Activation Lock Status Tool Allows You to

Check Whether Your iPhone is Stolen

After the hacking attempts on iCloud and the increasing cases of stealing of iOS devices, Apple has
become quite conscious in providing security features to the users of its devices. Apple has released
another great tool for the purpose of increasing the security of your iOS devices. This tool is called as the
“Find My iPhone Activation Lock” or more simply, Activation Lock tool. It will tell you the status of the
device you are going to buy. The device may be locked by the iCloud.
The Activation Lock was introduced with iOS 7. It allows the legal users to wipe out and lock the data on
the stolen devices. The device becomes completely useless. When this feature is activated, it doesn’t
allow the intruders to disable Find My iPhone utility. The data will be wiped out and the device will be
reactivated under the different name. For gaining the access again, you need to input the Apple ID and
also the password associated with the specific device.
When this feature was implemented, the Activation Lock was really praised by many security agencies
worldwide. This feature led to a huge reduction in the iPhone-related thefts, all over the world. This tool
is undoubtedly a wonderful thing for iOS users. One of the biggest drawbacks of the tool is that the new
user cannot use the device at all if the previous owner enabled the Find My iPhone feature on it.

Many users wipe out their iCloud data entirely once they find their iOS device stolen. When you erase
the device, the Activation Lock will come into play. It will force you to enter the Apple ID and password
associated with the device to regain its access.

The Activation Lock Status tool simply checks the status of the Activation Lock on the device. If it is
enabled, then there are chances that the device you are looking to buy is stolen.

For using the Activation Lock Status tool, the users are prompted to input the IMEI of the iOS device or
the serial number. It is then matched with the Apple’s database for making sure that the Activation Lock
is not currently enabled for that device.

This process is really useful for the people who are willing to buy the second-hand devices. They would
require the security feature disabled for gaining access to the device.

As a precaution, the Activation Lock is enabled by default with the latest iOS 8 devices, complemented
by the feature called as “Send Last Location”. The latter feature forwards the iOS device’s last known
coordinates before the battery wipes out.

In short, Apple has attempted to prevent the iOS devices from getting stolen or theft by incorporating a
novel security feature in the form of Activation Lock tool.