A common misconception from carriers, they seem to think their lock only applies to one of the SIM slots on the phone, but they apply to both.

You have the choice of going through AT&T or there's the less expensive option of finding a shop / using eBay. Most of those will do it for about €10.

It is indeed yes. Someone else has posted a workaround to toggling the actual notifications, but don't believe that will stop the sound reduction itself

If you're in the EU it's mandatory and can't be turned off

Only way that worked for me when I had that same bug

Ask Siri to read all of your unread messages.

Siri will respond saying you don't have any, and the badge will clear.

Nokia

Ah if you reset the device and never updated the phone number when you changed phone number, you will likely have to wait for that account recovery process to finish. Once you're back in there are other options you can enable to avoid this scenario going forward

Yes ‘Apple Security’ famously deliver Virus warnings using poor grammar, through a web browser, on a website called bnr-protect .com.

Yeah definitely not magic anyway haha, no idea how support couldn’t explain that clearly… The only way it would be a security risk is if you turn off lost mode anyway and the thief knew your passcode. After 8 years I’d say you’re safe

Exactly yes. If I had to guess what happened, you marked it lost 8 years ago when it was stolen. You then presumably replaced it with a new phone?

At that point, the new phone becomes your primary device used to show you and your location in apps such as Find my Friends. The older device was always there, it just loses visibility from those kinds of apps. Had you gone looking, it likely would have been there somewhere.

As to why it showed up now, could be anything from someone powering it on to a part from it being used in a repair etc. Can’t really answer that part. But once you don’t turn off Lost Mode you will be 100%.

You see, no. It can not be both.

If you remove the device from your account, it’s gone from everywhere. You lose all visibility and control over the device. So you wouldn’t be able to place it in Lost Mode or command a remote erase.

For Lost Mode and for a remote erase, the device must stay connected to your account. If you contacted Apple they’d have told you to place it in Lost Mode, not remove it from your account.

To be 100% clear - You can’t mark it lost/ remotely erase it, AND remove it from your account. If you marked it lost and commanded an erase, it was always on your account and has been for all these years.

And it’s absolutely fine for it to still show on your account. This does not mean someone with the phone can access your account or details in any way. It just means you still have control over it.

To be fair you don’t seem to really have a great grasp of the process of what you actually did years ago.

“Removed from my account and marked as stolen in Find My friends…”

All of that is wrong, basically.

If you removed it from your account, you wouldn’t be able to mark it stolen as it would no longer be on your account.

If you marked it stolen, you wouldn’t be able to remove it from your account.

None of this is done through the find my friends app.

The reason Apple support can’t tell you how this phone re-appeared from your account after 8 years is that it was likely on there all along. Otherwise all the rest of what you described would not be possible.

WhatsApp/ Signal

To be fair this isn’t technology skills, it’s reading comprehension.

I worked at AppleCare for a couple years, doing call evaluating. A staggering volume of calls were solved by the tech advisor simply asking the customer to read the full message on the screen/ screen sharing and reading it for them. Especially with Apple Pay calls…

“This card can not be added, please contact your bank/ card issuer.”

Phones Apple Support to ask what to do.