Find My available in every country except Korea; government blames Apple

A petition has highlighted a puzzling fact: Find My is available in every country in the world except Korea, and nobody seems to understand why.

While many had assumed this to be a restriction imposed by the South Korean government, officials say that isn’t the case, and it’s Apple which has imposed the ban …

The Korea Herald reports that locals have started a petition calling on Apple to enable the app, and that if it gets enough signatures, the government will get involved (for values of ‘get involved’ equal to ‘have a committee talk about it’).

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 […]

“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.

While 6,500 signatures sounds like nothing, it only has to hit 50,000 before the government will respond.

The paper says most people have assumed that the government asked Apple to withhold the feature – South Korea is officially still at war with North Korea – but it appears that isn’t the case.

Apple Korea obtained permission as a location information business operator under the Location Information Act in 2009. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), 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.

The KCC noted that similar Android services work in the country.

Apple appears to acknowledge that the company made the decision, but without explaining its reasons.

“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.”

Find My continues to grow more useful, with iPhone owners now able to keep location tracking on even when sending it for repair. Previously the feature had to be disabled before Apple or an authorized service center could access the device.

Image: Apple