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Released September 16, 2016. Model 1660, 1778 Available as GSM or CDMA / 32, 128 or 256 GB / Rose gold, gold, silver, black, and jet black.

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iPhone 7 FMI question

Hello IFIXIT Community,

I recently purchased a broken iPhone 7 on eBay to give myself a challenge, as repair is my hobby. When I first received the device, I did a quick IMEI lookup from the SIM tray. I discovered that Find My iPhone had been enabled, however, the phone itself had not had a SIM card installed or had been connected to the internet before the phone had Find My iPhone first enabled. If I kept the phone offline and then wiped the OS from Recovery Mode and reinstalled, would iCloud Activation Lock occur? I have never really dealt with a device where Find My iPhone has been enabled and don’t want to waste the money on repair if it will just boot up to the iCloud Lock screen, so any advice helps!

: )

Thanks,

Caleb T.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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A) check on ebay for "services" to clear activation/icloud locks. do not search for websites.

B) if the list talks about jailbreaking, teamviewer, or requiring a pc or mac to execute the unlock - ignore these

C) look for ones that first check if the IMIE is lost first and explain the process where they will send you a "document with a code" (in reality a receipt) with your name, ESN and IMEI on it (you provide them that information) so you have a "proof of purchase" to take into an Apple store (make a genius bar appointment first) to show that you purchased the phone. show the apple tech your receipt and tell them that you don't have the icloud account information (you for got it, you bought it for a relative who recently passed, for an ex-SO who won't talk to you anymore, etc. - they're less interested in the story than they are about matching the phone to the information on the receipt, but you have to tell them something) and they'll clear the lock. it will, however, erase everything on the phone.

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FMI is set on Apple server side, device side does not matter.

As long as FMI is turned on at Apple side, activation is blocked from Apple side until the owner releases it from the Apple ID. Whether the device shows FMI or not does not matter.

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So basically there would be no point in trying to swap the logic board if FMI is on?

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The logic board is the phone itself. If you swap it, Apple sees a different phone.

Although it may not be cost effective and you end up with a broken phone.

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@tomchai Better to throw the whole phone out with a FMI lock.

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Ok, thanks! How can I find the original owner for him to remove the device from his account? The guy who sold it to me found it run over in the street.

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@cct7 SOL in this case.

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You will not know for sure until you try and activate it but if it is still activated on the previous owners iCloud account there is nothing you can do besides contacting them or ask for a refund. Sometimes those sites used for checking IMEI show cached information.

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Thanks for the reply!

My logic was in the fact that if the device is locked by iCloud, and if FMI was turned on after the phone went offline, then it wouldn't have a chance to connect to the iCloud servers to figure out that it has FMI on before being wiped. Like I said, I have never really messed with a phone with FMI enabled, so maybe it doesn't work the way I think it does. Does iCloud lock it by using information and codes from the NAND, or does it lock when iCloud connects to the servers?

Thanks,

Caleb

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I didn’t think you could turn on “find my phone” if you were not connected to apples server.

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Does having FMI on guarantee that there will be an Activation Lock?

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@ Caleb, yes , if FMI is ON the deivice have a active Activation Lock.

I never check imei from sim-tray this is not reliable, the sim-tray can be changed. Always check from the circle with the "i" in it at the HELLO screen .

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Caleb Topper will be eternally grateful.
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