Apple has unveiled the Activation Lock status page for its Activation Lock feature as a way to keep you from buying a stolen iPhone or iPad.
The website is part of iCloud and makes sure that Activation Lock, which is for iOS 7 and later, is switched on for your Apple device, according to The Verge.
A desktop browser is needed to access the page, but it doesn't have support for Safari.
iPhone and iPad users normally need their account password to erase their devices, Ars Technica reported. Users would have to enter the Apple ID password of the previous owner as part of the first-time setup process to use their phone again, even if a thief put the device in Recovery Mode and manually wiped away the data it had. However, this is not the case with the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's new website.
The new Activation Lock status page is for people who are buying or selling an iPhone or iPad and want to check their device's activation lock status without having the device on them. By entering in the device's serial number or IMEI, users can see if their device is locked.
However, the status page comes with limits, such as only featuring links to Apple help pages and only being designed to check Activation Lock statuses, Ars Technica reported. Users can't override the feature with the page or get any information on the ID that was used to lock the device.
Apple users should know that when they see "Activation Lock: On," they are only being told that Find My Phone is on for their device, which makes it worth checking to make sure Find My Phone is disabled in case the device hasn't been factory reset, The Verge reported.
Activation Lock appears to have made an impact in bringing down phone theft in the U.S., as data from law enforcement agencies shows, PCWorld reported. The first six months following the feature's release in September 2013 saw a 38 percent drop in iPhone robberies in San Francisco, and the first five months of 2014 saw a 19 percent drop of these incidents in New York City.
