Test iPhone serial number / IMEI for activation lock?

There is indeed a way to test and see if what Apple calls the activation lock is enabled or engaged on a given iOS device, whether it’s an iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini or even the shiny new iPhone 6 Plus. You will need either the serial number of the device or the IMEI (which stands for “International Mobile Station Equipment Identity”: the ‘s’ got lost somewhere in the shuffle though) to test it.

Once you have that — and don’t worry, I’ll show you two ways to identify it — you can just go to the handy page that Apple’s set up to test the activation lock: Test iOS Device Activation Lock Status.

But I get ahead of myself!

Let’s start by going to the page to see what’s there. It looks like this:

Now, as I said, you need either the serial number from the device or the IMEI number.

One way to get it is to go onto the device and head to Settings > General > About, at which point you’ll see both listed, as you can see here for my iPhone:

The easier way to get this info in a way that’s usable for the Web site, however, is to plug the device into a Mac system, then go into iTunes.

iTunes will show information about the device, including its serial number IMEI, etc. Click on whichever one it’s showing and it’ll step through the values:

Find the one you want and Cmd-Click to copy it into your buffer, then paste it onto the page.

Enter the CAPTCHA on the Web page too and click “Continue”. For my iPhone it is indeed locked:

That’s good if you own the device, not so good if you just bought it used.

In fact, Apple explains:

So that’s the scoop. If you’re considering buying a used Apple device, definitely get the IMEI or serial number and test it before you try to reformat it for your own use, just to find out it’s locked and possibly even stolen.

Be careful out there!