul 8, 2014 1:22 PM in response to seller12

Um.. no. Activation lock is doing exactly what it's intended to do.

YOU are responsible for making sure that the used devices you buy are actually usable before you buy them.

Odds are a significant percentage of those phones are stolen. Why in the world should Apple make it easier for you to sell stolen goods?

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Answer 2

SergZak

Level 6

10,338 points

Jul 8, 2014 2:03 PM in response to seller12

Actually, I believe that retail stores now REQUIRE you to disable Find My iPhone on an iOS 7 device before they will accept your device on trade in. Best Buy for example clearly states this on their trade-in website:

Best Buy wrote:

Important note:
Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices that use iOS 7 and above need to have "Find My iPhone/iPad/iPod" turned off before trade in. Learn how to turn it off ›

They themselves know that they cannot disable Activation Lock on any iOS 7 devices and would not risk getting a device on trade-in that they cannot do anything with, let alone, sell to someone else.

I believe a fair amount of these activation issues with Find My iPhone on iOS 7 devices come from private-party purchases like those done through ebay or similar. Even just getting the device for free from someone you know can have this issue. It's the responsibility of both the seller and the purchaser to verify that Activation Lock has been disabled on the device.

If Apple gave access to retailers (Best Buy, Apple Store etc) to bypass Activation Lock, how affective would it be? I certainly wouldn't trust either one. There are dishonest people *everywhere*...yes, even in Apple and Best Buy retail stores.

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Answer 3

seller12 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 12, 2014 7:44 PM in response to SergZak

but there are many coming through the trade in services that are not, I find this first hand as i purchase large amounts from 3 major services , i even get some with phone numbers i call these people most have told me they have already turned the service off through itunes. and some of these could be old stock not checked or a problem with the product that prevented the person from turning it off, or there is an awful lot of stolen product coming from the trade in services, its frustrating sometimes, thanks

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Answer 4

Jul 12, 2014 7:51 PM in response to seller12

Oh, you mean like Gazelle? Well, if they are not bothering to make sure that Find My iPhone is turned off, what makes you think they are verifying that the devices they are purchasing are not stolen? Activation Lock is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Cheers,

GB

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Answer 5

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,435 points

Jul 13, 2014 6:18 AM in response to seller12

seller12 wrote:

but there are many coming through the trade in services that are not, I find this first hand as i purchase large amounts from 3 major services , i even get some with phone numbers i call these people most have told me they have already turned the service off through itunes. and some of these could be old stock not checked or a problem with the product that prevented the person from turning it off, or there is an awful lot of stolen product coming from the trade in services, its frustrating sometimes, thanks

Then maybe you need to stop buying phones to re-sell through those services. Did you ever think of that?

The problem of smartphone theft in general and iPhone theft in particular was so bad, and the results after activation lock became a part of iOS have been so good, that the US government will be requiring similar functionality on all smartphones.

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