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Comment by SilasX | Hacker News Reader

I'm glad they have that process outlined, but dang if it couldn't use a little streamlining. Individually sign out of iTunes(step 4), and iCloud(5), and iMessage(6)? They couldn't add something to the OS that does all three for you? And the later steps (erasing disk[8], reinstalling MacOS[8], and resetting NVRAM[9]) don't somehow already break those sessions?

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Take a closer look at Step 2:

If you're using macOS Monterey or later on a Mac with Apple silicon or a Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip, use Erase All Content and Settings instead of the remaining steps in this article. For any other Mac or macOS, continue to step 3.

Step two is a catch all, if you have a certain version of macOS or later.

> use Erase All Content and Settings instead of the remaining steps in this article. For any other Mac or macOS, continue to step 3.

You did not read the guide correctly -- those other steps are for older versions of the mac. Recent T2 on Apple Silicon is a very short, easy reset.

And pre-T2 Macs don't have activation lock anyway so it's not an issue.

Most of these steps don't affect activation lock - removing activation lock is as simple as disabling Find My, which can also be done by signing out of iCloud. Removing from iCloud.com (Find My) is also sufficient.

Nothing else is needed to disable activation lock.

No, if you reinstall macos without removing the machine from your apple account it will lock down just like a factory reset iPhone and require you to login to the original account.

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