Intune Could Help Prevent Bricked Apple Devices

• Organizationally owned Apple devices should be configured at deployment time to take over Apple’s activation lock security feature.
• If activation lock is not proactively managed by the organization, it can result in permanently broken devices and prevent repurposing and retirement.
• Organizations can take over activation lock with the Intune mobile device management service.

Intune now offers support for disabling activation lock on Apple hardware. Activation lock is a feature that prevents the device from being reinstalled by any other person and is used by Apple’s Find My device tracking service. Activation lock can help organizations such as schools prevent theft by reducing the appeal of stolen Apple devices. However, if organizations do not take control of activation lock for the devices they own, it can prevent recovery, repurposing, and retirement of devices and lead to wasted hardware.

Understanding Consumer Activation Lock

When a user of a personally owned Apple Mac or mobile device first sets up the device, the user’s Apple ID becomes associated with the device. In particular, the user becomes the owner of the device within Apple’s “Find My” application, which can then be used to track and recover their Apple hardware. In the event the device has been stolen or lost, the owner can mark it as stolen or erase it, preventing the device from ever being reinstalled if it is found or sold.