iPhone 6 Activation - What actually happens?

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VIRIDIAN

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 179243 1-Sep-2015 17:01

Hi all,

Recently, I've bought an iPhone, and when I'd inserted the SIM from my old phone into the iPhone, the iPhone proceeded to activate itself.

This got me thinking, what goes on when it does this? Note: If there is anything proprietary/commercially sensitive to Spark in this scenario, then I understand.

Cheers

VIRIDIAN

sdavisnz

745 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

# 1377849 1-Sep-2015 17:43

What your asking about is apples "activation server"

There is a commercial/ education offer from apple called DEP or Device Enrollment Program.

its a mobile device management program, e.g. when a school buys 100 iPads or iPhones they put the serial num/imei into the DEP portal which talks to the iTunes activation server.

The DEP admin sets what profiles and restrictions are set up when the device is activated and the devices can be used in that environment,

it also deters theft as if the device is factory reset, when someone tries to use the i-device again the activation server will auto enrol the MDM profile on to the device, making it useless for personal use.

that is just one example of activation server,

others include carriers in the USA that lock devices to their own network so will only activate with a certain carrier sim and will only work with that particular sim, also in the USA they have an admin portal to Activation server and they can charge customers for device activation, from memory it was $50 usd for a while.

theres a few things to think about.

-Steve

Voice gives context

VIRIDIAN

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 1377852 1-Sep-2015 17:50

Hi Steve,

Thanks for that. However, I bought mine for personal use. Does that change things?

Cheers,

VIRIDIAN

sdavisnz

745 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

# 1377857 1-Sep-2015 18:04

yea, nz carriers are very very nice and don't lock iPhones to particular networks,

when you buy a iphone in nz and for personal use you are free to use it how you wish,

your iPhone will still ask apples "activation server" for permission to activate your phone incase your serial number was part of a organisation or whatever.

-Steve.

Voice gives context

tdgeek

17334 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 1377876 1-Sep-2015 19:32

It will also see what RSP your are with, and update the settings for the mobile, back in the day we had to set the cell services manually such as SMS, MMS, etc, now its automatic with Apple as the RSP, I assume all here, are on board

tardtasticx

2958 posts

Uber Geek

# 1377944 1-Sep-2015 21:49

I think when you first activate it, the warranty is setup on Apples end during that stage.

Every time after that I imagine it does many checks including the above mentioned ones, as well as checking if the device is iCloud and/or carrier locked.
So long as the phone isn't stolen or locked to an overseas network you shouldn't have an issue.

Bachelor of Computing Systems (2015)

Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display (4GB/2.4GHz i5/128GB SSD) - HP DV6 (8GB/2.8GHz i7/120GB SSD + 750GB HDD)
iPhone 6S + (64GB/Gold/Vodafone NZ) - Xperia Z C6603 (16GB/White/Spark NZ)

Sam, Auckland