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What's an activation locked iPad? Does that mean lost, stolen, or an owner threw away a working iPad for some reason, despite its high resale value? Bypassing

What's an activation locked iPad? Does that mean lost, stolen, or an owner threw away a working iPad for some reason, despite its high resale value? Bypassing factory reset protection seems fine as long as its done as eminent domain seizure from the trash, not paying potential thieves.

shawnz 6y ago
I think all that should really matter is whether it was the owner that chose to have the setting on.
marcinzm 6y ago
>Bypassing factory reset protection seems fine as long as its done as eminent domain seizure from the trash, not paying potential thieves. Thieves (or a third party they sell to) will find a way to officially claim it was from the trash when it wasn't. People are clever and when there's money involved a system to exploit something will be found.
- Wingman4l7 6y ago
  This conveniently ignores the existing huge volumes of secondhand Apple devices which were obtained legally for the refurbishing market, which will always be larger than the volume of devices from theft.
  - shawnz 6y ago
    If the owner is giving the device to a refurbisher, then the refurbisher can explain how to disable the factory reset protection (it can be done online without device access). If it's not the owner, then was it really legally obtained?
    - Wingman4l7 6y ago
      In practice, it never happens this way. Apple has detached activation protection from the device reset process that people are normally aware of (a factory reset will NOT remove an activation lock, nor will it prompt you to authenticate and optionally do so). I guarantee there are recyclers that are scrapping piles of legally obtained Apple devices on a daily basis that were donated from private and corporate owners that neither have the knowledge nor extra time to remove activation locks on devices they no longer care about. I've seen it firsthand repeatedly.
      - shawnz 6y ago
        Not true. Initiating a factory reset through the settings app DOES automatically remove the activation lock. Only a recovery mode reset will not remove the lock.

shawnz 6y ago

I think all that should really matter is whether it was the owner that chose to have the setting on.

marcinzm 6y ago

>Bypassing factory reset protection seems fine as long as its done as eminent domain seizure from the trash, not paying potential thieves. Thieves (or a third party they sell to) will find a way to officially claim it was from the trash when it wasn't. People are clever and when there's money involved a system to exploit something will be found.

Wingman4l7 6y ago
This conveniently ignores the existing huge volumes of secondhand Apple devices which were obtained legally for the refurbishing market, which will always be larger than the volume of devices from theft.
- shawnz 6y ago
  If the owner is giving the device to a refurbisher, then the refurbisher can explain how to disable the factory reset protection (it can be done online without device access). If it's not the owner, then was it really legally obtained?
  - Wingman4l7 6y ago
    In practice, it never happens this way. Apple has detached activation protection from the device reset process that people are normally aware of (a factory reset will NOT remove an activation lock, nor will it prompt you to authenticate and optionally do so). I guarantee there are recyclers that are scrapping piles of legally obtained Apple devices on a daily basis that were donated from private and corporate owners that neither have the knowledge nor extra time to remove activation locks on devices they no longer care about. I've seen it firsthand repeatedly.
    - shawnz 6y ago
      Not true. Initiating a factory reset through the settings app DOES automatically remove the activation lock. Only a recovery mode reset will not remove the lock.