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In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

ericasadun.com

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Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#91

Post by gambiting »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #87
gambiting wrote: post #24

Tbf - I feel really sorry that this happened to him, but on the other hand, I am extremely glad that a once-locked device can never be unlocked by anyone without a purchase receipt. I'm sure it deters the theft of iPhones/iPads at least a bit if they know the device will become completely useless once locked out.

Can't the device be reset another way? Im sure most phone theft is to sell hardware, not get data.

Nope, at least not on the devices equipped with the secure enclave. The device can still be sold for parts, but so far I don't think there is a technical solution to unlocking the system or even wiping it.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#92

Post by stuaxo »

madeofpalk wrote: post #35
TekMol wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have carried around laptops and smartphones for decades now. Not a single one was stolen. Even if one was stolen now, what's the average cost of 'Stuff being stolen' over the years? I had Laptops with me since the 90s. For over 20 years. If my iPad Pro gets stolen now, that's $1000 over 20 years = $50/year. I don't mind. I really would love if a Linux distribution would support the iPad so I know I can do with it w…

Same. I've never had a phone/laptop/tablet/etc stolen. Yet, "The number of smartphones stolen dropped by 50% in London, 27% in San Francisco and 16% in New York in 2014, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities" since the introduction of these anti-theft measures https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/11/london-sm...

I saw a slightly suspicious looking cyclist come going past me, with a mask on ... he grabbed the guy in front of me's phone and cycled off!

That was in a pretty nice bit of London.

I've managed to let my laptop get taken when I was really drunk at a pub too .

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#93

Post by abalone »

So the device is locked because Activation Lock (Find My iPad) was enabled. But the root problem is the AppleID lockout.

> Apple will not unlock her iCloud account... even though she has never forgotten her password.

This is news to me. Why on earth is she not able to get back in if she knows the password? Did she perhaps enable 2FA when "modernizing" her AppleID and lose access to the 2nd factor? That's the only thing that the Apple support document on this mentions as a reason for requiring more than your password.[1]

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204106

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#94

Post by watwut »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #55
watwut wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just seems to be easier and more likely to have tablet locked forever, especially for a child, this way then have it actually stolen. Also, a mean schoolmate can lock kids device forever if the kid is not looking. Which sounds like a good reason not to password protect the device.

That's really only the case if the owner isn't able to show that they own the device, and hasn't set up a password recovery mechanism to demonstrate they own the account. I do feel bad for them, but it's kind of a confluence of a lot of different mistakes that led to this point.

I would have hard time to find tickets for older devices (which are the ones kids use).

Locking your device forever is quite damaging action no matter what "poor decisions" lead to it. Especially when those poor decisions are quite natural if they have no idea this might happen.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#95

Post by rootlocus »

Crontab wrote: post #54

This is painful but I don't see this as an Apple problem.

> The other day, Apple locked her out of her iCloud account and her iPad. We don’t know why. The Apple support people don’t know why.

Sure seems like an Apple problem. I don't randomly get locked out of my Windows / Linux laptop or Android tablet without reason from the hardware / OS vendor.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#96

Post by rootlocus »

dbaupp wrote: post #83
madaxe_again wrote: post #7

Not forever, looking at the screenshot - “just” 45 years. I hope he gets this resolved - otherwise his daughter will have one hell of a digital time capsule to open in her late 50’s - assuming apple or anything else still exists.

I don't think the author, Erica, uses "he".

Maybe he does. Haven't you learned not to assume anyone's gender?

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#97

Post by coldtea »

sgift wrote: post #69
gaius wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

have carried around laptops and smartphones for decades now. Not a single one was stolen Good for you. Meanwhile in London a common crime is for moped riders to snatch phones out of people’s hands. Sometimes there’s a passenger on board who will also spray the victim with acid. Maybe you would mind that?

Yeah, I mind that. The solution is an effective police force. Maybe you've heard of it.

Yeah, please tells us more about your crime statistics in the states with this more "effective police", and how they're so much better than Europe/London...

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#98

Post by gaius »

Spare_account wrote: post #85
gempir wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like Apple did nothing wrong here. If they parent/daughter chose to go around every recovery mechanism Apple provided it's their own fault. Physical possesion of a device should never equal direct access to all its data.

> Physical possesion of a device should never equal direct access to all its data. Apple appear to have extended this principle beyond the data and are preventing use of the device entirely. It ought to be possible to wipe the device and start from scratch with a new Apple account.

If a stolen device can be trivially reset there is no deterrent to stealing them or to buying stolen property.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#99

Post by abalone »

mratzloff wrote: post #57

Unfortunate, but perhaps a useful learning experience. I disable iCloud on all of my Apple devices. Instead, I just make regular backups myself and tolerate different recent content on each device until synced with my Mac, which is backed up as well.

You don't have to disable iCloud to do regular local backups.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#100

Post by developer2 »

Spare_account wrote: post #89
developer2 wrote: post #50

> She did not do anything to trigger the Apple ID issue. I chalk this up to the child not wanting to admit they entered the wrong passcode too many times. iOS devices "disable" themselves after enough failed attempts. This is a good thing - you want this to happen if your device is stolen. "Disabled" only means you need to prove ownership by either: a) Connecting the iPad (via USB) to iTunes on a Mac or PC that is lo…

You appear to know what you're talking about, but I don't think you've factored this part into your theory: > The other day, Apple locked her out of her iCloud account and her iPad. We don’t know why. The Apple support people don’t know why. I think it may have to do with when I modernized my AppleID to use an email address, which is what the iTunes account on the iPad is registered to. I think you're implying that E…

I did in fact miss the purported locking of the Apple ID. It appears as though accounts can be locked under certain circumstances[1].

So the Apple ID was locked, presumably due to many accidental or malicious attempts to log in to the account. The account owner is then left having to perform account recovery, which is where the security questions and access to the email address's inbox come into play.

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204106

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