After 15 years of waiting, iPhone users launch petition to bring Find My feature

The number of people demanding US tech giant Apple enable its Find My app in Korea surpassed 6,500 on Monday on the National Assembly’s petition website, a week after the movement started there on July 22.

Find My allows users to track the locations of their Apple devices. If a lost device is nearby, it plays a sound. If users mark a devices lost, it locks or erases personal information.

South Korea is the only country where Find My does not work, which has led online petitioners to accuse the US firm of discrimination against the country.

“Because of Apple Korea’s unexplained Find My app ban here for over 15 years, Apple device users have to face potential damages when their devices are lost or stolen, and even foreigners have been unable to use Find My in Korea,” the petition reads.

“Apple devices cannot prevent loss or theft at all, so even if a gang of iPhone thieves sends a phishing text message to try to unlock the lost iPhone and sell it through public accounts, the victim cannot take any action. … Such issues have been addressed multiple times on YouTube or media outlets as of July 14, but Apple is remaining silent on such discrimination against Korean users.”

If the online petition receives support from more than 50,000 petitioners by Aug. 21, the issue will be delegated to a committee for further discussion.

Some have speculated that the Korean government has banned Find My for national security reasons, as the country is technically still at war and is more sensitive to disclosing location-related data, but this notion turned out to be false.

Apple Korea obtained permission as a location information business operator under the Location Information Act in 2009. The Korea Communications Commission, which is in charge of regulating the protection and use of location information, said there are no regulations here restricting the location information-based Apple feature.

“There are no regulations restricting the Find My service under the current Location Information Act,” a Korea Communications Commission official said. “Similar services are already available here, as the operators have completed the registration process with the agency.”

But Apple Korea reiterated its existing stance without further elaboration, saying, “The availability of Find My and other products and services in Korea depends on regional requirements that Apple considers when determining which features of specific products and services to provide in that country.”