Software locks

❗Article Status Notice: This Article is a stub

---

This article is underdeveloped, and needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. Learn more ▼

Issues may include:

• This article needs to be expanded to provide meaningful information
• This article requires additional verifiable evidence to demonstrate systemic impact
• More documentation is needed to establish how this reflects broader consumer protection concerns
• The connection between individual incidents and company-wide practices needs to be better established
• The article is simply too short, and lacks sufficient content

How you can help:

• Add documented examples with verifiable sources
• Provide evidence of similar incidents affecting other consumers
• Include relevant company policies or communications that demonstrate systemic practices
• Link to credible reporting that covers these issues
• Flesh out the article with relevant information

This notice will be removed once the article is sufficiently developed. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, please visit the Moderator's noticeboard, or the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel, or mention its status on the article's talk page.

As a softer version to activation, and related to features on demand, software-gating is a method to control access to features in consumer electronic hardware, but are not inherently anti-consumer as they provide useful for security features.

This definition does not include closed-source, such as proprietary software or proprietary protocols, as these can still provide the consumer with fully featured access without needing an account, app, or activation.

⚠️ A deletion request has been made for this article

There has been a deletion request for this page for the following reason:

I merged it with software-gating, and rewired all previous links to this article to Activation - Reform

---

This request will be reviewed and acted upon by the wiki moderation team within one week of the template being added.

To appeal this deletion request, please make an entry at the Moderator's noticeboard.

Do not delete this page before removing all references to it:

See also

• Digital rights management

Anti-consumer examples

Forced account for data lock-in

Requiring an account in order to be used, such as with some Google Pixels and specific Android devices, and iPhones needing an Apple account create an easy entry-point for data lock-in, making it harder to switch vendors.^{[citation needed (31 Mar 2026)]}

Forced app download

Apps are a popular method for manufacturers to marketed features behind software locks. Examples of this are:

• Sony headphones requiring app to tweak its EQ

• HVAC app activation of furnace control boards.^{[citation needed (31 Mar 2026)]}

Activation & licensing

When features are locked behind an activation process, it will require server connectivity. Some implications of this include:

• Cloud services that are essential to keep the features working can be put offline

• The digital services can change in quality or become more privacy invasive over time

See also

• Digital rights management
• Walled garden
• Bootloader unlocking