Good news for personal security, bad news if you're prone to losing your phone one a night out and a regular patron of the Apple Store
According to inside sources,
Apple will no longer repair
iPhones that are reported lost or stolen, meaning you'll have to go through a third party should it be returned.
The policy change comes as per insider outlet,
MacRumors, which came across an internal memo from the tech giant stating how the technicians will now be able to see a message on either the internal MobileGenius or GSX systems flagging that the device has been reported as missing/stolen.
As they go on to explain, Apple technicians must now decline to carry out the repair but will allow for customers to leave with the phone still broken should they come in-store. It is unclear the particulars surrounding if a phone is sent off, though this would be an unlikely course of action for prospective thieves.
The company is now said to be relying on the
GSMA Device Registry, a global registry allowing individuals to report their devices as either missing or stolen, for information regarding individual iPhones.
You can, of course, still go through a third party for repairs - it's always worth double-checking they are a proper AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider) - but the company itself is no longer running the risk of releasing phones and their personal data without any guarantee of who the owner is.
While many are now suggesting that this should be a service Apple continues to provide so long as they receive proper authentification, others are asking why this step hadn't been taken sooner.
As it turns out, many people have been leaning towards
trying out Apple's self-repair kits from home - albeit to varying degrees of success.
So, while Apple won't repair lost or stolen phones anymore, you are already getting an extra layer of protection should it go walkabout or end up stolen. Given how affordable it is these days, our advice would always be to get phone insurance.
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