Having our iPhone stolen is a total shame. Not only because of the economic loss, but also because of all the data we have. And although with the Find app and anti-theft mode activated iPhones are useless to thievesThey always find a way to make a profit.
The majority of iPhones stolen in USA end up in Africa, even if they have reached travel thousands of kilometers in China and Japan. Why do they travel there? To disassemble and then resell the batteries, screens and cameras on the second-hand black market for repair.
With iOS 18, iPhone parts that do not match the original model can be detected
If your iPhone breaks down, we will always recommend that you contact an official technical service, whether it is an Apple Store or a certified repair center. Otherwise, there is a risk that Parts are not original or come from stolen iPhones. Let us also recall the case of a user who left his iPhone for repair in the Canary Islands and found a hole in the bank of 5,000 dollars.
To continue to stop this “mafia” of iPhone parts, iOS 18 includes a new feature that, although For now, it’s just informative.is an additional step to help users recognize if their part is original or if it was stolen from a stolen iPhone.
Replaceable parts like battery, screen, camera, etc. of iPhone 12 and later can now be linked to your Apple account and enable Activation Lock if installed on another iPhone.
This feature is now active in iOS 18 RC. pic.twitter.com/6COr8ACsaE
— Beta Profiles (@BetaProfiles) September 12, 2024
As reported by Beta Profiles, a message was found in iOS 18 RC that informs about the possibility of linking a repair part (battery, screen, camera) to an Apple ID. This is a full activation locksimilar to Find My iPhone but associated with parts of the iPhone itself. This is an early version of this “lock”, although you can always cancel this pairing and continue using the iPhone without have to log in to the previous owner’s Apple account
It remains unclear whether Apple will go further and disable the thousands of counterfeit and stolen parts used in repair centers. While this would be the right thing to do, it would affect many people around the world by leaving their iPhones locked, which there would be too much controversy. For now, the feature exists and already reports a stolen part on another iPhone. The next step? Something more risky, but with the technology and systems already ready to do it.
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