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Interestingly enough I was in Vietnam last week and had my iPhone XR snatched out of my hands by a guy on a motorbike. I locked it immediately from my partner's

Interestingly enough I was in Vietnam last week and had my iPhone XR snatched out of my hands by a guy on a motorbike. I locked it immediately from my partner's phone and noted that it had been immediately switched off. I figured it was surely gone forever and pretty much straight away went and bought a new iPhone. When I was setting up my new phone I restored my latest backup from iCloud and upon doing so, my old stolen phone was no longer trackable since iCloud recognises the new one as being the old one. Although I am far from an Apple fanboy, I feel that their phones are the least-bad choice at the moment but I am really starting to question that after this experience. Not very happy about that, Apple. I am interested to know if by doing that the phone is now unlocked, or what the deal is, but I can't, since it's no longer trackable.

xfitm3 7y ago
Vietnam is a popular destination for stolen laptops. Stolen devices registered with Apple MDM show up all over the world, but there is a disproportionate number of devices in Vietnam.
londons_explore 7y ago
It's probably no longer trackable not because you added a new phone to the account, but instead because the thief just used one of these tricks to remove your old phone.
eridius 7y ago
Adding a new phone does not remove the old one from your account. Something else happened there.
Fnoord 7y ago
> Interestingly enough I was in Vietnam last week and had my iPhone XR [...] That's not interesting IMO, that's asking for trouble. You go with a device worth 1000 USD or so to a poor country. You use the device on the streets. You're basically putting a bullseye on yourself saying "rob me!" Get a dumbphone/tourist phone instead.
Terretta 7y ago
Don’t think this is correct. My list of devices is littered with the old devices I restored backups from onto new devices. I have to do extra steps to wipe and remove a device to be able to be adopted by new homes. That said, it is a pet peeve of mine that the new phone from old backup workflow doesn’t prompt for a new device name or to rename the old device. Reusing the name can be confusing if/when you still have both devices.
- knd775 7y ago
  Yeah, I just checked my account and the phones that I didn't sell or send back to Apple are all still in my account, despite all being on the same backup chain. I suspect that the user above fell victim to something similar to what was mentioned in the article and had the device removed from their account that way.

xfitm3 7y ago

Vietnam is a popular destination for stolen laptops. Stolen devices registered with Apple MDM show up all over the world, but there is a disproportionate number of devices in Vietnam.

londons_explore 7y ago

It's probably no longer trackable not because you added a new phone to the account, but instead because the thief just used one of these tricks to remove your old phone.

eridius 7y ago

Adding a new phone does not remove the old one from your account. Something else happened there.

Fnoord 7y ago

> Interestingly enough I was in Vietnam last week and had my iPhone XR [...] That's not interesting IMO, that's asking for trouble. You go with a device worth 1000 USD or so to a poor country. You use the device on the streets. You're basically putting a bullseye on yourself saying "rob me!" Get a dumbphone/tourist phone instead.

Terretta 7y ago

Don’t think this is correct. My list of devices is littered with the old devices I restored backups from onto new devices. I have to do extra steps to wipe and remove a device to be able to be adopted by new homes. That said, it is a pet peeve of mine that the new phone from old backup workflow doesn’t prompt for a new device name or to rename the old device. Reusing the name can be confusing if/when you still have both devices.

knd775 7y ago
Yeah, I just checked my account and the phones that I didn't sell or send back to Apple are all still in my account, despite all being on the same backup chain. I suspect that the user above fell victim to something similar to what was mentioned in the article and had the device removed from their account that way.