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Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

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121–130 of 319 posts

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#121
post #50

>it was in an office building conveniently located around the corner from an Adidas store lol no. That location is the Huaqiangbei electronics market - one of the largest electronics markets in the world w/ a thriving 2nd hand parts ecosystem.

So as I understand it, all of the "parts" are mostly worthless because they wont just work in another iPhone. How do you maintain this functionality and give the "right to repair"? I would assume that it's possible but would add a fair bit of cost to devices (not that someone like apple cant bear said costs)... But IM just guessing on that front as I have zero experience with hardware locking.

Most parts will indeed work. It will just show "unkown part" in the settings. The main thing that is really paired is the front camera for faceID. Also changing the screen without the original paired chip makes you lose autobrightness and truetone which is need to get to MAX brightness on 14 and up.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#122
post #99
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most countries, including mine or the ones I'm likely to travel to, don't have Apple Stores.

If my phone gets stolen from my pocket in the US, the chance of it wandering to the third world and then a Good Samaritan trying to give it back seem abysmal.

But what if you don't live in the US. You actually live in a "third world" country?

These are the type of things that make it very hard for Apple to penetrate markets outside the US.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#123
post #12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's wiped then there's no data for them to get?

how did the thieves get the phone number of the author, then? is it on the lock screen when the phone is wiped, in order to facilitate its return?

> is it on the lock screen when the phone is wiped, in order to facilitate its return?

Yes - you can set a message when you put a device in 'lost mode' in order to facilitate it's return if it's truly lost and found by a decent human being.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#124
post #42
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how did the thieves get the phone number of the author, then? is it on the lock screen when the phone is wiped, in order to facilitate its return?

From the comments, the author was contacted via iMessages from the iCloud email that shows up when it asks for a password.

It doesn't show the full email, it's got the middle of it **'d out. OP likely had a message set for lost mode.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#125

long time ago i had my samsung galaxy stolen ive not reported as stolen because my carrier said i needed proof of the receipt (which i lost years ago) its such a crappy experience i dont wish it on anyone. Samsung has been next to useless in finding it. having said that this article makes me glad I bought an Apple just wish they'd kept the hardware touch button on the non-SE phones and back button. this is the first…

You're just used to Android. It's hard to put buttons on a phone that's nearly all screen.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#126
Seems that stealing a phone with the wrong information on it would be a good way to end up at the bottom of a river.

> watching my phone move around Manhattan before it finally stopped at Rockefeller Center. I didn’t bother confronting the thief.

Sure, this person didn't confront them, and most probably wouldn't. The one out of a thousand that does might not be messing around.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#127
post #103

> I checked Find My and my phone was indeed in China. It looked like it was in an office building conveniently located around the corner from an Adidas store, about 8,000 miles from me. You’d think for a police state, China would be just little bit better at cracking down on obvious crime that happens within their borders. But I guess not.

The police does in fact care about phones belonging to Chinese owners stolen in China. They couldn't care less about phones belonging to Americans stolen in America.

I would prefer to see Apple move more manufacturing to India, citing these theft centers as one of many reasons.

Whatever country allows it should lose legitimate commerce as a consequence. My own included, if we are found to be guilty.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#128
post #56

And THIS is why i support parts pairing. 3 years ago, the LCD and battery could be resold making this worth it. This year - nope. I dream of a world where even the little screws that hold my iPhone together are parts-paired so stealing it costs more in effort than the possible $ recovered from it!

The part pairing isn't the problem, it's that you can't unpair parts. Creating a secure unpair process would not be beyond Apple's capabilities.

End-to-End Encryption isn't the problem, it's that you can't intercept when needed (by the government only of course). Creating a secure intercept process would not be beyond Apple's capabilities.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#129
post #10

Honestly. This is a pretty good advertisement for Apple. I appreciate the effort that they've put into making my device less valuable to thiefs.

Not so much if it allows the thief to cet contact info of the original owner.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#130
post #127
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police does in fact care about phones belonging to Chinese owners stolen in China. They couldn't care less about phones belonging to Americans stolen in America.

I would prefer to see Apple move more manufacturing to India, citing these theft centers as one of many reasons. Whatever country allows it should lose legitimate commerce as a consequence. My own included, if we are found to be guilty.

Doesn't solve the problem. The Chinese can still "recycle" phones manufactured in India.
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