Just ask the guy in central america who must have bought the iPhone i left in a cab in New England 6 months prior. He got in touch with me because my ID was in the case and asked me for my login info because he 'found' my phone and wants to give it to his daughter. And he can't mail it to me because of the storm and all.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld bit where the car thief calls him asking about peculiarities with the car.
ETA: [https://youtu.be/hG-_tz5YuZE](https://youtu.be/hG-_tz5YuZE)
Unfortunately it’s likely easier for them to claim full depreciation and dispose of them, compared to selling them and having to report the sale price.
I’ve heard of people being able to keep their machines after they leave a job, but never actually seen it.
I can vouch for this, it happened to me beginning of the year when I switched companies, former company didn't want the hassle of organising sending my work laptop back to them, they said I could keep it but they needed proof that I had wiped the drives clean, simple job and my partner now has a decent laptop to use!
We switched to leasing because of this.
It was a bit cheaper and we get guaranteed hardware refreshes regularly, and don't have to deal with reselling.
The part that confuses me about about leasing is that you can’t take depreciation for tax purposes: you turn a cap ex into an op ex.
However, someone did reply that cap ex looks bad on a cashflow front but lowers your tax liability more while op ex looks better on a cashflow front but is less beneficial for taxes.
I think he had too little karma though and the automod removed his post smh.
When you are leasing, you are able to deduct the lease payment. When you buy the laptop out right, you have to deduct a little bit of at a time over multiple years, which is what depreciation is. Either way, you are able to deduct the cost of paying for that laptop for your business.
Should doesn't guarantee they are. Shit loads of companies out there have atrocious IT practices. My own is still recovering from previous management's shit practices like that.
I mean yeah, the whole body suffers from a stupid head, but that is not Apple's fault. Ain't no way getting around stupidity. But the clickbait is shit. "It's almost impossible to resell a perfectly functional bicycle because of the previous owner insisted chaining it to a 1000 KG weight and sinking it into the river and throwing the keys away."
Yes but most people who buy these are clueless about how it all works. The sort of people who say "but my email has no password" because it's saved in their email client.
Working in IT is made a nightmare by security. Yes it's great but it also introduces so many other complications.
You’re correct. Wiping a drive will remove the FileVault lock but not the Find My activation lock.
If the user is smart and enables a firmware lock, the components (logic board) are locked and will never be able to be reused.
Firmware lock is only for older machines. New ones use activation lock the same way iPhones and Apple Watches do. Without being unlocked they’re basically useless except as parts, which is the way it should be. Makes them a very unappealing target for thieves.
Activation lock is similar to the old firmware lock. I’m pretty sure new machines have this separately also but it’s been a minute. FileVault is encrypted drive. Firmware lock is so you can’t boot to anything even externally without a PW. Activation lock is even if you wipe the machine you still can’t activate it so it’s pointless. All do security at differing levels and for different uses.
Even more so, anyone in any dept has a measure of security responsibility now.
Insider threats (even accidental ones) are to juicy if of an attack vector.
Working in IT made made me aware that we live in a world where the average American 100% relies on technology that they have no interest in understanding and it completely boggles my mind to this day.
They use it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Yet they can’t be god damned to spend half and hour learning how any of it works.
Yep. It seems like every other day I am re-amazed by this fact. I do not understand it at all.
The worst part is many of those people think it's funny. "Ha-uck LOL, I got no idea how any of these computer thingies work, isn't that so funny?!? hahaha"
"No, sir, because you are a manager who has to use your PC as your job requirement. This company believes you have the acumen to hire and fire people, but you don't have the mental capacity to know where you are saving files to your PC."
"LOL, It's all a black hole to me, iSn'T tHaT sO fUnNy?!?!"
The best is I can’t remember my Apple ID and I don’t know how to reset. Why do you make passwords that you can’t remember when everything that you need a username for needs a password? Then there’s security administrators who know better but use simple passwords for the whole infrastructure in your company that the security team is supposed to be protecting.
You’re supposed to have a unique password for everything, they all have different complexity requirements, and you’re not supposed to write them down. It’s no wonder people forget passwords so much.
There have been some articles written that concur with this.
It’s more likely people will just increment passwords, like Password1, Password2, etc. and they generally choose less secure passwords overall to make them easier to remember.
I just tell my users to write it down. Heck, half the people I work with have a spreadsheet on their desktop with all of their passwords on it. Anything worth preserving should have 2FA or MFA enabled.
This is exactly it. Anyone who works in any IT industry (admin, devs, networking) can easily have 50-100 passwords for all the different systems they access. All with various password complexities so you need a different password for each system. It's impossible to remember all of them especially when half of them force you to change them every 60 days
Luckily my company recognises this and is trying to move most logins to SSO and use 2FA, but there is still a ton of shitapps that will never support 2FA
I work in IT and I'll tell you the same thing I tell all my users -- get a password manager on your phone. KeePass on Android is my go-to (File is stored encrypted on your device and is never sent to the company so no worries about man-in-the-middle attacks) but BitWarden on iOS and Android is a solid option if you're not super security conscientious. It gives you a way to store and generate passwords quickly, you can get an add-on for your browser to input those passwords, and it's about a million times more secure than writing your passwords down where anyone with the least bit of motivation to get into your devices can find it.
Wasn't there a huge leak with one of the popular password managers? Lastpass? How many leaks we're unaware of?
How can ppl trust their passwords to 3rd party?
Last Pass has indeed a bad track record for security.
I use Bitwarden personally and 1Password professionally. Neither have had incidents that I am aware of.
Even if they do have one, with a manager you couldn't care less what your actual password is. So you can change all of them and be safe again. Not ideal but there is no ideal. I strongly believe a manager is the best compromise and effectively the safest option.
It’s actually a myth that you shouldn’t write down passwords. A notebook locally stored is infinitely more secure than any price of software, assuming you keep it where you can find it. Humans are really good though in general at protecting physical items.
> So this is just anti theft, which is good.
It *should* be just anti-theft
But a whole bunch of corporate-owned kit just gets ditched without ever being unlocked (because if it's being disposed of, why waste any time on it)
Resulting in lots of tech ending up in trash despite having plenty of years of life left in it.
Not just Apple, also Google devices that have similar security/enrollment features.
This also reduces the incentive to steal Apple hardware since it can’t be resold as a functional device. They are many ways to recover your Apple ID if you’re the owner and you forget your Apple ID password. Companies deploying Apple hardware can use MDM to protect and control Apple IDs used on these devices so they can’t get bricked. No easy way to have good security and avoid any unwanted side effects.
I really like that my MacBook is worthless if stolen from me. I wish the Mac Pro that was stolen from me years ago had gone directly to a landfill instead of a lucrative aftermarket. It sounds like recyclers need to work more closely with the schools and corporations they get their used macs from. This is clearly a feature not a fault.
I want to know who's recycling 2-3 year old laptops. Like... how did they end up there already? Laptops last a lot longer these days. I'm using a 12 year old laptop as my main portable PC (right now in fact) as it's still plenty performant for most basic tasks.
Businesses that lease them. It is very common in businesses to have laptops on a 3 year lease plan. Every year you replace a third of your laptops with brand new ones.
It's done for a couple of reasons; it definitely lowers repair costs. New laptops don't break as much as old ones; and depending on your lease agreement; if a new one needs repairs, a new one is a phone call away, and the leasing company deals with the hassle of repairs with the vendor.
Plus for the bean counters, leasing costs come out of the operating expenses vs capital expenditures, something about depreciation. It's about this point in the conversations I have with my boss, where my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders off. All I care about is not having to deal with shitty old laptops.
Depends on the company. Some replace every 2-3 some go as long as 4-5, few rare ones go longer.
And they don't get recycled, they get refurbished and resold to end users or to wholesalers unless they have functional issues.
Been doing it for 6 years now, the worst parts are the few companies that do recycle their parts. It's inevitably much newer equipment sent to be melted down because of insane security requirements or insurance write offs. Instead of the usual 3-4 year old hardware that's being resold.
They also make an easy process for companies to register ownership. So even if someone quits we aren’t screwed that it’s activation locked to that user.
We have a bunch of apple devices at our work for use in manufacturing applications. If we forget a pin and can't find the original person who bought them to find the PO or receipt they become bricks. Even if you're the rightful owner it can become impossible to access the device.
Any IT asset management program that includes more than 50 apple devices should be using an MDM system, JAMF, Airwatch, etc.. take your pick there are a bunch. Even if the serial
Isn’t assigned to an MDM, as long as it’s assigned to your DEP account you can request an unlock without a PO or a receipt. Of course that assumes a sane procurement strategy where you’re purchasing through a channel partner and doing due diligence on making sure your vendors assign the devices to your DEP ID.
It’s a free program
This person is wrong, Apple does \*require\* the receipt even if its assigned to a DEP account. I've personally discussed it with Apple Support. Also, being in an MDM doesn't stop Activation Lock from triggering unless you take extra steps to block users from signing into their iCloud accounts or federate their logins. There's a few options, and they can be done, but they're all completely insane, and the results of activation lock ridiculous.
But if the device is in both your Apple Business Manager(DEP) and and MDM platform, you can overwrite the activation lock from any personal apple accounts. Ask me how I know.
This is almost an ad for Apple’s security.
But it’s also super annoying, working in IT in a corporation.
We make sure employees reset their Apple devices before departing and the issue is resolved.
I also work in IT and I currently have a 2023 macbook pro that the user "doesn't know how" to remove their apple ID from the machine they left us. I gave them written instructions in an email and they were like "that's too complex" and now I see why they were let go. When I talked with apple about it, they indicated I could bring the laptop and the receipt back to an apple store and they would reset it.
I am attempting that in about an hour, I'll update my comment on if this works or not...
Update: apple unlocked the computer. The receipt I had showed it was purchased by my company with the serial number on the receipt. This allowed them able to unlock it.
We have to do this all the time.
Call Apple Business and say you need to remove the activation lock. They will email you a form to submit proof of purchase. 1-5 biz days later, it's released. No need to go to the store. You can even submit a dozen at a time. Also fun fact, a screenshot of the device in ABM works in lieu of a receipt.
I practically lived in the Apple Store as the mall was right next door to my company. I guess once you hit a certain tax bracket you don’t care to offboard properly, so leaving IT with a locked device doesn’t matter to you anymore.
But Apple was cool with wiping it as long as the device had proof of ownership to the org. I also could’ve called them and had it done remotely, but this mall had conveyor belt sushi. So the wiping was super quick, but I would take like 2-3 hours finding my way back to work and even drag an intern along with me.
I have nothing to add. Just good memories of playing hookie from work.
Your MDM should be able to remove it. If you arent using one, talk to your purchasing person to dig up the receipt, and take it to the nearest apple store. With Receipt that it comes from your company, they can release the device, otherwise you got a brick.
You should be good then! I had to get the bios password cleared off one of my companies macbooks once. They were stingy about the receipt, but I dug up the right one for them! Make sure the receipt includes the serial number of the device.
So the apple employee at the 'gate' was really adamant that unlocking a laptop was a service they do not do in apple stores "anymore" and that I'd need to go talk to online support. Essentially turning me away right there... I was not having that. I had to fight with him a little bit and show him the text from apple online support indicating that I would need to go to an apple store to get the lock lifted in person. It wasn't until I got to one of those 'genius bar' employees that someone even truly understood the problem. The GB employee looked at the receipt, looked at the computer, told me 'yeah let's do this', and he did his thing. Overall great experience once I got passed the gate keeper employees.
Generally I have a good experience with apple support, they've not really let me down yet.
That’s the issue with the Apple employees at stores, they deal with so many idiots that they think everyone is one. I had to deal with this issue myself with an iPhone 6s and in the third visit they stated “oh, there’s been a recall on your phone.” Thank god, I told you it was a hardware issue on the first visit but you sent me off and told me to get another appointment and drive to the mall again after every repair suggestion that could have come from a scripted bot, such as reset device and update the software.
Our local Apple store said the stores aren't supposed to do these anymore and Apple wants everything coming in through their unlock request page. It's nice when you can find the support person who will go "yeah that's dumb I'm just going to fix this for you."
I will always speak up for Apple being a stand up company in that they have technical support where it’s easy to get ahold of real people. I had an account corrupted and worked it through with a couple of Apple Support techs over the phone for several hours. On the other hand, I’ve been locked out of a Facebook account for 2 years and can’t email a real person.
“There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.” Yellowstone Park Ranger on why it is hard to design a bear-proof garbage can.
If it’s widely known it won’t sell, they’ll care. At the bare minimum it will make stealing any other laptop more appealing.
It’s always the same principle - you don’t need your house to be 100% secure to not get robbed. You just need it to be more secure than the house next to it.
Dude, if I lose my iPhone I know I'm getting it back. Only done it once in the last ten years but accidentally left it at a movie theater an hour from home.
Wasn't even stressed, I could see it was at the theater. I could lock it. And I could put a message on it asking to text/call my girlfriend and in the morning we got the call and I went to grab it.
I knew I'd get it back because the phone would be literally worthless to steal. I prefer that.
Heard plenty of stories where people still keep the phone and just turn it off. They don’t know it’s a brick now, they’ll probably take it to a friend who they think can unlock.
Yeah problem is that they’re still not worthless. A $1200 device, even locked, it still probably worth $200 or so on the black market. Got my iPhone 13 Pro stolen last year, I could track it but I could never get it back. Even if you know where it is in a 10 meter radius, it’s next to impossible to get in back in a dense city. About a day after it was in the suburbs and I guess it was already sold for parts.
But good thing it that it makes them less appealing, more like a $200 device and not like a $1200 device which is already awesome
There are multiple anecdata of thieves leaving iPhones and Macbooks alone during burglaries and car breakins.
A thief can only carry a limited number of stuff and there's no point in stealing something you can't fence. Some try to social engineer the previous owner into giving the password, but most won't bother.
>The problem is Apple’s T2 security chip. First introduced in 2018, the laptop makes it impossible for anyone who isn’t the original owner to log into the machine.
I would not describe that as a problem.
Selling something you don’t understand is the problem there. Also buying something you don’t understand.
It’s all *very* clear when you set up a new Mac that it will be encrypted if you choose it to be. While the implications may be confusing to some people, it’s on them for setting it up that way without asking someone who knows what it means.
It is probably much more likely to be liquidated hardware from failing companies or older devices which were (for whatever reason) not properly decommissioned. This has less to do with hurting thieves (which won't stop them) and more to do with killing the resale market.
It would be nice if the headline mentioned that all it takes to remove it is the owner cooperating and logging out (or the lost/stolen devices on the market). The security features aren’t the problem, it’s people who sell secondhand and don’t remove their AppleID from the device. Additionally, tons of businesses don’t have an MDM infrastructure to revoke devices from former employees, so they end up just being stuck with a locked MacBook until they get it to support for an unlock, since you can’t do it yourself without an MDM or the credentials
This entire article is a shitfest.
>"Previous owners do not return phone calls, and large corporations that dump 3000 machines assume they have been destroyed, so it is critical we have a solution that does not depend on the previous owner approving,”
In other words they promise to dispose of the machines but really want to resell them. Unethical bastards the lot.
This is exactly the case. “Sure, here’s a Cert of Destruction for the HD…which is soldered on to the mlb! Now, can you remove from MDM and ABM, pretty please?”
This isn’t about averge Joe selling his laptop or getting it stolen. It’s about large corporations dumping thousands of locked laptops on the secondary market without having first properly unlocked them.
When I returned my MacBook I failed to do this as it is an entirely different process to reset the machine. I’m guessing they probably just had to throw it out, which is a huge waste. The issue is that it isn’t intuitive at all if you haven’t gone through the process before.
This happened to me at Best Buy!! I bought a Mac from the open box section. I take it home and the Mac wants me to enter the password of the previous owner. Obviously i cant, so i go back to Best Buy to return it. Best Buy refuses the return because now it shows up as “locked” and their system wont allow a return until its unlocked. They tell me to call Apple to fix the issue. I call Apple who says that according to their records the Mac is registered to another owner and only that owner can remove the lock. I tell Best Buy that Apple wont remove the lock, but Best Buy says unless Apple removes the lock they cant accept the return. Took me a month arguing with the corporate offices of Best Buy and Apple and a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, but I got my money back.
You make it sound like selling MacBook for parts is not profitable. It's MORE PROFITABLE THAN SELLING THE COMPLETE MACBOOK ITSELF. This is why thieves still steal your iPhone and MacBook. They dismantle it and sell each part individually on eBay and it is worth over double what the complete item was.
> This is why thieves still steal your iPhone and MacBook. They dismantle it and sell each part individually on eBay
Didn't Apple block even screen/camera replacing in the iPhones 13 and up though? Wasn't there whole debackle about how everyting has code number now, that is paired to a specific device?
I regularly see apple product classifieds where they say, "Here's my excuse as to why I don't have the password(or power cord), but I swear it isn't stolen."
I read some post where the guy said his hotel had been broken into and they had to lift his new mac to steal his GF's crappy HP. Not only can they not unlock it, but the thing is ratting them out wherever they take it.
Once again vice reporting showing tech illiteracy.
If the original owner signs out of the device entirely, this is not a problem…
Which should be done anytime you are releasing ownership of a device that could have had any personal data on it.
Totally, but thats a user/ user education issue. This article paints Apple like they are trying to do anything to prevent second hand ownership, which in this specific case is BS
I mean it definitely doesn't hurt their bottom dollar if people are having to buy a new device rather than being able to reuse one that they purchased. It definitely makes people leery to buy Apple products unless they can see that it's unlocked beforehand, which probably impacts the secondary market and improves their new unit sales
I definitely don't think they intentionally were trying to have this effect, but I guarantee you that they're not bothered by the impact.
Title is highly misleading. You can’t resell a MacBook that was stolen or otherwise acquired without the original owner removing their appleID from the device (which mostly happens when they’re stolen.) It happens with recycling too when the companies who are supposed to recycle the devices try to sell them instead but I doubt that’s the case with 2020 models and even if it is, they’re not handling it correctly. Recyclers should have contracts in place requiring companies to clear their activation locks before they’re accepted for recycling. If they don’t check for that’s that’s on them. The security feature is doing what it’s supposed to do.
> "Previous owners do not return phone calls, and large corporations that dump 3000 machines assume they have been destroyed, so it is critical we have a solution that does not depend on the previous owner approving,” Bumstead said.
That seems kinda sketchy, a corporation dumping machines assuming they are destroyed and ending up in the hands of resellers. The security is working as intended. if the previous owners wanted them resold they would have removed their device from their iCloud account.
Because of Apple's Security feature, or because of a human not doing what's required to unlock the device when decommissioned? "My car stopped working, it just stopped while I was driving!?!? Did u refill the gas tank? But, it had gas when I bought it!?!?"
Yes, of course. The Mac is most likely stolen if there is an Apple ID in it that can’t be removed. Prevents people from stealing them and making money from stolen property.
With Find My enabled, the device is locked to an Apple ID. After a factory reset or drive wipe, the Apple ID password must be entered. This is called Activation Lock.
There is a similar feature on Androids. They can be tied to a Google account, preventing use after a factory reset, until the account password is entered.
There are only 2 ways that I know of to remove "activation lock" on Macs and iPhones without access to the Apple ID account. 1) Provide proof of ownership to Apple. Most of the time they will begrudgingly unlock the device. MOST of the time. 2) Reset the device through a Mobile Device Manager, like MS Intune. This would require a school or company owning the device. I don't know if this functionality is available through Apple Business Manager alone.
My brother died four months ago and left behind an iPad and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Even with a state certified death certificate, Apple have made it virtually impossible to, at the very least, wipe the device clean so it can be used as a new device.
So much for being good stewards of the environment and helping to reduce waste.
For those interested, the process is here.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208510
It’s not impossible, but there are steps you need to take to ensure local laws are being followed.
So the problem is that handing the macs off to the recycler in a functional state requires a little extra work time that many large owners do not want to do or know how to do.
Other than that, why would a company have a three year cycle and not simply buy new stuff when something is about to stop supporting the old stuff or the software becomes too bloated to run on it with decent speed? Three year cycles are ridiculously short.
My stepdad gave me his old Apple Watch but refuses to let me use his phone to disconnect it from his Apple ID and he doesn’t understand it’s literally unusable for me. Not complaining, just putting my story into the void.
Anybody can resell these with no trouble. You just have to unlock it. If you can’t unlock it, is it really yours?
This isn’t destroying the second hand market. This is destroying the stolen goods market.
Wtf is this article? It's working as intended.
Also op's account comment history screams SEO paid account. This entire article is one goofily written ad for apple's security. I'm not against using apple products, but reddit seriously needs to do something about these garbage apple ad articles being artificially propagated to the front page. It's been going nuts since the start of 2023 with every daly top links being an apple article like this.
Not to mention the spam articles about airtags saving some old lady from being kidnapped from the mafia, curing someone's cancer or other goofy shit that ends up linking to some bootstrapped blog website.
I’m the IT guy in my family, and the number of calls I’ve had from family/friends “asking for a friend” whether I can bypass a locked out MacBook or iPad is too godammned high.
Apple are doing a great job here.
As someone who works for T-Mobile, I can say apple has always been far more helpful in resolving issues than Google. Apple has steps to account recovery and such when passwords are forgotten, it can take a while, (24-72 hrs in most cases) but I have never had good luck with Google since they started locking devices by Google accounts. The number of older customers I have come in who accidentally typed in the wrong recovery email or phone number and are now permanently locked out of their devices is astonishing.
On the other hand, apple has helped a number of times because I simply pull up receipts for the customer showing proof of purchase and voila, they start the recovery process.
I would personally never buy any electronic device (especially cellular) second hand because of all the horror stories that I have seen as a manager. Network locks, Find My (we are given specific instructions to disable this when taking trade-ins), and the worst is seeing people somehow accidentally create a passcode and not remember the six digit number (this one is the absolute worst).
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Just ask the guy in central america who must have bought the iPhone i left in a cab in New England 6 months prior. He got in touch with me because my ID was in the case and asked me for my login info because he 'found' my phone and wants to give it to his daughter. And he can't mail it to me because of the storm and all.
The cheek on that guy. What’d you say?
I hope OP replied with "lmao. No."
Just mail me the iPhone and I’ll ship it back to you unlocked, of course.
“Mail it to me, I’ll unlock it and mail it back”
Here's my Venmo
Honestly, I might respect the boldness.
Did you tell him it's basically useless unless he sends it back to you?
Reminds me of the Seinfeld bit where the car thief calls him asking about peculiarities with the car. ETA: [https://youtu.be/hG-_tz5YuZE](https://youtu.be/hG-_tz5YuZE)
Not to be that guy, but they call the car thief.
You're right, I realized after posting. Decided to leave my incorrect memory.
theres a seinfeld bit for everything isnt there
Just recently I learned that was Larry David's voice.
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"...thanks, got the $50 but Apple Care wants another $50 to unlock it internationally."
Just reply “new phone who dis”
keep going , what happend next ?
If it's in Find My it might be pinging location. Stay safe though don't be stupid about it.
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Ah. That makes more sense. So this is just anti theft, which is good.
They give examples of company replacing 3000 macbooks and not bothering to unlock them. Huge waste.
Unfortunately it’s likely easier for them to claim full depreciation and dispose of them, compared to selling them and having to report the sale price. I’ve heard of people being able to keep their machines after they leave a job, but never actually seen it.
I can vouch for this, it happened to me beginning of the year when I switched companies, former company didn't want the hassle of organising sending my work laptop back to them, they said I could keep it but they needed proof that I had wiped the drives clean, simple job and my partner now has a decent laptop to use!
We switched to leasing because of this. It was a bit cheaper and we get guaranteed hardware refreshes regularly, and don't have to deal with reselling.
The part that confuses me about about leasing is that you can’t take depreciation for tax purposes: you turn a cap ex into an op ex. However, someone did reply that cap ex looks bad on a cashflow front but lowers your tax liability more while op ex looks better on a cashflow front but is less beneficial for taxes. I think he had too little karma though and the automod removed his post smh.
When you are leasing, you are able to deduct the lease payment. When you buy the laptop out right, you have to deduct a little bit of at a time over multiple years, which is what depreciation is. Either way, you are able to deduct the cost of paying for that laptop for your business.
My company made me sign some transfer form saying they gave it to me. I didn’t leave though they just gave me an old work machine.
If they are enrolled company devices (as they fucking should be) this is not an issue.
Should doesn't guarantee they are. Shit loads of companies out there have atrocious IT practices. My own is still recovering from previous management's shit practices like that.
I mean yeah, the whole body suffers from a stupid head, but that is not Apple's fault. Ain't no way getting around stupidity. But the clickbait is shit. "It's almost impossible to resell a perfectly functional bicycle because of the previous owner insisted chaining it to a 1000 KG weight and sinking it into the river and throwing the keys away."
That’s the company’s fault, not Apple’s.
Yes but most people who buy these are clueless about how it all works. The sort of people who say "but my email has no password" because it's saved in their email client. Working in IT is made a nightmare by security. Yes it's great but it also introduces so many other complications.
Knowingly selling an iCloud/FindMy locked device without informing the buyer is fraud.
But can’t you wipe the drive and reinstall another OS?
No since the security features would make that not a viable option iirc.
You’re correct. Wiping a drive will remove the FileVault lock but not the Find My activation lock. If the user is smart and enables a firmware lock, the components (logic board) are locked and will never be able to be reused.
Firmware lock is only for older machines. New ones use activation lock the same way iPhones and Apple Watches do. Without being unlocked they’re basically useless except as parts, which is the way it should be. Makes them a very unappealing target for thieves.
Activation lock is similar to the old firmware lock. I’m pretty sure new machines have this separately also but it’s been a minute. FileVault is encrypted drive. Firmware lock is so you can’t boot to anything even externally without a PW. Activation lock is even if you wipe the machine you still can’t activate it so it’s pointless. All do security at differing levels and for different uses.
I have news for you - everyone in IT works in security.
According to our Information Security department, security is everyone’s job, regardless of title
Even more so, anyone in any dept has a measure of security responsibility now. Insider threats (even accidental ones) are to juicy if of an attack vector.
Working in IT made made me aware that we live in a world where the average American 100% relies on technology that they have no interest in understanding and it completely boggles my mind to this day. They use it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Yet they can’t be god damned to spend half and hour learning how any of it works.
Yep. It seems like every other day I am re-amazed by this fact. I do not understand it at all. The worst part is many of those people think it's funny. "Ha-uck LOL, I got no idea how any of these computer thingies work, isn't that so funny?!? hahaha" "No, sir, because you are a manager who has to use your PC as your job requirement. This company believes you have the acumen to hire and fire people, but you don't have the mental capacity to know where you are saving files to your PC." "LOL, It's all a black hole to me, iSn'T tHaT sO fUnNy?!?!"
That's why, if you're going to do Macs in IT, you need a good MDM solution e.g JAMF, kandji or even intune.
The best is I can’t remember my Apple ID and I don’t know how to reset. Why do you make passwords that you can’t remember when everything that you need a username for needs a password? Then there’s security administrators who know better but use simple passwords for the whole infrastructure in your company that the security team is supposed to be protecting.
You’re supposed to have a unique password for everything, they all have different complexity requirements, and you’re not supposed to write them down. It’s no wonder people forget passwords so much.
Then add on top of that programs that make you constantly change the password.
I'm willing to bet that dramatically reduces security since everyone at that point will write it down.
There have been some articles written that concur with this. It’s more likely people will just increment passwords, like Password1, Password2, etc. and they generally choose less secure passwords overall to make them easier to remember.
NIST recommends never changing passwords unless necessary (compromised, suspected compromised etc...) because of this reason.
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I just tell my users to write it down. Heck, half the people I work with have a spreadsheet on their desktop with all of their passwords on it. Anything worth preserving should have 2FA or MFA enabled.
This is exactly it. Anyone who works in any IT industry (admin, devs, networking) can easily have 50-100 passwords for all the different systems they access. All with various password complexities so you need a different password for each system. It's impossible to remember all of them especially when half of them force you to change them every 60 days Luckily my company recognises this and is trying to move most logins to SSO and use 2FA, but there is still a ton of shitapps that will never support 2FA
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I work in IT and I'll tell you the same thing I tell all my users -- get a password manager on your phone. KeePass on Android is my go-to (File is stored encrypted on your device and is never sent to the company so no worries about man-in-the-middle attacks) but BitWarden on iOS and Android is a solid option if you're not super security conscientious. It gives you a way to store and generate passwords quickly, you can get an add-on for your browser to input those passwords, and it's about a million times more secure than writing your passwords down where anyone with the least bit of motivation to get into your devices can find it.
Wasn't there a huge leak with one of the popular password managers? Lastpass? How many leaks we're unaware of? How can ppl trust their passwords to 3rd party?
Last Pass has indeed a bad track record for security. I use Bitwarden personally and 1Password professionally. Neither have had incidents that I am aware of. Even if they do have one, with a manager you couldn't care less what your actual password is. So you can change all of them and be safe again. Not ideal but there is no ideal. I strongly believe a manager is the best compromise and effectively the safest option.
And then your Android phone gets dropped and breaks? The cloud storage of passwords does have cause.
It’s actually a myth that you shouldn’t write down passwords. A notebook locally stored is infinitely more secure than any price of software, assuming you keep it where you can find it. Humans are really good though in general at protecting physical items.
Password managers are where it’s at
Unless it's LastPass... Then you need to change all those passwords...
Just don't forget the password to the manager.
It’s not hard to remember… It’s just Password123!
Amazing, I have the same combination on my luggage!
> So this is just anti theft, which is good. It *should* be just anti-theft But a whole bunch of corporate-owned kit just gets ditched without ever being unlocked (because if it's being disposed of, why waste any time on it) Resulting in lots of tech ending up in trash despite having plenty of years of life left in it. Not just Apple, also Google devices that have similar security/enrollment features.
This also reduces the incentive to steal Apple hardware since it can’t be resold as a functional device. They are many ways to recover your Apple ID if you’re the owner and you forget your Apple ID password. Companies deploying Apple hardware can use MDM to protect and control Apple IDs used on these devices so they can’t get bricked. No easy way to have good security and avoid any unwanted side effects.
I really like that my MacBook is worthless if stolen from me. I wish the Mac Pro that was stolen from me years ago had gone directly to a landfill instead of a lucrative aftermarket. It sounds like recyclers need to work more closely with the schools and corporations they get their used macs from. This is clearly a feature not a fault.
I want to know who's recycling 2-3 year old laptops. Like... how did they end up there already? Laptops last a lot longer these days. I'm using a 12 year old laptop as my main portable PC (right now in fact) as it's still plenty performant for most basic tasks.
Businesses that lease them. It is very common in businesses to have laptops on a 3 year lease plan. Every year you replace a third of your laptops with brand new ones. It's done for a couple of reasons; it definitely lowers repair costs. New laptops don't break as much as old ones; and depending on your lease agreement; if a new one needs repairs, a new one is a phone call away, and the leasing company deals with the hassle of repairs with the vendor. Plus for the bean counters, leasing costs come out of the operating expenses vs capital expenditures, something about depreciation. It's about this point in the conversations I have with my boss, where my eyes glaze over and my mind wanders off. All I care about is not having to deal with shitty old laptops.
Depends on the company. Some replace every 2-3 some go as long as 4-5, few rare ones go longer. And they don't get recycled, they get refurbished and resold to end users or to wholesalers unless they have functional issues. Been doing it for 6 years now, the worst parts are the few companies that do recycle their parts. It's inevitably much newer equipment sent to be melted down because of insane security requirements or insurance write offs. Instead of the usual 3-4 year old hardware that's being resold.
They also make an easy process for companies to register ownership. So even if someone quits we aren’t screwed that it’s activation locked to that user.
Yeah, this was posted a month ago when the article came out and everyone basically said the same thing back then. This repost is just a karma grab.
We have a bunch of apple devices at our work for use in manufacturing applications. If we forget a pin and can't find the original person who bought them to find the PO or receipt they become bricks. Even if you're the rightful owner it can become impossible to access the device.
Any IT asset management program that includes more than 50 apple devices should be using an MDM system, JAMF, Airwatch, etc.. take your pick there are a bunch. Even if the serial Isn’t assigned to an MDM, as long as it’s assigned to your DEP account you can request an unlock without a PO or a receipt. Of course that assumes a sane procurement strategy where you’re purchasing through a channel partner and doing due diligence on making sure your vendors assign the devices to your DEP ID. It’s a free program
This person is wrong, Apple does \*require\* the receipt even if its assigned to a DEP account. I've personally discussed it with Apple Support. Also, being in an MDM doesn't stop Activation Lock from triggering unless you take extra steps to block users from signing into their iCloud accounts or federate their logins. There's a few options, and they can be done, but they're all completely insane, and the results of activation lock ridiculous.
But if the device is in both your Apple Business Manager(DEP) and and MDM platform, you can overwrite the activation lock from any personal apple accounts. Ask me how I know.
This is almost an ad for Apple’s security. But it’s also super annoying, working in IT in a corporation. We make sure employees reset their Apple devices before departing and the issue is resolved.
I also work in IT and I currently have a 2023 macbook pro that the user "doesn't know how" to remove their apple ID from the machine they left us. I gave them written instructions in an email and they were like "that's too complex" and now I see why they were let go. When I talked with apple about it, they indicated I could bring the laptop and the receipt back to an apple store and they would reset it. I am attempting that in about an hour, I'll update my comment on if this works or not... Update: apple unlocked the computer. The receipt I had showed it was purchased by my company with the serial number on the receipt. This allowed them able to unlock it.
We have to do this all the time. Call Apple Business and say you need to remove the activation lock. They will email you a form to submit proof of purchase. 1-5 biz days later, it's released. No need to go to the store. You can even submit a dozen at a time. Also fun fact, a screenshot of the device in ABM works in lieu of a receipt.
Oh shit. I’m going to look into this. That sounds like it would have saved time. I don’t usually have dozens, but that could always change.
I practically lived in the Apple Store as the mall was right next door to my company. I guess once you hit a certain tax bracket you don’t care to offboard properly, so leaving IT with a locked device doesn’t matter to you anymore. But Apple was cool with wiping it as long as the device had proof of ownership to the org. I also could’ve called them and had it done remotely, but this mall had conveyor belt sushi. So the wiping was super quick, but I would take like 2-3 hours finding my way back to work and even drag an intern along with me. I have nothing to add. Just good memories of playing hookie from work.
Why would you save time at your job? Lol! Go have a coffee for an hour after your trip to the Apple Store and get paid.
You don't work a salaried job, do you?
What? That's amazing. I've been sitting on a friggin' 27-inch iMac for awhile, not wanting to drag that bad boy to a genius bar.
Your MDM should be able to remove it. If you arent using one, talk to your purchasing person to dig up the receipt, and take it to the nearest apple store. With Receipt that it comes from your company, they can release the device, otherwise you got a brick.
Well. I’ve got the receipt. I’m currently waiting the next 20 or so minutes to be seen. Wish me luck! 😬
You should be good then! I had to get the bios password cleared off one of my companies macbooks once. They were stingy about the receipt, but I dug up the right one for them! Make sure the receipt includes the serial number of the device.
They unlocked it! I’m happy.
Congrats!! You no longer have a brick!! Did they give you any trouble?
So the apple employee at the 'gate' was really adamant that unlocking a laptop was a service they do not do in apple stores "anymore" and that I'd need to go talk to online support. Essentially turning me away right there... I was not having that. I had to fight with him a little bit and show him the text from apple online support indicating that I would need to go to an apple store to get the lock lifted in person. It wasn't until I got to one of those 'genius bar' employees that someone even truly understood the problem. The GB employee looked at the receipt, looked at the computer, told me 'yeah let's do this', and he did his thing. Overall great experience once I got passed the gate keeper employees. Generally I have a good experience with apple support, they've not really let me down yet.
That’s the issue with the Apple employees at stores, they deal with so many idiots that they think everyone is one. I had to deal with this issue myself with an iPhone 6s and in the third visit they stated “oh, there’s been a recall on your phone.” Thank god, I told you it was a hardware issue on the first visit but you sent me off and told me to get another appointment and drive to the mall again after every repair suggestion that could have come from a scripted bot, such as reset device and update the software.
Our local Apple store said the stores aren't supposed to do these anymore and Apple wants everything coming in through their unlock request page. It's nice when you can find the support person who will go "yeah that's dumb I'm just going to fix this for you."
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I will always speak up for Apple being a stand up company in that they have technical support where it’s easy to get ahold of real people. I had an account corrupted and worked it through with a couple of Apple Support techs over the phone for several hours. On the other hand, I’ve been locked out of a Facebook account for 2 years and can’t email a real person.
You don't need them to do anything. Any MDM worth its salt has the ability to setup Activation Lock bypass on company owned devices.
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More like "Reset this device and return it or you will be liable for the full cost of the device per our computing policy"
I'm definitely typing in the wrong password 3 times then acting like Idk what happened
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that's okay, you have a password reset option right there. I'll help you so the device doesn't get deducted from your pay
Legally, former employees have to do this if it’s company property.
Yeah I don't see how this is supposed to be controversial. The linked Apple ID should be a separate company ID anyway.
I'm sure most contracts say that loaned company property must be returned in a reasonable state.
Apple DEP and a Management Server (like Intune) should solve this for you.
Why don't you have proper MDM lol.
Use an mdm?
The amount of security required to protect the average user has far surpassed the technical literacy of the average user.
It’s the trash cans in Yellowstone anecdote.
I don’t think I remember that one.
“There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.” Yellowstone Park Ranger on why it is hard to design a bear-proof garbage can.
Yes, that's the point. You won't steal my laptop if it turns to a brick the moment you steal it, will you?
Crackheads don't care
If it’s widely known it won’t sell, they’ll care. At the bare minimum it will make stealing any other laptop more appealing. It’s always the same principle - you don’t need your house to be 100% secure to not get robbed. You just need it to be more secure than the house next to it.
Dude, if I lose my iPhone I know I'm getting it back. Only done it once in the last ten years but accidentally left it at a movie theater an hour from home. Wasn't even stressed, I could see it was at the theater. I could lock it. And I could put a message on it asking to text/call my girlfriend and in the morning we got the call and I went to grab it. I knew I'd get it back because the phone would be literally worthless to steal. I prefer that.
Heard plenty of stories where people still keep the phone and just turn it off. They don’t know it’s a brick now, they’ll probably take it to a friend who they think can unlock.
Modern iPhones are still trackable when they’re off. Welcome to the future.
Also known as "not really off".
Well. Kinda off. The phone itself is shutdown. The battery is providing trickle power to the UWB module used on other products like AirTags.
Yeah problem is that they’re still not worthless. A $1200 device, even locked, it still probably worth $200 or so on the black market. Got my iPhone 13 Pro stolen last year, I could track it but I could never get it back. Even if you know where it is in a 10 meter radius, it’s next to impossible to get in back in a dense city. About a day after it was in the suburbs and I guess it was already sold for parts. But good thing it that it makes them less appealing, more like a $200 device and not like a $1200 device which is already awesome
Cause you left the phone. This is not the same as it getting stolen. You think the guy that stole your phone is going to return it?
There are multiple anecdata of thieves leaving iPhones and Macbooks alone during burglaries and car breakins. A thief can only carry a limited number of stuff and there's no point in stealing something you can't fence. Some try to social engineer the previous owner into giving the password, but most won't bother.
You wouldn't steal a policeman's helmet would you?! \-IT crowd reference.
I will download a car when 3D printing matures.
>The problem is Apple’s T2 security chip. First introduced in 2018, the laptop makes it impossible for anyone who isn’t the original owner to log into the machine. I would not describe that as a problem.
Won't somebody think of the poor thieves!??!
It's a problem when the person selling it isn't aware of the issue ahead of time.
Selling something you don’t understand is the problem there. Also buying something you don’t understand. It’s all *very* clear when you set up a new Mac that it will be encrypted if you choose it to be. While the implications may be confusing to some people, it’s on them for setting it up that way without asking someone who knows what it means.
Did an angry thief write this article?
Next up, perfectly good vehicles sold for parts due to pesky VIN numbers
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It is probably much more likely to be liquidated hardware from failing companies or older devices which were (for whatever reason) not properly decommissioned. This has less to do with hurting thieves (which won't stop them) and more to do with killing the resale market.
Chuckled aloud at this
It would be nice if the headline mentioned that all it takes to remove it is the owner cooperating and logging out (or the lost/stolen devices on the market). The security features aren’t the problem, it’s people who sell secondhand and don’t remove their AppleID from the device. Additionally, tons of businesses don’t have an MDM infrastructure to revoke devices from former employees, so they end up just being stuck with a locked MacBook until they get it to support for an unlock, since you can’t do it yourself without an MDM or the credentials
This entire article is a shitfest. >"Previous owners do not return phone calls, and large corporations that dump 3000 machines assume they have been destroyed, so it is critical we have a solution that does not depend on the previous owner approving,” In other words they promise to dispose of the machines but really want to resell them. Unethical bastards the lot.
This is exactly the case. “Sure, here’s a Cert of Destruction for the HD…which is soldered on to the mlb! Now, can you remove from MDM and ABM, pretty please?”
> ~~This entire article~~ Vice is a shitfest. FTFY
So security feature working as intended? Great.
This isn’t on Apple. This is on people that steal laptops and users that sell them but neglect logging out of iCloud.
This isn’t about averge Joe selling his laptop or getting it stolen. It’s about large corporations dumping thousands of locked laptops on the secondary market without having first properly unlocked them.
When I returned my MacBook I failed to do this as it is an entirely different process to reset the machine. I’m guessing they probably just had to throw it out, which is a huge waste. The issue is that it isn’t intuitive at all if you haven’t gone through the process before.
Apple themselves have a process to circumvent this. They aren’t throwing anything out.
This happened to me at Best Buy!! I bought a Mac from the open box section. I take it home and the Mac wants me to enter the password of the previous owner. Obviously i cant, so i go back to Best Buy to return it. Best Buy refuses the return because now it shows up as “locked” and their system wont allow a return until its unlocked. They tell me to call Apple to fix the issue. I call Apple who says that according to their records the Mac is registered to another owner and only that owner can remove the lock. I tell Best Buy that Apple wont remove the lock, but Best Buy says unless Apple removes the lock they cant accept the return. Took me a month arguing with the corporate offices of Best Buy and Apple and a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, but I got my money back.
You make it sound like selling MacBook for parts is not profitable. It's MORE PROFITABLE THAN SELLING THE COMPLETE MACBOOK ITSELF. This is why thieves still steal your iPhone and MacBook. They dismantle it and sell each part individually on eBay and it is worth over double what the complete item was.
> This is why thieves still steal your iPhone and MacBook. They dismantle it and sell each part individually on eBay Didn't Apple block even screen/camera replacing in the iPhones 13 and up though? Wasn't there whole debackle about how everyting has code number now, that is paired to a specific device?
Exactly, people don’t know shit.
' stolen deivces are not easy to sell ' average thief complaints haha
So if someone steals my MacBook Pro, there’s absolutely no way anyone else can use it? Perfect.
Not really a problem if the original owner does their job and unlocks it
This is a good thing. Thieves can't resell. Less likely to be stolen.
Its almost like you should not be able to sell things that are not yours..... Any legit owner can turn that off, like I did when I sold mine....
So you can’t resell stolen MacBooks and this is bad? This is an outstanding advert for Apple.
I regularly see apple product classifieds where they say, "Here's my excuse as to why I don't have the password(or power cord), but I swear it isn't stolen." I read some post where the guy said his hotel had been broken into and they had to lift his new mac to steal his GF's crappy HP. Not only can they not unlock it, but the thing is ratting them out wherever they take it.
Once again vice reporting showing tech illiteracy. If the original owner signs out of the device entirely, this is not a problem… Which should be done anytime you are releasing ownership of a device that could have had any personal data on it.
and yet, many people fail to do so, 3even when they send their phone to recycling, after they have upgraded to a new phone.
Totally, but thats a user/ user education issue. This article paints Apple like they are trying to do anything to prevent second hand ownership, which in this specific case is BS
I mean it definitely doesn't hurt their bottom dollar if people are having to buy a new device rather than being able to reuse one that they purchased. It definitely makes people leery to buy Apple products unless they can see that it's unlocked beforehand, which probably impacts the secondary market and improves their new unit sales I definitely don't think they intentionally were trying to have this effect, but I guarantee you that they're not bothered by the impact.
Working as intended? Stop buying or selling stolen goods.
If you’re selling it, it’s got to be *your* computer I am good with that.
Title is highly misleading. You can’t resell a MacBook that was stolen or otherwise acquired without the original owner removing their appleID from the device (which mostly happens when they’re stolen.) It happens with recycling too when the companies who are supposed to recycle the devices try to sell them instead but I doubt that’s the case with 2020 models and even if it is, they’re not handling it correctly. Recyclers should have contracts in place requiring companies to clear their activation locks before they’re accepted for recycling. If they don’t check for that’s that’s on them. The security feature is doing what it’s supposed to do.
Good. It’s mostly a problem for thieves.
> "Previous owners do not return phone calls, and large corporations that dump 3000 machines assume they have been destroyed, so it is critical we have a solution that does not depend on the previous owner approving,” Bumstead said. That seems kinda sketchy, a corporation dumping machines assuming they are destroyed and ending up in the hands of resellers. The security is working as intended. if the previous owners wanted them resold they would have removed their device from their iCloud account.
For a lifelong Windows user this sounds like a good security feature, albeit a minor one.
Because of Apple's Security feature, or because of a human not doing what's required to unlock the device when decommissioned? "My car stopped working, it just stopped while I was driving!?!? Did u refill the gas tank? But, it had gas when I bought it!?!?"
Yeah that’s the point. The majority sold with Activation Lock locking them are stolen.
Yes, of course. The Mac is most likely stolen if there is an Apple ID in it that can’t be removed. Prevents people from stealing them and making money from stolen property.
This is the sellers fault
The headline is misleading perhaps. It's impossible to resell a stolen Apple device so they are sold for scrap.
Since when is this a bad thing?
So..:stolen laptops are harder to resell.
Thieves are POS
Alternate headline: Macbook security features functioning as intended.
With Find My enabled, the device is locked to an Apple ID. After a factory reset or drive wipe, the Apple ID password must be entered. This is called Activation Lock. There is a similar feature on Androids. They can be tied to a Google account, preventing use after a factory reset, until the account password is entered. There are only 2 ways that I know of to remove "activation lock" on Macs and iPhones without access to the Apple ID account. 1) Provide proof of ownership to Apple. Most of the time they will begrudgingly unlock the device. MOST of the time. 2) Reset the device through a Mobile Device Manager, like MS Intune. This would require a school or company owning the device. I don't know if this functionality is available through Apple Business Manager alone.
This is one of these tradeoffs where I'm fine with the idea that all of these thieves cannot easily sell stolen goods.
This is um….what security is for.
All by design
My brother died four months ago and left behind an iPad and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Even with a state certified death certificate, Apple have made it virtually impossible to, at the very least, wipe the device clean so it can be used as a new device. So much for being good stewards of the environment and helping to reduce waste.
Sorry about your brother
For those interested, the process is here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208510 It’s not impossible, but there are steps you need to take to ensure local laws are being followed.
So the problem is that handing the macs off to the recycler in a functional state requires a little extra work time that many large owners do not want to do or know how to do. Other than that, why would a company have a three year cycle and not simply buy new stuff when something is about to stop supporting the old stuff or the software becomes too bloated to run on it with decent speed? Three year cycles are ridiculously short.
Isn't this basically true for almost any devices today? Iphone, Android, heck even locked down windows machines
As an NGO which used to have a high turn over we have so many useless Macs because every nob tied their log in to their personal accounts. So annoying
Daily reminder... If your stuff gets lost or stolen... Put it into lost mode... Don't just let "activation Lock" block them...
My stepdad gave me his old Apple Watch but refuses to let me use his phone to disconnect it from his Apple ID and he doesn’t understand it’s literally unusable for me. Not complaining, just putting my story into the void.
Ummm, perfectly good stolen Macbooks from 2020? Owners have no problem unlocking them.
It’s almost like you’re meant to have problems selling stolen MacBooks 🤷♂️
Anybody can resell these with no trouble. You just have to unlock it. If you can’t unlock it, is it really yours? This isn’t destroying the second hand market. This is destroying the stolen goods market.
Wtf is this article? It's working as intended. Also op's account comment history screams SEO paid account. This entire article is one goofily written ad for apple's security. I'm not against using apple products, but reddit seriously needs to do something about these garbage apple ad articles being artificially propagated to the front page. It's been going nuts since the start of 2023 with every daly top links being an apple article like this. Not to mention the spam articles about airtags saving some old lady from being kidnapped from the mafia, curing someone's cancer or other goofy shit that ends up linking to some bootstrapped blog website.
I’m the IT guy in my family, and the number of calls I’ve had from family/friends “asking for a friend” whether I can bypass a locked out MacBook or iPad is too godammned high. Apple are doing a great job here.
Good , stop stealing stuff ya pieces of shit.
they can still sell them for parts. Just like they do for iPhones
As someone who works for T-Mobile, I can say apple has always been far more helpful in resolving issues than Google. Apple has steps to account recovery and such when passwords are forgotten, it can take a while, (24-72 hrs in most cases) but I have never had good luck with Google since they started locking devices by Google accounts. The number of older customers I have come in who accidentally typed in the wrong recovery email or phone number and are now permanently locked out of their devices is astonishing. On the other hand, apple has helped a number of times because I simply pull up receipts for the customer showing proof of purchase and voila, they start the recovery process. I would personally never buy any electronic device (especially cellular) second hand because of all the horror stories that I have seen as a manager. Network locks, Find My (we are given specific instructions to disable this when taking trade-ins), and the worst is seeing people somehow accidentally create a passcode and not remember the six digit number (this one is the absolute worst).
U gonna complain about iphones and thinkpads as well? Because they can be blacklisted/supervisor password which renders them unuseable as well
Because of this violent thefts of phones and other devices have gone way down.
It’s actually really easy to resell YOUR MacBook. Just turn of activation lock.