- Deactivation Find mine is to take up to an hour for some iPhone users
- It’s an important step before shopping up to a new iPhone 17
- The delay is part of the stolen device protection security function
IPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are all available to pick up in Apple stores from today, but some upgraders dealing with their existing iPhones hit a frustrating problem when trying to make swap.
The essence of the problem is the stolen device protection feature introduced to iPhones with iOS 17.3. This super-safe state is designed to deter thieves by putting an hour of delay on any suspicious changes made outside of a user’s trusted locations.
Now, turning off Find my tracking service – as you have to do when shopping with an iPhone – counting as a suspicious change, and a public Apple store counts as a non -procedure place, which means people have to wait for an hour to deliver their old phones.
A Techradar reader told us they had been hit by this particular problem in an Apple store and that it “causes Havoc” on the launch day. We’ve also seen long lines even in the Apple Store in New York when people change.
Plan ahead
So if you is Planning of shopping with an existing iPhone for a shiny new, make sure you get everything ready before leaving home, including turning off to find mine. As you are in a trusted place, iOS will let you do this without delay with biometric approval.
Also, remember that this only applies if you have activated stolen device protection – it is not by default. You can check if your own Apple hand set has it turned on by going to iOS settings, so Face ID & Password> Stolen Device Protection.
And if you read this while sitting in a queue in an Apple store, there is actually a solution as well: Go into Find my app, open the information card for your iPhone, and then press Remove. Then you need to be asked if you want to prepare your device for exchanging and you can enter your Apple password to confirm.
If you need more details, Apple has a comprehensive guide to everything you need to do to swap your old iPhone into a new, including disabling Find My. Get all this done in advance and you save yourself a little time in store.
