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Aldase

Q: How can I open my iPhone activation lock without owner's account

How can I open my new iPhone 4S activation lock without owner's account

iPhone 4S, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Oct 16, 2013 4:14 AM

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Q: How can I open my iPhone activation lock without owner's account

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  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Jul 10, 2015 1:03 PM in response to llil_hottie
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 10, 2015 1:03 PM in response to llil_hottie

    llil_hottie wrote:

     

    Hi Shila,

    I am having the same problem, I bought an iPhone 4S off www.listia.com. I have contacted the previous owner and he said he can not remember his account information on the iPhone at all. What do i do now? I have tried sending him this information to help him that you posted but he will not respond back. Please help me reset this iPhone, I was told apple can do that for me.

    Get a refund, the iPhone is unusable unless the previous owner unlocks it.

  • by stevenmichaelshypnotist,

    stevenmichaelshypnotist stevenmichaelshypnotist Jul 18, 2015 6:55 AM in response to Aldase
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 18, 2015 6:55 AM in response to Aldase

    I have an iPhone and I am the original owner. The phone got locked by my father and I have provided Receipts that were given to me by apply when i purchased the phone directly from their phone center at apple.com. Even with receipts they have not fixed this for me.

  • by Briansyddall,

    Briansyddall Briansyddall Jul 18, 2015 8:00 AM in response to stevenmichaelshypnotist
    Level 6 (8,854 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jul 18, 2015 8:00 AM in response to stevenmichaelshypnotist

    Hi

    You need to make an Appointment at Apple Store take has much info as you can

    Receitpts and any other proof of ownership bills from your network provider .

    If they will not help there is nothing you can do.

    Cheers

    Brian uk

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Jul 18, 2015 8:08 AM in response to stevenmichaelshypnotist
    Level 8 (38,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 18, 2015 8:08 AM in response to stevenmichaelshypnotist

    stevenmichaelshypnotist wrote:

     

    I have an iPhone and I am the original owner. The phone got locked by my father and I have provided Receipts that were given to me by apply when i purchased the phone directly from their phone center at apple.com. Even with receipts they have not fixed this for me.

    Ask your father to unlock it.

     

    BTW, do you mean the screen lock code, or iCloud Activation Lock? If it is the screen lock code there is no way that anyone can unlock it without erasing the phone and setting it up as New.

  • by Vik27392,

    Vik27392 Vik27392 Aug 6, 2015 11:49 PM in response to Aldase
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 6, 2015 11:49 PM in response to Aldase

    Sadly you can't. Let me share my experience,if it helps anyone. I recently purchased an iPhone 5s from a previous user. It was the first time I bought an apple device and was unknown to the world of Apple products. I didn't even knew that something like activation lock works. If you want to buy a second hand iPhone and stay out of the activation lock,just make sure the user isn't signed out of his iCloud account from the device(rare case,MINE). I guess the previous owner was naive about Apple products too.Don't reset the phone and just simply logout from his ID and sign-in with your own.

    You may find this strange but till now I had been using the iPhone without iCloud signed in from the previous owner or my account ( kept getting the maximum number of free accounts error ) . So that's the best I can tell you. After you have your own Apple id created , you can reset the phone again . And with iOS having 'find my iPhone' as a stock app I think it will be necessary to have an iCloud id associated with the device.I btw have 2 id's on my iPhone , one for iCloud and one for App Store.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Aug 7, 2015 12:10 AM in response to Vik27392
    Level 9 (78,333 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 7, 2015 12:10 AM in response to Vik27392
    If you want to buy a second hand iPhone and stay out of the activation lock,just make sure the user isn't signed out of his iCloud account from the device

    You mean make sure he is signed out. Apple have provided a method of checking before purchase that an iOS device isn't Activation Locked:

     

    http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/10/01/activation-lock-status-check/

     

    Basically you just go to https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/ and enter the IMEI or serial number and a captcha. Activation Lock may not show up for some time, until you upgrade or reset the phone, by which time it may be too late to contact the previous owner.


    The 'maximum number of free accounts' error is nothing to do with this. Any one device can create only three iCloud accounts, and once that is reached there is no way round it whatever. You can create an iCloud account on another iOS device or Mac (not windows) and then sign into it on the device in question.

  • by asim butt,

    asim butt asim butt Sep 24, 2015 9:54 AM in response to sheila_m.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 24, 2015 9:54 AM in response to sheila_m.

    Hy plz I have an iPhone 6 from south Africa I don't know about owner of this plz tell me how open apple id

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Sep 24, 2015 9:58 AM in response to asim butt
    Level 7 (24,860 points)
    Sep 24, 2015 9:58 AM in response to asim butt

    If you read back through this two year long thread, you will see that nobody, and I mean no one else, but the original owner can disable activation lock. If you don't know the previous owner or have no contact with them, there is nothing you can do to bypass activation lock.

  • by suigip,

    suigip suigip Oct 4, 2015 1:52 AM in response to sheila_m.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2015 1:52 AM in response to sheila_m.

    What if you don't know the person email, then who would you contact them to ask them to disable it btw am not that good in my english.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Oct 4, 2015 1:56 AM in response to suigip
    Level 9 (78,333 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 4, 2015 1:56 AM in response to suigip

    As has been stated over and over again in this thread and elsewhere, only the previous owner can unlock a phone which has been 'Activation Locked'. If you cannot contact them then the phone is permanently useless. Apple cannot unlock it for you and neither can anyone else.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Oct 4, 2015 7:05 AM in response to suigip
    Level 8 (38,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 4, 2015 7:05 AM in response to suigip

    suigip wrote:

     

    What if you don't know the person email, then who would you contact them to ask them to disable it btw am not that good in my english.

    If you cannot contact the person who set the lock the phone is useless. It can never be used by you or anyone else.

  • by windymiller55,

    windymiller55 windymiller55 Oct 9, 2015 6:38 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 9, 2015 6:38 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    I bought an iPhone 5s from a reputable auction site which sells police recovered property knowing that it

    was locked to the previous owner, but I had looked at the phone before buying and saw the owners phone

    number to contact, I therefore thought that I would contact the owner and ask him to remove the activation

    lock, needless to say he would not cooperate at all, I offered to let him have the phone back for what I had

    paid for it, and offered him money to remove the lock, he was not interested and would not do it, you have

    to assume he had got the insurance money and or got his new phone.

    The point I am trying to get across is, is it not the same as buying a stolen recovered car from the police

    with no keys and then going to, Ford, Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot and many others and being told by them

    they will not sell you any keys because the car was stolen, and the previous owner does not want you

    to drive it.

    So do Apple have a Duty of Care to ALL their customers old and new provided their devices have been

    obtained legitimately , its a simple Yes or No, If the answer is yes then Apple have to have a rethink

    about their policies.

    And as for all you good people who say Apple cannot do anything to remove the activation locks on iPhones,

    I am afraid you are living in "icloud" cuckoo land, ask Edward Snowden.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 9, 2015 6:52 AM in response to windymiller55
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 9, 2015 6:52 AM in response to windymiller55

    That aside there is no way for you to activate that phone without proof that you are the owner, so what's next?

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Oct 9, 2015 6:56 AM in response to windymiller55
    Level 7 (24,860 points)
    Oct 9, 2015 6:56 AM in response to windymiller55

    I Don't think anyone is saying that technically Apple cannot do anything.  But as a private company, no, they do NOT have any obligation to do anything. Once sold, the device is the property of the owner. That owner has everything they need to deal with the issue entirely within their control. If an owner chooses not to do so, that is an issue with them, not Apple.  Activation lock, for one thing, is not forced on anyone. A device owner chooses to set it up and use it, or not, as they wish.  And they can change their mind about that, either way, as many times or as often as they wish to.

     

    You knowingly purchased an activation locked device. It would be nice if the owner would remove it, but it's their choice. Personally I'd be more upset about a so-called "reputable" police auction site allowing such a thing to be sold in that condition at all.  I would expect the police evidence personal to eradicate all personal identification marks on unclaimed items put up for sale. I know the FBI auctions I've gone to in D.C. have completely scrubbed any personal identification information from items sold - items are sold as anonymous unclaimed or seized property.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Oct 9, 2015 7:15 AM in response to windymiller55
    Level 8 (38,112 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 9, 2015 7:15 AM in response to windymiller55

    windymiller55 wrote:

     

    I bought an iPhone 5s from a reputable auction site which sells police recovered property knowing that it

    was locked to the previous owner,

    Then you knowingly assumed the risk that the phone would never be usable. You made a bet and you lost. What does that have to do with Apple?

     

    From the rest of your post it is clear that you bought a lost or stolen device. Activation Lock is a theft deterrent, and it clearly did its job. If Apple made exceptions for stolen phones it would negate the purpose of having Activation Lock in the first place.

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