Found locked Ipad 1 year ago and no owners came, now what?

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Level 1

12 points

Found locked Ipad 1 year ago and no owners came, now what?

Really?! The only question on this google shows is from 2018. All of the top hit answers say turn into police. Can you imagine how many apple devices city police departments have piling up? And then, the answers, the top hits on google .. from years ago!... say that these devices are designed to never be unlocked. Well, I find it useless to give yet more products to a city department that will never see a single working wage member of that force's pockets (or anyone on the community).

So, the question remains: What do you do with an Ipad that you found a year ago and left charged so they could use find my and to no contact from the previous owner. It was clearly a child's iPad by the case and Lock Screen photo. It has been over a year, it is a 2019 model. I tried to restore and update from restore mode.. it just went back to lock screen. It's been on this mode before.

I obviously can. to directly set it up on my wifi.. but if using my MacBook to attempt this doesn't allow for some kind of find my to engage... the what is the point of find my?

A feature that totally failed me on my full charged AirPod pros.

And so... ? Do people just throw away these fully functioning devices? Just give them to ? Restore to factory settings some how? Apple store is less helpful than online support, or I would try there.

Like, I get protecting from stealing but this is extremely wasteful if that's it. Lose it, its landfill material.

Any clear, updated advice and information on options would be appreciated, thanks.

iPad Air 4 Wi-Fi

Posted on Jul 22, 2022 7:19 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

-Bubba-

Level 6

10,344 points

Jul 23, 2022 1:03 AM in response to KMari44

KMari44 wrote:

Like, I get protecting from stealing but this is extremely wasteful if that's it. Lose it, its landfill material.

You can turn it in to be recycled at any Apple Store, or see here for more information - Recycling Services - Apple

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Answer 2

Jul 22, 2022 7:23 PM in response to KMari44

Find My is a theft deterrent system, which can ONLY be bypassed by the person who put the lock on the device. That's not you, so the answer is NEVER going to change. Either turn the iPad over to the authorities or recycle it. Apple will NEVER help you with this device, nor can we.

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Answer 3

KMari44 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 23, 2022 4:33 AM in response to lobsterghost1

There is no intent to steal on my part. . However… this is clearly a false sense of security to have this feature. This appears to be the type of iPad, it was just over a year old when found, to have the feature enabled.

Sending to the police truly does nothing.

Another false sense of security.

But thanks for your reply. It does shed light.

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Answer 4

KMari44 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 23, 2022 4:35 AM in response to -Bubba-

Ya, it appears that this is the only thing to do. Knowing the store won’t be looking for the owner I waited. Now, knowing it’s not going to be useful for anything other than scape metal to anyone, I’ll find somewhere to drop it off if not the store. Thanks.

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Answer 5

Jul 23, 2022 8:19 AM in response to KMari44

I wasn't accusing you of having intent to steal. But the entire purpose of Find My Activation Lock is to prevent someone who might have intent to steal, from EVER accessing the users data on the device. It works. Even the FBI was unable to get into a locked device. And Apple will never help someone get into one, unless they can validate ownership with the original purchase receipt, which clearly shows the device serial number on it.

As a Theft Deterrent system, Activation Lock makes thieves less likely to steal Apple devices, because they know they can't be used. Sure, they'll sell a locked device to someone who has no clue they're buying a stolen device. People come here every day asking how to use the device they bought from someone, which is activation locked. 99.99999% of the time, they've just acquired a stolen device. And they're out of whatever cost they paid as there is no hope for them to ever use what they bought.

I for one am grateful that if any of my devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook Pro) gets in the hands of someone else, they will never be able to use my devices or have access to any of my data.

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Answer 6

KiltedTim

Level 10

203,788 points

Jul 23, 2022 8:28 AM in response to KMari44

You do what you should have done a year ago and turn it over to the authorities.

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Found locked Ipad 1 year ago and no owners came, now what?

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