Activation Lock Enabled On iOS 8 By Default

Earlier today Apple released iOS 8 to the masses, and while there have been many big changes that Apple has made to the operating system, there are some small ones that might have gone unnoticed by many users. One of these changes that Apple has made is by enabling Activation Lock on iOS devices by default.

The feature was originally announced as being part of iOS 7, but at that time it had to be enabled manually which prompted criticism from lawmakers who felt that the feature should be enabled by default. At the same time, there were lawmakers who had also praised Apple’s Activation Lock as being a good deterrent to smartphone theft.

In fact according to recent reports, it has been revealed that the introduction of Activation Lock has led to a decrease in smartphone theft in at least three cities in the US. For those who are unfamiliar with Activation Lock, it’s basically a feature that requires users to enter their iTunes ID and password to reactivate a phone that might have been erased/wiped through the Find My iPhone app.

The idea behind the feature is to deter smartphone thieves who previously could wipe the data from the phone and resell it as a “clean” device. So what do you guys think? Is enabling Activation Lock by default a good move on Apple’s part? Or do you think that you would have preferred having a say in the matter?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Activation Lock, iOS 8