How to locate a stolen iPad with a serial number

Apple will not get involved in your lost iPad.

Apple will provide you assistance in locating your iPad by making the Find My iPad app available to you. If you chose to take advantage of that app and had it turned on and the iPad is on, you'll be able to locate the iPad through the Find My Device app.

On the other hand, if the Find My device option was not on, or the iPad is not on, you'll have to rely on other methods for locating it. You know, like offering a reward or posting wanted posters, etc.

martin d'edelweiss wrote:

With the dark cloud, they claim to unlock devices from personal accounts and able to unlock find my iPhone and remove info from iCloud. Why can we create a disruption app Putting in my contact info and forcing the current owner to contact me to get it unlocked. If they bought in unknowing .. I still get the info where they bought it and send the police Could the be a Malicious app No because I would have to register and prove it was mine ( it’s in my iPad list as an example)

They claim to be able to unlock the Find my iPhone app? That is hilarious.

Go back to the San Bernadino case, and realize that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had an iPhone 5 in their hands and could not bypass the Find My Phone app.

The dark cloud sounds like a bunch of kids bragging that their daddy makes more money than his daddy.

The "dark" cloud, the "dark" web and other media inspired names are idiotic. These are just internet sites and cloud based infrastructure that other than the motivations of those who use them, is exactly the same internet we all use and no different than any other cloud (i.e. internet) base system architecture. If Amazon or IBM (Azure) or Yahoo etc were nasty evil creations, their "clouds" would be "dark" clouds too.

And there is not a single credible or confirmed report of anyone being able to actual defeat activation lock. Not one. And the minute there was one, it would be splattered all over the web on every mainstream news, tech site, IT blog etc out there.

Apple does nothing at all when it comes to peoples lost or stolen personal property. That is simply not their role in such things. They provide find my iPhone services, but those are automated, and user controlled, services and Apple is actually deaf, dumb and blind to how users choose to set up and use those services.

If your device is lost or stolen, the police are the only ones who will even be legally able to do anything about it. Apple has no ability nor legal rights to act in such cases.

No consumer electronics company takes any kind of active role in dealing with people's lost or stolen personal property.

P.S. and the device hardware serial number is not remotely traceable or detectable any way.