How can a Mac/iPhone/iPad be tracked after a factory reset?

I want to get a tablet & I can't decide between a tablet or an iPad. I'm leaning more towards an iPad.

There are lots of Android apps for tracking an Android tablet. Google has its' own equivalence to find my iPad.

I've read that an Android tablet can't be tracked after a factory reset, but an iPad can. Needless to say, I don't want to spend $800 & not be able to track a tablet. That's why I'd rather have an iPad.

Both use the cloud.

I can pay LoJack $15 per year, but I'd prefer a free solution.

Please explain how an Apple product can be tracked after a factory reset, but an Android can't.

What's your point or question between your subject and statement?????? It makes no sense at all.

dcs.79c said:

I want to get a tablet & I can't decide between a tablet or an iPad.

Click to expand...

An iPad is a tablet.

- Nick

Just to be clear, you are trying to decide between an Android tablet and iPad.

With Android, you can track your device assuming you do the pre-requisite things.

With iPad (iOS devices), you can track your device just a well.

Neither solution requires you to spend any money as they are built into the OS. Both solution allow you to lock the device (which you should anyway) and allow you to remotely wipe the data.

As a differentiating factor, neither an Android tablet nor the iPad has an advantage here.

I have a feeling the OP is trying to refer to "Activation Lock," a feature in iOS that (if activated) PREVENTS a factory (or any other kind of) reset. I have no idea if Android has a similar feature -- it wouldn't be universal if they did, but at least some models would probably have it -- but you can read up on Activation Lock here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201365

I've also had good luck with "don't bring your expensive tablet to crime-ridden, dodgy places, and don't let it out of your sight in any case" as a best practice. So far (five years), so good.