Buying A Used iDevice? Apple Has A Tool To See If It Is Stolen

One of the cool things about iOS 7 and 8 is the inclusion of a feature called Activation Lock. In short, if your iDevice is stolen, nobody else can activate it. That;’s good. But this did have a problem associated with it. If you were buying a used iDevice, there was no way to easily check it to see if it had been stolen. Apple’s changed that with the introduction of a tool that checks the status of the Activation Lock feature on a given iDevice. No login is required but you do need the serial number or  IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity) of the iDevice that you plan to buy off of Craigslist or off a street corner. That way, you don’t plunk down your hard earned dollars for a phone that you can’t use.

It’s also a good time to remind you that Activation Lock is enabled automatically when you use Find My iPhone on your iDevice. To turn on Find My iPhone on your device:

  1. Tap Settings.
  2. Tap iCloud.
  3. Sign in with your Apple ID, if necessary.
  4. Turn on Find My iPhone.

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The IT Nerd

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading