San Francisco District Attorney Pleased With iOS 7's Activation Lock Feature

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Posted July 23, 2013 at 5:02pm by iClarified

San Francisco district attorney Geroge Gascón has come out in support of iOS 7's activation lock feature. Gascón believes these are 'clear improvements' and a step towards deterring thieves form stealing smartphones such as the iPhone.

Reportedly, last week representatives from Apple and Samsung came to demo and have their anti-theft technologies tested against thieves.

Apple's Activation Lock and Samsung's Lojack for Android were tested during a Thursday meeting. Gascón said he could not discuss the technologies that were examined, as the products are not finalized, but he did say Apple told him it's planning to release anti-theft technology in the fall.

"I'm very optimistic that they came and were willing to share their technology with us," Gascón said, adding that Microsoft and Google have yet to come forward with anti-theft solutions. Gascón vowed not to drop the issue until all the major manufacturers release technology that will help deter thieves.

Hopefully thieves don't find away around activation lock and users actually use the feature, which could in the long run cut back on smartphone theft. Once Activation Lock in iOS 7 is enabled, the only way one can use the device is if you enter the Apple ID and password of the account. Even a DFU restore will not bypass activation lock.

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San Francisco District Attorney Pleased With iOS 7's Activation Lock Feature

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Joe1 - July 23, 2013 at 9:35pm

Yet again this system is garbage. As it states only if the phone was wiped wirelessly than activation lock would activate. Take a look at what the iphone says above! Let's say you lost your phone. The person who finds it turns it off before you can actually wipe the phone and does a dfu restore. You never got the chance to activate the activation lock! Now what?

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Tara - July 24, 2013 at 2:49pm

Wrong. My iphone5 is password protected. I intentionally restored it. After restoring I could not activate it without my apple log-in id and password. Therefore, if somebody finds a lost/stolen iphone that is protected by a password then it is useless piece of paper weight. YOU can restore and activate an iphone if it is not protected by a password. Therefore, I recommend password protection. I HOPE IT HELPS.

Geoffrey - July 23, 2013 at 5:35pm

It is SO much easier (and more effective) to simply cut the balls off of iPhone thieves when they get caught.

samt65 - July 23, 2013 at 5:20pm

nobody is asking the question selling and buying used iphones will be a headache couze if u need to restore u can not!!!!!!!!! few people will remember to disable activation lock before selling their device!!!!!!

Luis Sousa - July 23, 2013 at 5:28pm

It is the obligation of the buyer to confirm that the seller has removed the protection. Obviously the seller can forget to remove it (without malicious intent), but I don't think that you (buyer) would buy a second hand iPhone that costs upwards of 300$ without first testing it yourself. I have sold and bought a few second hand apple gadgets and have always done an in-equipment restore to verify that everything went smoothly...

JT2002TJ - July 23, 2013 at 7:18pm

In order to restore the phone (before you give it to the new person) you have to DISABLE findme. So unless you then went back in and logged into the phone and brought your account back on the phone, it would remain unlocked for the new buyer. You are finding an error that doesn't exist. They actually did a good job with this. An additional solution would be for apple to store a list of serial numbers that are stolen, and never allow the device to sign into any apple database without the original registered owner reporting it found.

sidewinder - July 23, 2013 at 9:29pm

That would be too effective. they want people to use stolen phones, but they want to appear as though they don't want people to use stolen phones. The phone companies can easily trace and stop stolen serial numbers from working as phones, in addition to your suggestion that apple do the same and prevent use of their servers. Phone companies make money on the service, Apple makes money through the app store and through whatever other avenues they do and can. The only people that lose with stolen phones are the customers who bought the phones that get stolen; so really we are the only ones who care and as such I don't think the issue will be resolved any time soon.

David - July 25, 2013 at 1:17pm

True, but he first company that markets this feature will get my money.