After two iPhones stolen in a month I decided to buy a Samsung and I really like it much more than iOS

@irene ya, two devices stolen in short period of time is not a good sign.

Stealing one iPhone should be enough to pay for the Samsung. Why steal 2?

@M1sf3t newer androids store the last associated google account on a extra chip / partition
As long as the bootloader is locked you can't wipe that easily, except if there's some security hole
You can't unlock the bootloader either, because you need to enable that out of the running system
You can't use the system, given it's protected by code etc and encrypted
You might be able to factory reset somehow, but the device will still ask for the old account and block you until you unlock it with the old account again
IIRC if the phones is able to get online, you can track it using Googles Find my device thingy, even if the setup isn't finished
So you either end up with something you can only access by exploiting the system somehow and risk being tracked, or with a rather expensive brick

I think apple handles things similarly
Note that this could be implemented in their own specifics across the manufacturers

What the fuck do you live in brooklyn??

@ganjaman worse yet, I live in Quito, Ecuador

I've gotten two iPhones the past weeks. Repairing them right now and this iCloud tracking is good and all, but I can't access the fucking phone without the logged in owner. It's even harder when you try to access it after a factory reset (which I did).

So as long as you used an iCloud account, don't worry. They stole it, but at least they can't do any profit off of it.

But that's also part of the reason why I will switch for some time to Apple, but I still hate them.

Androids find my Device helped me countless times finding my phone after a drunken night.

Note to Samsung: any device I owned from them died shortly after the guarantee period. Also using a custom ROM may be a slick idea.

Best of luck!

At least all the bloatware on a Samsung that destroys the Android experience makes the phone too heavy for a theif to just pick it up and walk away with it.

@1000cc you live in perfect world :D
Where I live, the government is tracking you down all the time, but getting the stolen phone back, is nearly impossible.
Is much more likely that the thief will be caught by random control. Once, I had my phone recovered by the police. It was the feature-phone era, they collected it because IMEI have been reported and blacklisted. Guy faced charges, not for theft, but drug possession.
Welcome to Poland.