How do I remove activation lock from my Apple device?

Ss885 wrote:

I bought this product second hand and have the bill.

Activation Lock is a theft deterrent, a d is intentionally difficult to bypass.

We can’t help, and absent convincing proof of ownership — an original receipt from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller — Apple won’t help.

Which means it is a brick. Return it to the seller. Either they unlock it, or they refund your purchase, or (as happens all too often) they’ve absconded and that’s why you’re asking here. If the seller has absconded, recycle it.

You can remove activation lock by entering the password used to set up the device. A hint is provided if you’ve forgotten the account.

with original proof of purchase from Apple or an Apple authorized reseller, Apple may unlock the device. See al-support.apple.com.

Ss885 wrote:

I bought this product second hand and have the bill.

Hello ~ That is the activation lock. It is doing it’s job as intended. If the person/persons that you bought the iPhone from cannot or will not remove it …the iPhone is basically useless to you. If they cannot/will not remove it…return it and get your money back. We cannot help remove it nor can Apple. Take a look here…

Activation Lock for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Also:

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a Used iPad/iPhone

If the “bill” that you have is from a second hand vendor Apple most likely doesn’t view that as adequate proof to unlock any device.

~Katana-San~

takn4aride wrote:

Servant of cats & MrHoffman

This behavior is not prima facie evidence...if the device was lost or stolen, the owner should report it to Apple/use "Find My" to locate it and report it to LE. If the owner sold it and did not remove the lock, they knew that the device could not be used by anyone else- bad intentions on the seller's part. They deserve it!

Apple should have a policy in-place for these type of circumstances when someone purchases their products (via eBay, pawnshop, etc) to contact the previous owner to have them delete the device from their account or report it as lost/stolen. Apple hiding behind 'It's a theft deterrent or for privacy' is a fallacy...if Apple truly cared about their customers, they should care enough to contact the device's account owner to make sure they did not lose or have it stolen so it can be returned to said owner. Other tech companies do this, why doesn't Apple?

You're assuming I knew it was lost/stolen, I purchased the iPad in good faith and DID NOT know if it was lost/stolen. Assume is a hyphenated word, be careful about what you assume!

The iPad I purchased from the pawn shop tried in vain to contact the person/owner who sold it to them but she would not return their calls...her boyfriend works at the pawn shop and tried to get her to delete it but she quit talking to him too. Also, he purchased it for her as a gift; he purchased it from Apple but she has the receipt/box. Since she will not remove the lock and Apple will not help, there's no other choice but to try to get the person to remove the lock.

Something to remember- Pawn Shops are required by law to hold pawned/sold items for 90 days to ensure it is not stolen/lost. eBay tracks items as well and has a way for buyers to report any issues with sellers/items. There is a paper trail to ensure if items are later determined to be lost/stolen, they can be traced back to who last purchased/sold them.

Activation Lock is intended to make lost or stolen gear and its constituent parts less valuable. Not more.

The Apple Account holder needs to remove Activation Lock, or the original purchase receipt or other sufficiently-convincing proof of ownership, or probate court paperwork.

If the pawnshop accepts an iPad or iPhone or Mac with Activation Lock set, it is worth rather less to them and to a potential knowledgeable third-party buyer. I’d expect most (all?) pawnshops know this, too.

As for your proposal, how much time and effort and money will it take Apple or some third-party to verify your proposed paperwork tracking, to identify the appropriate local or regional or national legal paperwork related to these transactions worldwide, changes to the paperwork, and all while not creating an easy means for “rehabilitating” what can be lost or stolen gear?

Purchases from a pawnshop, or online marketplace, or any third-party sale are risky. People lie. Only buy when the device does not have Activation Lock enabled, and is not remotely supervised, not on the cellular IMEI blacklist, and not carrier-locked. Or when you can assume the entire risk for any of those cases, or other latent issues.

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a used iPad/iPhone - Apple Community

Here? Maybe the pawnshop will buy it back.

Caveat emptor.

What are the circumstances? If you bought the device used, the seller must prepare it for a new owner using these Apple instructions:

Sell, give away, or trade in your iPad - Apple Support

If the seller cannot do that, you will never be able to use the device. Get your money back.

takn4aride wrote:

That’s not a big assumption, if given the SN, Apple can lookup the owner in their database…not to give out the owner info but to look up status. If it was given to family or friends, they would be able to contact said friend/ family member.

What makes you think they have that contact information?

My case is mute now...

I think you mean "moot."

I did not pursue it further and used the parts (resistors, chips, etc) to repair other iPads. If the owner was tricked, Apple could help in getting said device back to owner.

Once again, Apple doesn't necessarily have the information of the actual owner of the device. And if the owner doesn't have an original purchase receipt from Apple or an Authorized Apple Reseller, Apple will not remove the Activation Lock. Period. Full Stop.

LE would let the pawn shops/other resellers know to look for a stolen/lost device which would give the owner a better chance at recovering it.

The owner has the option of marking the device as Lost and putting contact infomation on the screen. If they chose not to do that, for whatever reason, Apple isn't going to override that decision.

Not stating that it is Apple’s responsibility but they, and other companies, do send out emails about helpful info, new software, accessories and other stuff…why not include steps to do before selling or giving the device away. In your example, the person would have a legal document stating the the owner passed away and, being a family member, may be able to get info relevant to the device (maybe/maybe not).

Apple has an excellent guide to what to do before selling a device:

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Some of us do our due diligence but I’m not immune from being a bit lazy at times.

Then you, like everyone else, will have to live with the consequences. It's not anyone else's job to protect you from that.

I believe Apple should help out a little bit more to make sure the device was not lost/stolen when contacted and people should be able to be notified if a buyer believes they mistakenly purchased a lost/stolen device so it can be returned to it’s rightful owner.

Apple has already implement a system that allows people to provide information to anyone who finds their device.

Apple makes it nearly impossible to remove the lock without the original purchase receipt hiding behind "privacy". Funny stating privacy as the motive since all tech companies sell your information to data brokers- they all claim it is unidentifiable information but I do not believe them.

I've bought a couple of ipads second hand, even from a pawn shop, where it appeared to be unlocked as it was reset but the owner did not remove it from their apple account so they were still locked to the owner.

I've begun to continue to enter a username/password until "Your account has been locked ..." so that the owner has to contact Apple to unlock their account. Eventually they will get tired of having their account locked and maybe remove the device from their account

takn4aride wrote:

Apple makes it nearly impossible to remove the lock without the original purchase receipt hiding behind "privacy". Funny stating privacy as the motive since all tech companies sell your information to data brokers- they all claim it is unidentifiable information but I do not believe them.

I’m nit aware of any such claim. I am aware of those that would use such disclosures for harassment or worse.

I've bought a couple of ipads second hand, even from a pawn shop, where it appeared to be unlocked as it was reset but the owner did not remove it from their apple account so they were still locked to the owner.

Which is part of the fundamental purpose of Activation Lock, too.

I've begun to continue to enter a username/password until "Your account has been locked ..." so that the owner has to contact Apple to unlock their account. Eventually they will get tired of having their account locked and maybe remove the device from their account

That would require you to know the Apple Account holding the lock.

Poking at the device otherwise doesn’t block the Apple Account holding the lock. That poking would be used for harassment via a misappropriated or stolen device, if it did reveal or did block the account.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250001038

MrHoffman wrote:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX wrote:

I've begun to continue to enter a username/password until "Your account has been locked ..." so that the owner has to contact Apple to unlock their account. Eventually they will get tired of having their account locked and maybe remove the device from their account

That would require you to know the Apple Account holding the lock.

Someone who is in possession of a lost or stolen device has NO right to harass the owner of the device – e.g., by trying to repeatedly vandalize/lock the owner's Apple Account, in the hopes that the owner will get so tired of the harassment that they will reward the harasser by abandoning the property.

Carrying out such behavior would seem to be prima facie evidence that the person carrying out this attack knew that they were in possession of lost or stolen property.

The fact that the person to whom you are responding would even contemplate doing this – whether they can do what they claim, or not – says a LOT about them. It would also seem to validate Apple's decision to deliberately obscure a portion of the Apple ID on the "Locked to Owner" screen.

Servant of cats & MrHoffman

This behavior is not prima facie evidence...if the device was lost or stolen, the owner should report it to Apple/use "Find My" to locate it and report it to LE. If the owner sold it and did not remove the lock, they knew that the device could not be used by anyone else- bad intentions on the seller's part. They deserve it!

Apple should have a policy in-place for these type of circumstances when someone purchases their products (via eBay, pawnshop, etc) to contact the previous owner to have them delete the device from their account or report it as lost/stolen. Apple hiding behind 'It's a theft deterrent or for privacy' is a fallacy...if Apple truly cared about their customers, they should care enough to contact the device's account owner to make sure they did not lose or have it stolen so it can be returned to said owner. Other tech companies do this, why doesn't Apple?

You're assuming I knew it was lost/stolen, I purchased the iPad in good faith and DID NOT know if it was lost/stolen. Assume is a hyphenated word, be careful about what you assume!

The iPad I purchased from the pawn shop tried in vain to contact the person/owner who sold it to them but she would not return their calls...her boyfriend works at the pawn shop and tried to get her to delete it but she quit talking to him too. Also, he purchased it for her as a gift; he purchased it from Apple but she has the receipt/box. Since she will not remove the lock and Apple will not help, there's no other choice but to try to get the person to remove the lock.

Something to remember- Pawn Shops are required by law to hold pawned/sold items for 90 days to ensure it is not stolen/lost. eBay tracks items as well and has a way for buyers to report any issues with sellers/items. There is a paper trail to ensure if items are later determined to be lost/stolen, they can be traced back to who last purchased/sold them.

Yes, I know that but at the same time, it also makes legal, good faith transactions surreptitious. I purchased it as a broken, for parts transactions (the lcd & digitizer were cracked) however, after cleaning it up, I determined that the lcd & digitizer were the only parts broken. I replaced them and it turned on to the reset screen but when it got to the wifi connection, it then asked for the account password...that's when I realized it was still locked to previous owner, etc.

Not all pawn shops/people use Apple products so, no, not everyone will know about the activation lock part especially when the device was reset but the owner did not click on reset to transfer/sell to wipe it & delete it from their account. I have spoken to some friends/family that us Apple and they were not aware of the different reset options either.

I repair broken iPads to sell or give away to cut down on amount of e-waste in landfills.

Apple, like all tech companies, can easily find the owner by the SN of the device. Maybe not regular customer service agents but the fraud/security department can. Apple wouldn't be the one's researching the chain of purchase anyway, Apple would ask the account owner to report it or they would turn it over to law enforcement. Apple has all the info on who owns which devices and where it's located as the device contacts Apple about what websites are visited, where it currently is, etc by the metadata sent back to Apple. This is how you get 'personalized' ads, searches, etc. Apple is no different in this than any other tech company. They can ping the device to 'see' where it is currently located too as long as it is turned on and connected to wifi.

If owners were contacted and made to confirm that they sold, lost or had it stolen, more owners would quit being lazy and reset their devices prior to selling it. The current way is just letting people become more lazy as they are not being held accountable for not learning about their devices and what needs to be done prior to selling.

Caveat emptor is an old way of doing business. When I was in real estate, we got away from that way of business long ago in the 70s - 80s as the Federal Government put buyer protections in-place due to the number of devious sellers/agents. Same applies here and Apple should do more to protect their customers. Good customer service, both to current device owners and those wanting to try them out, would go a long way in getting more people to switch to Apple products.

I doubt someone who stole an Apple device would contact Apple to get assistance with the Activation Lock- if they do, they're not playing with a full deck of cards.

takn4aride wrote:

Apple, like all tech companies, can easily find the owner by the SN of the device.

That's a pretty big assumption (and you know what they say about that). How can Apple tell the difference between an iPad that was given to a friend or family member and an iPad that was taken by, for example, an abusive or vindictive spouse who also knows the Apple Account? Or a stolen device where the thieves managed to trick the original owner into removing their iCloud account (happens more than you might think).

Maybe not regular customer service agents but the fraud/security department can.

Apple doesn't have a department that tracks stolen devices. They'd have to create one.

Apple wouldn't be the one's researching the chain of purchase anyway, Apple would ask the account owner to report it or they would turn it over to law enforcement.

Apple can't make people update their information or report things stolen. Law enforcement will generally not do much beyond taking a report in the case of a stolen iPhone or iPad.

If owners were contacted and made to confirm that they sold, lost or had it stolen, more owners would quit being lazy and reset their devices prior to selling it. The current way is just letting people become more lazy as they are not being held accountable for not learning about their devices and what needs to be done prior to selling.

Maybe, maybe not. But that's not Apple's responsibility. And exactly how would someone confirm that the iPad they are using, which was originally purchased by Great Uncle Jim, who has since died, is really theirs? That Great Uncle Jim removed his Apple Account from it and bequeathed it to them on his deathbed?

Caveat emptor is an old way of doing business. When I was in real estate, we got away from that way of business long ago in the 70s - 80s

So, you want to make people who have lost their iPads or had them stolen "quit being lazy" but you have no problem with the people buying those used iPads being too lazy to do their own due diligence?

That’s not a big assumption, if given the SN, Apple can lookup the owner in their database…not to give out the owner info but to look up status. If it was given to family or friends, they would be able to contact said friend/ family member. My case is mute now, she had a mental breakdown and the pawn shop gave me a partial refund. I did not pursue it further and used the parts (resistors, chips, etc) to repair other iPads. If the owner was tricked, Apple could help in getting said device back to owner.

Not to track devices but to assist in determining if the device was actually lost/stolen and if so it could be turned in to an Apple Store so it could be returned to its rightful owner. Yes, I would do that.

LE would let the pawn shops/other resellers know to look for a stolen/lost device which would give the owner a better chance at recovering it.

Not stating that it is Apple’s responsibility but they, and other companies, do send out emails about helpful info, new software, accessories and other stuff…why not include steps to do before selling or giving the device away. In your example, the person would have a legal document stating the the owner passed away and, being a family member, may be able to get info relevant to the device (maybe/maybe not).

Some of us do our due diligence but I’m not immune from being a bit lazy at times. Like I stated, I buy broken iPads to repair or use the parts to repair others…what others do, I do not know/care. When I lost my wallet, I called my bank to let them know I lost it with my bank card inside so it could be cancelled before someone used it. I later found my wallet/card but at least I notified the bank. So yes, I stand by my previous statement of people being lazy.

We could go round and round on this. I believe Apple should help out a little bit more to make sure the device was not lost/stolen when contacted and people should be able to be notified if a buyer believes they mistakenly purchased a lost/stolen device so it can be returned to it’s rightful owner.

When I give away or sell an iPad and an issue shows up, I repair it or make it right another way with the buyer.

Hello~ Apple is the final decision maker and their decision has been made thus indeed making it a moot point. If you want to take the up with them …then please do so. They certainly will not see your thoughts here.

~Katana-San~

takn4aride wrote:

Thanks for the obvious! Just sharing frustrations and ideas concerning Apple’s policies. We all know Apple’s decision is final.

Hello once more~ You’re quite welcome. Also …you may want to to take a moment here…

Apple Support Communities Use Agreement - Apple Community

~Katana-San~