Losing an iPhone is painful because it costs a lot of money. Monetary loss aside, it's an inconvenience as your iPhone is a gateway to your photos, contacts, social media, and schedule.

After a while, when you're convinced that you'll never get your iPhone back, it makes sense to remove it from your iCloud account. You shouldn't, though, and here we'll explain why.

Lost iPhones Can't Be Easily Wiped and Resold

iCloud Find My iPhone

Apple's iPhones are expensive to buy, and they tend to keep their resale value. For reference, the priciest version of the latest iPhone—the iPhone 14 Pro Max—will set you back around $1,600, making them attractive to thieves and those who figure they can make a significant wedge by simply wiping and reselling a lost iPhone.

To reduce the risks, Apple introduced Activation Lock to its Find My service with iOS 7 in 2013. The feature is automatically activated when you enable the Find My feature on your iPhone.

Activation Lock means that your iPhone is permanently and inextricably tied to your Apple ID. You can erase your iPhone with a factory reset, but when it comes back online, it will still be linked to your Apple account.

An iPhone with Activation Lock enabled is almost useless to criminals. They cannot swap the SIM cards and use the device for themselves, and you'll be able to track your iPhone's physical location using Apple's Find my network.

This means that a lost or stolen iPhone is a liability to whoever has it. Since it's useless without its owner, no one will be able to sell it.

Removing Your Lost iPhone From iCloud Means Anyone Can Use It

Erase iPhone on iCloud

One way to remove the Activation Lock from your lost or stolen iPhone is to head over to iCloud.com/find, log in with your Apple account, and click on All Devices > iPhone > Erase iPhone > Erase. And once you do this, you'll find the option Remove from Account. Alternatively, you can use the Find My app on your Mac to do the same thing.

Once you do this, your iPhone will disappear from your Find My devices—meaning you are no longer triggered to tears by reminders of your lost hardware. It also means that your iPhone is no longer tied to your Apple ID, and whoever has your iPhone is free to reset it, sell it, or use it themselves.

Criminals May Trick You Into Removing Your Lost iPhone From iCloud

Man making a phone call on an iPhone

Since your lost iPhone is pretty much useless to anyone except the owner, criminals and other threat actors can try to trick you into removing Apple's Activation Lock from your iPhone.

One of the first actions you probably took when you realized your iPhone was lost was to put it into Lost Mode. This allows you to display a custom message on your iPhone screen. It may give an alternate phone number to contact you on, an email address, or simple instructions to hand it into a police station.

Scammers can use this to contact you and try to convince you that your personal information is at risk if you don't remotely erase your iPhone and remove it from your account.

If they've managed to guess your passcode, they may even send screenshots of personal messages, photographs, and the contents of your apps. This can be scary, and you might be tempted to follow their instructions to safeguard your private data.

If you do this, the phone is theirs. Instead, you should only erase the iPhone without removing it from your account so that it stays connected to the Find My network. That way, your personal data is safe, and the scammers are left with a rather attractive, but ultimately worthless, brick of metal and glass. Handy for holding a door open or as a blunt force weapon, but not much else.

You Should Never Remove Your Lost iPhone From iCloud

Keeping your lost iPhone connected to your iCloud account (and the Find My network) prevents criminals from using or selling it for monetary benefits. This gives you a grim sense of satisfaction but, more importantly, makes iPhones less attractive to thieves.

Stealing an iPhone is a high-risk activity, and if there's a good chance they won't be able to use or sell it, there's little incentive to commit a crime in the first place. So, now that you know the risks involved, never remove your iPhone from your iCloud account unless you're ready to sell it or give it away.