back to article Apple kills activation lock check, possible dirty stolen device hack

Apple has closed its iCloud activation lock check in a possible move to neuter a bypass method that allowed stolen devices to be reactivated at the expense of legitimate devices. Cupertino's shuttered iCloud activation lock feature allowed users to check if a second-hand device was registered and locked to a previous owner, a …

  1. whoseyourdaddy

    All that hard work making their crack is now not useful. Thank you Macwhatever...

    Seriously, Apple. Better glue next time.

    1. J__M__M

      Seriously, whoseyourdaddy? Better glue next time?

      No glue next time, I'm sure you meant to say (repairability and whatnot)...

      1. whoseyourdaddy

        Re: Seriously, whoseyourdaddy? Better glue next time?

        Repairability leads to stolen handsets.

    2. joed

      not really. It's enough to have one working ipad, check the serial and apply the same to another one. I'm not sure what apple can do to fix this as denying any device with duplicate s/n would affect also legitimate customers (whose s/n had been already guessed/reused).

  2. Charles 9

    I don't think the glue's been made that can thwart a determined hacker.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Devil

      No, it's been made to thwart a determined fixer.

  3. Joe Gurman

    Wonder what all that kit costs

    ....and whether the resale prices of obviously stolen Apple iThingies can possibly make it worthwhile. But I suppose old heat guns, custom cracking devices, solvents (carcinogenic, of course), and the like are easily available in countries where this stuff is manufactured in the first place. Add cheap labor and you don't even need to start your own company manufacturing cheap knockoffs while camping the indigenous trademark for the likes name of Apple's next fondlewhatsis.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The tooling is cheap in the country of origin as they make the devices there, knocking off a few extra is not going to cost as much as the original design anyway.

    What staggers me is that this video is public as it's a clear hint to thieves that this company will help to fence stolen goods by reactivating them.

    1. joed

      Still, I liked the video. It explained more about surface mount elements than number of vague articles. BTW, not all of this has to be used for illegitimate reason - lets say your employee left without disabling "find my device" for a corporate mobile (though corporate would probably not bother this much to recover "minimal value" device ) or even the owner of legally resold/gifted/etc device forgotten to do so. Similarly to torrents - pirated content is common but some of use is legit.

  5. edup

    if you need check activation for iphone you can go to imei24.com

    this site is showing info without any problem

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