Can thieves use iPhone when locked and in lost mode?

Sorry to hear, chances of getting a lost iPhone is very low.

And no, without your Apple ID & password the iPhone cannot be activated so t's useless for them.

My iphone6 was stolen in Barcelona in vacation. I had my find my iphone and passcode enabled. Thief turned off the phone immediately. 2 weeks later i received a notification saying that my iphone was found, then 2hours later I received another email saying I logged into my apple account from Mozilla, which was not me. As you can imagine, they took off the iphone from my find my iphone

I called apple and requested all the information on my phone to be deleted. They told me that they have no chance of locating the phone from IMEI number even if it was used by another Apple ID.

Textbook example of why you should used icloud.com to go to find my iphone, then immediately report it stolen, and since the chances of getting a stolen iphone back from anyone who knows how to wipe stolen iphones clean, change serial numbers, basic theft "skills", chances are you are NOT getting that device back, so you should have used the "Remote Wipe" or Erase iPhone functions from icloud.com BEFORE they could turn it off.... I wouldn't have even bothered putting it in lost mode hoping someone would call to return it, I'd immediately click Erase iPhone ASAP while the phone still has battery and enough data service to get the remote wipe command, it's irreversible once the device has received it....

Better luck next time =\

They absolutely can locate phones using IMEI, IMSI, ICCID, serial number, etc, but there's no way apple's going to help you find your stolen iphone since they have no profit incentive to help return your old phone, and lots of profit to gain by making you buy a new one.

They absolutely can locate phones using IMEI, IMSI, ICCID, serial number, etc, but there's no way apple's going to help you find your stolen iphone since they have no profit incentive to help return your old phone, and lots of profit to gain by making you buy a new one.

Your conclusion is wrong

With the 1000s of devices stolen and lost each day, Apple, or any other phone manufacturer would have no chance of getting on top of this process.

In order to provide a "let's-go-find-your-phone" service, they would need to create a whole new infrastructure to manage it. Who would pay for this? Would you add it to the purchase price? Would you ask for a fee up front when a device is lost/stolen and then be expected to refund it if it's not found?

Unworkable.

Phone manufacturers make more money with happy customers than by diabolically plotting obsolescence and engineering a certain number of thefts or overtly being unhelpful as you suggest. I would be confident that a large number of users who lose a phone in some way do not replace it at all due to the cost involved. There is little profit in turning a happy user into an unhappy and cynical non-user.

Nobody "makes" you buy anything.

If you don't think the infrastructure is in place, then I'm not going to argue that with ya.

Of course nobody "makes" you buy anything, I'm not interested in arguing semantics. All I meant is that of course it's possible for them to find the phone if they really wanted to. The government does this all day. But when it comes to day to day civilian stuff like losing their own phones or getting them stolen? Of course it's not going to be cost effective or affordable for the corporation OR the consumer. No I would not expect a refund if my negligence resulted in my property being lost or stolen.

Agree to disagree.

Good luck OP!

Yes, it's sad. That's why Apple did the Activation Lock implementation in the first place.

Here's a link: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201472