Q: ios7 activation lock,previous owner,apple id,

Without the relevant information from the previous owner, I'm afraid that there is absolutely nothing you can do.

If the previous owner is not present
Make sure the device is powered on and connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network. Then contact the previous owner and ask them to follow these steps:

1. Sign in to their iCloud account at www.icloud.com/find.
2. Select the device from their Find My iPhone device list by clicking All Devices at the top of the screen.
3. Erase the device by clicking the Erase button. This will erase all content and settings from the device. When prompted, do not enter a phone number or message. Click Next until the device is erased.
4. When the erase is complete, click "Remove from Account" to remove the device from the account.

After the device has been erased and removed from the account, you can proceed with the device setup process.

Restore phone again and it will show his email in order to activate. Use it to contact. Of course if it was stolen before sold to you I can imagine the convoluted sense of humor behind all that.

The bottom line is you either need their AppleID and password, or you need to get in touch with the previous owner.  Otherwise, you cannot get past the activation lock.

The whole point of activation lock is to render the device a brick without that information.  There is no way around that fact.

The solution is simple. If like many including yourself you purchased a phone second hand and you don't have anyway of contacting the original owner (Because apple blocks the email address t*****@gmail.com), then you either wait for a soultion or Sue Apple like I am for preventing me from using a legitimately purchased product.

Good luck with that.  If you purchased a used iPhone in a private party sale, Apple has no responsibility at all in any of this.  Private party sales of personal items are just that, a private exchange between two parties - only those parties bear any responsibility for the state of the items sold or received.  The only person preventing you from using your device is the person who sold it to you, as presumably they knew and know full well the password to immediately disable the security features they in actually enabled on it in the first place.

If it was a "legitimate" purchase, why can you not contact the previous owner and get them to disable find my phone on the device so you can activate it?

You're wrong and missing the bigger picture.

But don't worry I'm sure Apple will either make changes to iOS to fix issues for users in this situation. Because if you read the news and look at the flood of people locked out of their devices, you'll see this is a real issue.

And it can be fixed by either simply unmasking the email so we're able to contact the original owner or add a link to contact them without disclosing their email address.

And you ask why I don't contact the original owner if this was a "Legitimate" purchase? Well that's the whole problem we're all having.

There was no password on the device when I purchased it. I had happily used it everyday without any issues, that is until I updated it and was surprisingly and without warning locked out. And unfortunately It was purchased so long ago that my inbox has had several cleanups since and the address has been deleted.  This whole thing made me think to check my Find My iPhone service. I removed several devices we've previously owned. And you know what, nobody has contcated us. Probably in the same boat I am. So I'm sure they'll be thankful I removed them.

I highly recommend you all do the same.

I'm not "missing" anything. Why do people automatically think just because someone disagrees with them, that person is simply not getting it?

I "get" the big picture just fine - I just completely disagree with your interpretation of it.

Well then my friend that is the whole point, you are disagreeing with his/her interpretation because YOU ARE NOT GETTING IT!!

When you're sitting on a phone that you paid for $500 for a LEGIT purchase and it doesnt work you start feeling the fire burning up somewhere.

You're the one indicating to assume it may not have been a legitimate purchase by quoting the word legitimate, sure Apple is not responsible for the state of an item that changed hands privately but the argument is not about the state of the item its about its continued link to Apple, it becomes Apple's responsitbilty when it is locked from the servers in the Apples backyard. and YES I do understand the new feature is to protect us.

But it would be foolish and ignorant of Apple to think their products won't change hands, and that someone wanting to update their phone would just throw it out or maybe once you buy an iPhone you'd be keeping it through its life span of however long it might be. with that said...

I do not agree with the security feature where it just locks you out when you puchased it legally, when the security feature got intruduced a month ago with ios7 because the phones that changed hands LEGALLY before that weren't subject to the present policy, it was not a REQUIREMENT to transfer licenses/ownership. I baught one from a friend of a friend for $500 two months ago, I am not sure if I can track him down. Why am I subjected to this now.

The ONLY way Apple can justify this sort of enforcement is IF the item is flagged, or reported stolen, That is how you keep loyal customers loyal. If you lose your phone report it. If you're a lazy or dont care then you dont care, but if its not reported lost or stollen then it leaves apple out of it. I think its just a way of keeping "Apple" the milking cow keep milking.

Hi eeryone! First post but been an apple macbook user for years but first time to own an iphone. So here's the story goes:

I have same dilemna. I am here in thailand and bought 2nd hand iphone 4s from couple of backpackers who needed cash. They said they played with the password when they were drunk then it got stuck from passcode forgetting the password and all i need to do is reset it to factory settings. The couple seem nice and genuine so i bought the phone. But ofcourse i checked if they really own it. though its stuck in passcode can still use siri. They used siri to call friends, played songs etc... I checked IMEI and its not blocked. When i reset it and try to install fresh ios7 im now stuck in that window asking for the apple id and pw. Tried to get in touch with them but no response.

If a fix or solution is available please let us know. I agree to the post above that we have the right to have an access to a 2nd hand iphone. We did not steal it. regardless of the matter i think as long as the phone is not stolen or lost, we have the right to have access to the phone.

You're wrong and missing the bigger picture.

But don't worry I'm sure Apple will either make changes to iOS to fix issues for users in this situation. Because if you read the news and look at the flood of people locked out of their devices, you'll see this is a real issue.

And it can be fixed by either simply unmasking the email so we're able to contact the original owner or add a link to contact them without disclosing their email address.

And you ask why I don't contact the original owner if this was a "Legitimate" purchase? Well that's the whole problem we're all having.

There was no password on the device when I purchased it. I had happily used it everyday without any issues, that is until I updated it and was surprisingly and without warning locked out. And unfortunately It was purchased so long ago that my inbox has had several cleanups since and the address has been deleted.  This whole thing made me think to check my Find My iPhone service. I removed several devices we've previously owned. And you know what, nobody has contcated us. Probably in the same boat I am. So I'm sure they'll be thankful I removed them.

I highly recommend you all do the same.

I TOTALLY AGREE