Cannot reset ipad without disabling "find My", but the reason I need to reset my iPad is because it will not connect to wifi.

Don't know how to do that. Never heard of recovery mode.

I think I may have found a way around the dead wifi to get online. Since bluetooth is still working on the iPad, I've paired it with the 2012 MacBook Air, turned on internet sharing on the MacBook Air, so that it goes:

• iPad to MacBook Air via bluetooth
• MacBook Air to internet via wifi

iPad is now backing up to iCloud, and it will hopefully let me rest it after that. I'm thankful I have an old MBAir. I first tried using my 2021 MBPro as the bluetooth to wifi bridge, but couldn't make it work. Not sure if it is simply not possible, or that the new settings app is so much less usable that I couldn't find all the settings I needed. Fortunately, the older machine appears to be doing the trick now.

Next thing I've tried is to log out of iCloud entirely on the device, in the hope that this would deactivate "Find My" without needing to connect to the servers first. This did not work either.

The device is my son's iPad. We have screen time turned on, and it will not let me deactivate screen time from the device itself, and without deactivating screentime first, there is no option to log out of iCloud.

Apple has created a situation were a device can only be reset if it has an active internet connection. Which means, if anything goes wrong with the internet connection, whether it is a problem on the device or in the network between the device and apple's servers, resetting the machine becomes impossible. This is asinine!

Yes, I can see it has security implications for stollen devices, but there needs to be a work around for situations like mine. Where I CAN authenticate ownership, but simply not from the malfunctioning device itself.

I get that by using iCloud.com one can remove a device from their list of "Find My" devices. What I don't see, is how that helps in my specific situation.

1. When I tell the iPad to reset it tells me I need to disconnect from "Find My" first.
2. When I tell the iPad to disconnect from "Find My", it tries to connect to the "Find My" servers to disconnect.
3. This inevitably FAILS, because the only way to connect to "Find My" servers to ether disconnect itself, or learn that it has already been disconnected via iCloud.com, is for the iPad to connect to the Internet, which is not possible, because Wifi is not working on the device. Which is why I want to do a reset in the first place.

In any case, I did as you suggested, and it didn't work. Likely, for the very reasons I've given. There is no way for the device to verify that it has been delisted from "Find My" and as a result it will not allow itself to be reset.

After delisting via the iCloud.com interface, I told the device to reset itself and go the same error message I've been getting all morning:

Verification Failed

The operation couldn't be completed. (AKAuthenticationError error -7005).

Which is an error message you get when your device is not connected to the internet.

When I tried to reset the iPad from the laptop it was backed up to. A laptop that IS connected to the internet, and therefore CAN check the iCloud.com servers to see if the device is still registered under "Find My" I get the other error message I've been getting all morning.

Find My must be turned off before "iPad" can be restored.

Go to iCloud Settings on your iPad and turn off Find My before restoring your iPad.

Which suggests that without a viable internet connection to the iPad in question, it is impossible to reset the device. Because the only way for the iPad to verify that it has successfully been de-registered from "Find My" is by connecting directly to the "Find My" servers itself. It cannot check via a shared internet connection via the connected laptop. Nor can the laptop check the status if "find My" registration and initiate the reset itself from the outside.

Well that's a mixed bag.

• Was able to finally reset the device using an old laptop as a bluetooth to wifi bridge.
• Did not fix the wifi issue, even with a full reset of the device.

Not sure how the wifi goes out, without taking the bluetooth with it, since IIRC they are both on the same chip. Guess I'm going to have to check if the machine is still under warrantee, or else have it repaired by apple.

So how does that help?

When I go to reset the iPad, which is not able to connect to the "Find My" server, and still thinks it is registered with the "Find My" server, it has no way to verify that it has been disconnected. The lack of a network connection precludes it from being able to verify that it was delisted via other means. Therefore, nothing changes. The device still believes it is registered with "Find My" and refuses to allow a full reset becuase it cannot verify that it has successfully been deregistered...

The situation you describe, does not necessarily mean that the device is unable to connect to the "Find My" servers, only that you cannot log into the device for whatever reason (broken screen, forgotten passcode, etc.).

Turned out to be a hardware failure.

The wifi and bluetooth modules were both kaput. Fortunately, it was under warrantee (it's 8 months old, not 18 as I stated earlier) still, and I got a fresh replacement iPad.

Yes, the laptop to which the iPad is plugged in, and from which I have attempted to reset the iPad several times.

yes. I tried it a couple of times. Even tried power cycling the iPad after doing a network reset. No help.

Right now I'm under the impression that there is something wrong hardware wise.

Yes, I have a reservation at my local Apple Store for this afternoon. Hopefully it is something they can fix via software, since the machine is 18 months old, and I did not pay for Apple Care