PhoneDecoded
Get started
Apple hardware · Before you pay the seller

Activation Lock and Find My Status

A seller can wipe an iPhone and still leave it attached to their Apple Account — the phone looks factory-fresh right up to the moment it asks for an email address you do not have. This check reads the record that decides that, from the IMEI alone, while you are still stood next to them.

Sign in to run

Dial *#06# on the handset to display its IMEI.

This check runs against a live device database. Create a free account to run it.

Takes a moment, and your results are saved to your account.

Create free account I already have one
The distinction that costs people money

“Erased” is not the same as “released”

Switching on Find My writes a pairing between the device serial and one Apple Account on Apple’s activation servers. Erase All Content and Settings wipes the storage; it does not touch that pairing unless the account is signed out first, and on a handset that is already locked or dead the owner never gets the chance.

So the sequence that catches buyers out is entirely innocent. The seller resets the phone, hands over something that boots to the Hello screen, and it is only when you walk through setup at home that it asks for an Apple Account ending in an address you have never seen. By then the money has gone and the seller has stopped replying.

The record is readable in advance, which is the whole point of this page. Ask for the IMEI, run it here, and you know before you pay. A result of ON is not necessarily dishonesty — most sellers simply do not know the difference — but it does mean the deal is not done until they fix it.

The three answers you can get

OFF
Nobody holds it — setup will complete for you
ON
Still attached to an account — ask the seller to release it
Lost Mode
Someone has marked it missing — walk away from this one

A live test beats any lookup. Before you hand over cash, make the seller walk the phone through setup in front of you until the home screen appears. A device that reaches the home screen with your SIM in it has nothing left to hide.

Bought it already and it is asking for an account you do not have? Read what that screen actually means first — the free fix is often still available — then look at the removal request route.

Scope of the answer

What comes back, and what does not

Find My state

Whether Find My is switched on for that serial, which is the switch that creates the lock in the first place.

Activation Lock state

Whether setup will demand an Apple Account. This is the one that decides if the handset is usable by you.

Lost Mode flag

Whether the account holder has actively marked the device as missing, rather than simply forgotten to sign out.

Model confirmation

The Apple model the serial belongs to, so you can catch a number quoted from a different handset.

No account details

You will not get the owner’s email, name or phone number. Apple does not expose that to a third party and neither do we.

No carrier or blacklist verdict

Network lock and reported-stolen status sit on different systems entirely. An OFF result here says nothing about either.

Asked often

Find My and Activation Lock, answered

What is the fastest way for a seller to fix an ON result?
They sign in at icloud.com/find on any browser, pick the device from the list and choose Remove from Account. It works whether or not the handset is switched on, takes under a minute, and costs nothing. If a seller refuses or goes quiet when you ask for that, treat it as your answer about the deal.
The seller says they already erased it. Does that count?
No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding in used phone sales. Erase All Content and Settings clears the storage but leaves the device attached to their Apple Account unless they signed out first. That is exactly the state this check exists to expose: a phone that boots to the Hello screen and looks perfect, with the lock waiting three screens further in.
Can I run this without the phone in front of me?
Yes, and that is the point of doing it by IMEI. Ask the seller to send you the number from the SIM tray, the original box, or by dialling *#06#. You can check it from a marketplace message thread before you arrange to meet anyone.
What if they send me an IMEI that is not the phone I am being sold?
It happens, and it is why the result includes the model. If you are being offered an iPhone 14 Pro and the number resolves to an iPhone 11, the seller is either careless or trying it on. When you meet, dial *#06# on the actual handset and confirm the number matches the one you checked.
Does an OFF result mean the phone is safe to buy?
It clears one specific risk, and it is a big one, but not the others. The handset can still be locked to a network you cannot use, still be on a lost or stolen register, still owe money on a contract, or still have a battery at sixty per cent health. Check the network lock separately, look at the registry separately, and make the seller show you the phone reaching the home screen.
Could an OFF result go back to ON afterwards?
Yes, in one narrow case: if the device is signed back into an Apple Account with Find My enabled, the lock comes back for that account. Nothing you or the seller does retroactively re-locks it to the previous owner. Practically this means check close to the moment of sale, not a fortnight beforehand.
Why is it called FMI in so many places?
FMI is trade shorthand for Find My iPhone, the original name of the feature before Apple merged it into Find My. You will see FMI ON and FMI OFF used interchangeably with Activation Lock on and off across repair forums, supplier tools and listings. They describe the same state.
Does this work for iPad and Apple Watch?
Yes. Activation Lock covers any Apple device signed into Find My, so cellular iPads and Apple Watches are all in scope. A Wi-Fi-only iPad has no IMEI, so use its serial number instead. Macs are the exception — Apple silicon and T2 machines use a different scheme that is not readable this way.
How many checks do I get?
A guest gets one lookup a day. Signing in raises that a little, and if you are buying phones in volume rather than one for yourself, holding check credit on the account removes the cap. The limit exists because every one of these queries a live system that bills us per answer — not as an upsell device.
If the answer was ON

Try the seller first. Then read this.

One message asking them to remove it at icloud.com/find fixes this for free. Where that route is genuinely closed, we can check whether a removal request is possible against the IMEI.

See the removal options →