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Comment by sneeze-slayer | Hacker News Reader

I think the point is that an unsuspecting buyer of, e.g. a screen replacement, could end up going to a shady repair shop that uses stolen parts, sees the message once, clicks "OK", and moves on. The reasoning being that this scenario would cause some demand for black market parts.

The suggestion from OP whereby the seller of a used phone logs in and "unpairs" the parts could avoid this, unless a robber forces you to do it under duress.

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Apple could just unpair parts when the phone itself is reset/deactivated. And new genuine Apple parts could at least have a one-time automatic pairing when signing in with your Apple ID.

Stolen phone? The phone is still activated, part can't pair with new phone. Not perfect, but at least somewhat less anti-consumer.

But if that were the case, there would be plenty of people willing to sell you a refurbished screen for your 2 year old iphone for $100.

By restricting the reuse of parts, when you crack the screen of your old phone, you are faced with a $500 repair bill, and decide to just pay your phone company $50/month for a new contract that comes with a new phone.

> unless a robber forces you to do it under duress.

Isn't that possible with the full iPhone atm?

Yes, it's actually made phone theft even worse as a victim. instead of running with the device muggers are demanding pin's and passcodes at gun/knife point

it's resulted in a few deaths in chicago at least

Got a source on this? Quick google search for "Chicago death iPhone mugging" did not turn up anything about robbers specifically asking for PIN codes, or killing someone for not providing it.

> killing someone for not providing it

They wouldn’t live to tell the tale

but a ring camera can. see video of Dakota earley. shot 3 times. for initially refusing to give up his passcode. he survived after 3 surgeries. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/family-of-dakotah-earle...

Dakota Earley age 23 was viciously attacked and shot 3 times and barely survived. all caught on video and you can hear the thieves demanding the passcode.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/family-of-dakotah-earle...

and before you dismiss it given the time of day or one off, armed robberies for cell phones are way up in chicago and they are occurring in broad daylight . the crime that keeps getting covered and that I know someone who this happened to is, 1 -2 people walking on the street, a car pulls up with 4 people . they all get out and have guns and force you to give up your phone and passcode. Armed Robberies are way up 44% 7978 cases and they are all for iPhones and passcodes . people are getting pistol whipped when they don't cooperate and increasingly even when they do.

https://cwbchicago.com/2023/09/chicago-at-least-14-robbed-vi...

https://cwbchicago.com/2023/09/north-side-chicago-robbery-sp...

https://cwbchicago.com/2023/09/4-more-depaul-students-were-m...

See this story: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/patrons-nyc-gay-bar...

Hence why you should not use bank/brokerage websites or apps on phone other than maybe a checking account with a small amount of money in it.

Yes! On my travel checklist I have "REMOVE BROKERAGE APPS FROM PHONE"

Unless you are a day trader, I do not see a reason to ever have them on your phone.

You're probably right. I rebalance my account 4 times/year. I'm thinking it may be best to have one "secure PC" that I do my balancing on, and even remove the passwords from my password manager.

for paypal, i only ever use a login through the website on the rare occasions i have to use it. for other apps like cashapp/venmo, do they even have a non-app method of using them?

For those, I would only connect them to a bank account with a relatively small amount of money in it.

you just described every single account i have =(

This thread transformed from "multiple dead people in Chicago" to "5 people in NYC's banks are out $5000".

Overall I think it's pretty safe to pull out your smartphone in public these days, which was not the case years ago.

I think you’re misunderstanding. The user who previously owned the part would need to unpair it.

New owners wouldn't OK a stolen part, the part would have to unpaired from the Apple account (on device or online) from the previous owner first.

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