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I removed a device from my AppleID/iCloud association before erasing it and the phone is inoperable. Can I add the device back to my account without accessing the phone?

The phone was dropped and is inoperable. The TMobile store told me I couldn't erase it online, it had to be done on the phone which I couldn't do. I went into iCloud and my Apple account and removed the phone from my account before seeing that there is actually a 'erase iPhone' option under iCloud. Is there a way to add the device back so that I can erase it without doing it from the actual phone since it's inoperable? I have to send the phone back to TMobile since I filed a claim and received a replacement device, but don't want to send it back before erasing the phone (the phone turns on, it's just badly pixilated so you can't see anything and can't unlock it). Thanks.

Posted on Nov 2, 2022 8:11 AM

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Question marked as Apple recommended

No, you cannot add the phone back to Find My without having physical access to the phone. For what it's worth, if the phone was inoperable, sending an erase command from iCloud might not have worked either as it would have required that the phone connect to a network.

Posted on Nov 2, 2022 8:17 AM

3 replies

I removed a device from my AppleID/iCloud association before erasing it and the phone is inoperable. Can I add the device back to my account without accessing the phone?

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