How come when powering off iPhone they don't ask for lock code

Question

last time my iPhone was stolen I didn't have my imei number written down and apple wouldn't help me find phone so I lost a lot.  When someone has the pass lock activated Apple should have the pass lock used to power off iPhone.  That way if someone steals the device they can't power it off and lose find my iPhone ability.  Please Apple fix this issue, I think it would maybe deter people from stealing them and being able to sell them.

Answer 1

robertfromsouth burlington wrote:
last time my iPhone was stolen I didn't have my imei number written down and apple wouldn't help me find phone so I lost a lot.  When someone has the pass lock activated Apple should have the pass lock used to power off iPhone.  That way if someone steals the device they can't power it off and lose find my iPhone ability.  Please Apple fix this issue, I think it would maybe deter people from stealing them and being able to sell them.
First, you are not addressing Apple. This is a user to user forum. You might be amazed to discover that you are not the first person to think of this. There are several thousand posts about it already. And there are several reasons why this is a bad idea:
Yes, they can't power off to defeat Find my iPhone, but they can defeat it many other ways:
Put it in Airplane Mode from the Control Center (which is enabled even when the phone is locked)
Remove the SIM
Wrap it in aluminum foil
Drop it in a shoplifter's shopping bag lined with metal mesh
Restore the phone using iTunes
Run the battery down
If your phone ever needs to be restored because you forgot the passcode, the FIRST STEP is to turn the phone off. But you've forgotten the passcode. So how are you going to do that?
The phone will have to be turned on at some time if the thief or the one who buys it ever wants to use it. Find my iPhone will locate it then.
Activation Lock is already a powerful deterrent to stealing an iPhone. Because it is locked to the rightful owner, neither the thief nor anyone they sell it to can ever use the phone. There is no workaround for this, despite almost 2 years of trying by hackers.
The rightful owner can display a message on the phone saying it is stolen, with contact information. This will be displayed as soon as the phone connects to WiFi or cellular data. As anyone who buys a phone will want to verify that it works, this is also a powerful deterrent.
It might encourage you to go and confront the thief if it can be tracked, thus risking your life in addition to losing your phone. Thieves are generally not nice people, and they don't always live in nice neighborhoods.