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Stolen iPhones Will Be Even More Useless from iOS 18 Onwards
- d13 2y agoIf a thief grabs a phone from someone’s hand while authenticated, can’t they then just make it theirs by immediately resetting the password pin and Face ID?
- valianteffort 2y agoNo you need to enter the password to change it
- NoNoisle 2y agoThis is what stolen device protection is for
- yapyap 2y ago[dead]
- mensetmanusman 2y agoAs long as there is no incentive for Apple to use this feature to prevent legit recycling, that would be great. For example, if someone sells an old device, after someone repairs a device with the sold/old component, there should be a 30-60 day grace period where the original owner is required to actively prevent the repair if the part was stolen. Otherwise it would automatically be allowed to be used.
- ThePowerOfFuet 2y ago@dang Let's maybe replace the URL with the original source, buried in a tiny link at the end? https://9to5mac.com/2024/09/12/apple-activation-lock-iphone-parts/ https://9to5mac.com/2024/09/12/apple-activation-lock-iphone-...
- diebeforei485 2y agoThis is a good step. Phone snatching is a serious problem. Making stolen phones totally useless is exactly the way to go about it. If eBikes could have a similar system, that would be great.
- coolandsmartrr 2y agoWould be nice for many other expensive items you take outside, like mirror-less cameras.
- jasonjayr 2y agoDoesn't this effectively kill 3rd party parts/repairs? Or salvaging dead phones for parts? Is this gonna make more e-waste, or make repairs more expensive, or both?
- geor9e 2y agoWhy would a 3rd party part show up in a serial number database of stolen phones?
- grugagag 2y agoSadly it won’t work even if you own two broken phones and want to make one out of them. Big loss to repairability and indeed a massive waste of resources. Today I was reading on HN a story on how degrowth won’t do anything for combating global warming. Oh well, this is exactly the opposite of that and it’ll cause a lot of problems for future generations. They’ll look back towards us with disgust and dissapointment.
- ghostpepper 2y agoIf you buy a phone, add it to your iCloud account, then the phone becomes broken in a way you want to salvage the camera/battery, presumably removing that phone from your iCloud account (which I don't believe requires the phone to turn on?) would allow you to use those genuine, not-stolen parts in another repair.
- krackers 2y ago>However, it aligns with Apple’s recent policy changes that allow repairs with genuine used parts while maintaining stringent security measures. Doesn't this imply that so long as the phone is unliked from apple id, the parts can be re-paired (hah) with a new phone?
- beembeem 2y agoIf "extending Activation Lock to other components" means what I think it does, then the phone's owner should have control over this and 3rd party repairs should be fine. It may cut out the market for unofficial parts, but does that even exist today? Is anyone making iphone compatible batteries with any scale? (I'm curious if so) The thrust of this move devalues phones to thieves, which I generally think is a good thing. Cutting down the hardly salvageable value even further should help the "market" sort this out and lead to less theft. I like it.
- throwaway48476 2y agoI have no problem with blacklisting stolen parts. What does concern me is when devices are abandoned or given away, not marked as stolen but still activation locked with no means of getting it unlocked. Last month I reset my device to reinstall macos and selected log out of icloud and wipe. I assumed this would remove the activation lock but it did not and I had to put my password in. I've found that removing activation lock is an intentionally confusing and misleading process. This only exists to create ewaste and pad the bottom line.
- rogerrogerr 2y ago> This only exists to create ewaste and pad the bottom line. But it obviously reduces the reward for stealing devices, which probably reduces crime? If a thief, given the opportunity to steal my iPhone or an Android phone, takes the Android phone because it’s easier to fence - I’ll gladly give Apple money to be part of that group.
- throwaway48476 2y agoI'm not talking about the stolen mode here. Don't strawman me.
- rogerrogerr 2y agoYou asserted “this only exists to pad the bottom line”, and I’m refuting that by giving a reason the feature provides value to me. “Stolen mode” isn’t really a thing with Activation Lock; Apple correctly assumes that the average victim of theft isn’t alert enough to flip some switches in iCloud. Thieves know that iPhones are useless - now even more so - in their default state, and can only be removed from that state with deliberate action from the legitimate owner. That has real life value, and so your accusation that it “only exists to pad the bottom line” is wrong.
- cortesoft 2y agoTheir point is that they make the process to remove the lock more confusing so as to make it so more people accidentally leave it on and brick their used devices. This doesn't mean the theft lock feature itself doesn't have a purpose, just that making it confusing to remove was intentional to decrease hardware reuse.
- GaggiX 2y agoJust remember to never remove the stolen iPhone from Find My, the thieves will try everything to convince you to do so.
- Gigachad 2y agoApple also fixed this a while back. If your GPS location is away from home, starting a wipe actually sets a timer where you have to Face ID and enter the password in an hour to actually do the wipe.
- theultdev 2y agoHow do they try to convince you? Like when they're taking it from you, or do they contact you later somehow? If it's when they are taking it, why do they try to convince you instead of forcing you since they are already using force to take it? If it's the latter, how do they contact you if you don't have a phone?
- shepherdjerred 2y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40578460 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40578460
- Kirby64 2y agoThey contact you later (weeks or months later). And it’s contacting your phone number to attempt to convince you to unlink it, usually with some sob story or threat. They know the phones are worth way way less if they are blacklisted, so they’ll try all sorts of tricks. Apparently it’ll sometimes get sold and passed down to other scammers who try different tactics. See this article on what that can look like: https://www.phonearena.com/news/stolen-iphone-scams-how-to-protect-your-iphone_id154852 https://www.phonearena.com/news/stolen-iphone-scams-how-to-p...
- nerdjon 2y agoI do see a possible downside of being able to re-use parts from a broken iPhone. So parts that were never able to be unlinked while the phone worked. Unless since it sounds like this is a remote database (and not something stored on the parts themselves) that maybe there could be a way to address this problem but that runs the risk of making a loophole to get around this. Outside of that, I think doing this is great. Making a stolen device less and less valuable obviously won't stop everyone from stealing iPhones it should cut down on it happening. I am curious about Apple's incentive to do this outside of just the above. Technically they would get less sales from people replacing their phones, but would also possibly reduce the cost of operating the "theft and loss" iPhone AppleCare+.
- MBCook 2y agoThere is a benefit to customers by preventing their very expensive phones from being a popular item to steal. Even if there hadn’t been stories in the media about how easy it was to steal Kia cars, if people kept having them stolen or knowing friends who had them stolen it would absolute hurt the chance that person would buy a Kia in the future. Smart to try to avoid that.
- kazinator 2y agoLet's fix something: > prevent the use of parts from stolen, lost or simply discarded and recycled devices There!
- wobfan 2y agoYeah, I think that too. Apple already had some good theft "protection". They definitely have no money incentive to even strengthen that just because they're so altruistic and want to help the customers. They know that they're killing some more small used-parts market here, even the legitimate part, so they're happily taking it. If it means that they will have some more sales, then they'll do it.
- kazinator 2y agoI suspect that what tech vendors want even more than just sales is if all the old versions of the hardware and software they already sold would just go away.
- mikeweiss 2y agoI'd personally like to see phones and their parts be usable at some point again after being reported lost/stolen... Maybe something like 16 months after the fact? That way they have a chance at a second life and not just going to landfill. If a thief knows the phone is useless for more than a year it makes it a much less valuable item.
- MBCook 2y agoiPhones can have a long life as used devices. And some of the parts are very expensive. Given the cost of holding inventory is low (parts are relatively small) and even if you’re forced to sit on it for years it could still be worth a fair bit, that may bring the problem back. I think the only reasonable solution to letting parts back in would be to let Apple mark them as ok if given to Apple for free. Apple could remove the blacklist entry and put them back on the secondary market. But because no one paid Apple anything they would be able to be sure that no one was profiting by turning parts around. Of course Apple would be making money when they sell those parts. So I’m sure there are some people who would really object to this idea.
- briandear 2y agoNo. It still results in people stealing a bunch of phones and then warehousing them and every 16 months a new batch are ready. Phone thieves, especially in Europe are the scum of the earth and I’d like to see them destroyed. A landfill is a choice. You can always send a phone to Apple for recycling. You can drop off at any Apple Store as well.
- musicale 2y agoAnd non-stolen iPhones. /s ;-)
- your_drunk_dad 2y agoNon-stolen can be unlocked in Find My.
- deepspace 2y agoEver since Apple started rolling out stolen device protection, whenever I try to access my Apple account, for example under Settings on my iPhone, the accounts gets "locked out". Then I have to jump through all kinds of hoops, including setting a brand-new password, and verifying from another Apple device, to get it unlocked. I am terrified that this issue, together with the extra protection, is one day going to lock me out of my phone permanently.
- ffsm8 2y agoNow imagine Apple bans your account because you forgot to update your payment details and were on holidays at the time, missing the warning. Now you're not only stranded without your data, no, all your devices are ewaste too I can see the charm, totally.
- Matheus28 2y agoLuckily Apple is not Google, and you can call their support and they can tell you what the problem is and likely fix it.
- crossroadsguy 2y agoWhere after wasting my 2 hours on each of those three calls i.e. totalling 6 hours the Senior Advisor will solemnly ask me backup my data, wipe the device, and reinstall again and pray to almighty it works. If I am adventurous enough I ask them whether it will work their answer will put even the most seasoned diplomat to shame. So yeah right.
- ffsm8 2y agoEh, there are very frequent social media posts of people getting their Apple IDs banned with no recourse, I.e random example: https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1cdsqpf/the_final_update_of_my_recent_apple_id_ban/ https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1cdsqpf/the_final_u... It's not a significant percentage (rounds to 0.00%) but it does happen if you're unlucky. One of the ways it can happen is what I wrote: have a plus subscription, have your card expire and don't respond to Apples warning that you'll get banned unless you update your payment details. If you don't, your account is gone after a few weeks. It's certainly reasonable from Apple's PoV, the customer isnt paying their bills and not responding to their mails. You just get the occasional person that gets fucked by it because they're indisposed, possibly even by injury/hospitalisation or just not checking the mail address they've registered with etc.
- lofaszvanitt 2y agoIs this such a widespread problem that warrants this excessive action? I just don't buy the statistics about phone theft found online.
- ivolimmen 2y agoDon't think they are doing it for you. This improves their bottom line.
- MaxikCZ 2y agoWhat if improving their bottomline can have positive effect on my experience? What if Apple intentionally pursues such paths, and disregards paths that improve their bottom line without improving user experience? Or is blind hate just that much popular?
- ivolimmen 2y agoThis will only amount to more electronic waste if they do not allow to unlock it for reuse. Technically possible but not allowed because of procedure everything will go the a landfill.