Q: How can I bypass the previous owners password on my iPad?

And let's not forget that all this is because of people who can not be bothered to check whether they can use the device they buy, before they buy it.

Caveat Emptor.

Hi Michele,

I want to thank you for the well thought out and concise post. I don't think anyone can disagree with a thing you've Unfortunately, I feel that I need to once again respectfully ask you to read the forum posts carefully.  While your statement is wholly accurate, it was somewhat irrelevant as a response.

Apple does not track private sales, gifting, pawning, bartering or any other type of exchange of devices once they've been purchased originally at retail. 

No one mentioned anything about tracking the sale of devices. Gail said "Apple is not in the business of tracking the millions of people who have purchased iDevices," which was incorrect; and I corrected that statement by presenting a few of the more obvious ways Apple can and does track people.

I would like to reiterate, however, that I was very pleased to see such a thoughtful post. Please keep up the good work!

Hi Clound1,

If you are paying some kind of "Apple tax" that goes up every year, you really need to look into that. I don't think anyone else is paying it. Why do you insist that Apple would pass the cost onto every Apple consumer? When have they done that to date?

When the iPhone 3GS came out in 2009, you could buy a 16gb model off contract for $599. Today, you can buy an iPhone 6s 16gb model off contract for $649. That actually beats inflation by $15! And you get more memory, faster processor, better screen, tougher glass, more secure OS... Not to mention that you also get FREE iCloud services, FREE Facetime (over wifi), FREE iMessage Service, FREE Find My iPhone Services, FREE Wallet and Apple Pay Services... None of which were available on the 3GS 2009. All were developed later and provided at no cost to you.

If you are upset because your monthly bill keeps going up, blame your carrier. If you're upset because you think Apple is trying to gouge you, well, I guess you're just wrong. And likely paranoid. Which doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you. Just not Apple.

No, Gail is not incorrect. Apple does not "track" people who have purchased iDevices and they make it quite clear in their privacy statements. If you want a corporation to track what websites you go to, what you purchase from other places, etc. you need to go with Google or Facebook. You do have your purchase history in your iTunes account (if you have one) that you can track and Apple can see what you have purchased from them. This doesn't really constitute tracking. Neither does you personal history of items you have purchased from Apple. You can use find my iPhone or Find My Friends but again Apple does not track you with this.

You are confusing many issues here. Are you familiar with TANSTFL? None of those items you list are FREE, they all have a cost and trust me that Apple's financial people know exactly what the ROI is on those items. Apple has also set up a system to determine if Activation Lock is turned on so buyers and sellers can use it. Past that Apple would have to set up a significantly expensive system and would need to pass along the cost to the consumer. Perhaps they could make it an additional purchase, such as AppleCare + and those who want to pay for such a service, like you, could pay for it and those who don't could pass.

pkrva wrote:

 

Hi Clound1,

 

If you are paying some kind of "Apple tax" that goes up every year, you really need to look into that. I don't think anyone else is paying it. Why do you insist that Apple would pass the cost onto every Apple consumer? When have they done that to date?

Always, so why should this be any different. Try to stick to reality, businesses pass their costs to their customers, not some money tree that grows in their backyard.

Perhaps economics 101 is for you.

pkrva wrote:

 

Hi Michele,

 

While your statement is wholly accurate, it was somewhat irrelevant as a response.

If we are going to discuss relevancy, then:

Not sure why you think it is your job to critique every post that is in this thread after your joining in October? I do not see any helpful posts from you providing the poster with a solution. So, you are just spending a lot of time and taking up a lot of space with totally irrelevant posts. We don't need to know whether you approve of what we are posting. If you want to contribute to helping the poster, please do. Otherwise, save your critiques for elsewhere. They are neither helpful nor needed....

GB

Hey Deggie - Uh, yah... I realize that there is cost associated with developing, implementing, maintaining, marketing, etc. all those services. They are not magic. It's a matter of perception.

What I was trying to point out was that in the last 5-6 years, the non-subsidized, consumer cost of an iPhone (as an example - you can choose just about any Apple product from any line and the results are similar) has increased by $50 or <$10/yr. That's the consumer cost - what the consumer pays. So for $50 more (or $15 LESS if you account for inflation) you can get a larger, faster, better, more durable and more secure smartphone. Are the improvements worth the price of the phone? If you value what the base iPhone offers then I'd have to say you agree. But then on top of the improvements - if they pay nothing else to Apple above the price of the phone, which is virtually the same as it was BEFORE any of these services were available, they still receive all the services I mentioned in my previous post. So for $15 LESS that the cost of inflation, you get all that stuff.

That being said, it does cost significantly less to produce the iPhone 6s than it did to produce the 3GS and Apple isn't exactly passing on the savings. What they have done is been able to compress their costs enough to provide additional value for the same(ish) consumer pricing. So yes there is a cost to Apple for providing all those services. The question of whether those services are free to the user comes down to whether or not you believe an iPhone would cost significantly less than it did in 2009 if those services had never been created. A matter of perception.

No, it is not a matter of perception at all. Some of the prices of materials within the iPhone have decreased since the manufacture of the 3GS and different materials are being used. Some of the services Apple offers, such as FaceTime, iMessage, etc. are seen as an affiliated cost of selling the iPhone but they do cost money. Again, Apple financial employees have much more accurate information and know exactly what they can charge but it isn't free. Give the low ROI of setting up an entire staff and infrastructure for the low percentage of people who run into this problem there is no way you could justify it to the executives or the stockholders.

I had a similar problem when we upgraded our daughter's iPad.  I couldn't enter her Apple ID password to turn off Find my iPad until I logged into my WiFi.  Then hey presto! For the posters who have been rude and unhelpful about this issue - please stop.  There are many many honest and genuine reasons why one would wish to restore an iPad.  Good luck with restoring your genuinely owned Apple product x

Roughly 9 million iPhones were stolen in the last quarter of 2014. There are many more dishonest people looking for ways to use their stolen phone.

I think you are misunderstanding the issue that is being reported by the posters. That issue is that they simply do not know the iCloud ID that is signed into the device. Your issue would not require the device to be restored, but rather that you connect to Wifi as you have reported.

The problem is that many posters think that Activation Lock (which an iPhone owner enables when they turn on Find My iPhone) is something that Apple should allow them to "get around". The point of the Activation Lock is to dissuade thieves from stealing phones, and to allow you, as the owner of a lost or stolen phone to be able to erase that phone or put it into Lost Mode. Until Activation Lock was introduced, all a thief had to do was restore the phone, and voilà, they had a phone that they could use or resell.

If a legitimate owner forgets their password or Apple ID, there are ways to recover them. And, Apple will clear an Activation Lock if the owner can produce the sales receipt for the device. Otherwise, there is simply no way to get around it, and many of the posters in this thread are all up in arms about that. It is unlikely that Apple is going to change their policy on this, as there is simply no way to determine if someone asking to get around the Activation Lock is a legitimate second or third (or tenth) owner of a phone.

So, again, your situation is not the same as the ones posted here. You knew the Apple ID and Password. Most of the posters on this thread have no idea whose Apple ID they are looking at....(or whose phone they may have).

Cheers,

GB

hey apple I loved you untill I forgot my apple id and my ipad become unavailing.

ilia1989 wrote:

 

hey apple I loved you untill I forgot my apple id and my ipad become unavailing.

So you blame Apple for your memory lapse? You don't need to: there is a way of finding your ID. Go to http://appleid.apple.com and click 'Find your Apple ID'. There will be a process to identify you. Once you've found what it is, writing it down might be a good idea.

Hey ilia1989, you can retrieve your forgotten Apple ID here: FORGOT APPLE ID.

Apple is not here. This is a user to user support forum.

GB