Q: How can I bypass the previous owners password on my iPad?
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Dec 7, 2015 1:58 AMby ZibonST-1,I have been visiting these forums for several years and generally I have found helpful information. Researching this topic, I came upon this massive thread. While I did find answers to my question about unlocking a device, I also read posts that were simply condescending and demeaning....usually by the same few people replying to questions about situations similar to mine.
In my case, I was researching this issue because I have several iPhones that my wife brought home from work. The company had switched carriers and everyone received new phones. You can probably see where I'm going with this.....Anyway, this is a small family run company that my wife has worked for for over 20 years. She basically runs the company and handles much of the owner's and his family's personal affairs....my family is considered to be part of theirs...you get the idea. So the owner let her have all the old phones, knowing that I sold items on eBay, to let us make some extra money. Obviously, I ran into the activation lock issue, which led me here.
Yes, my wife could attempt to get employees to unlock the phones, although some are not employed there any longer and may not be so enthusiastic about that, but that is not the point of my post. I think the lock is a good thing. What I don't like is those who post remarks like "you could've checked to see if it was locked". The very nature of this approach suggests that we are all aware of this lock and its implications and ingnored it. Or that companies/persons are inept if they don't know about this security feature.
There are a large number of small businesses that rely on phones and devices that do not have IT departments. My wife handles all of the cellular accounts (as well as everything else) for the small company she works for. In her case, and I'm sure in the case of most small/family businesses, she doesn't know everything about every feature of every device....who could be expected to master all facets of every aspect of every device used on the job....no one obviously....unless they were in IT, which is their job more or less. But of course there are a huge amount of small businesses buying numbers of devices with no idea of what the activation lock is, or exactly what it does, or what is required to do with it once the device is given back to the company. And they shouldn't be made to feel inept because they don't know. I knew basically what the lock did, but I didn't know what was involved when it came to giving it or selling it to someone. And why would those on this forum I am taking issue with think that I should've known? Why would I think that there would be a specific software procedure to follow if I want to sell my iphone? There's no real precedent, other than the procedure of resetting a password or passcode.....something most of us are fairly used to thinking about nowadays....or removing a SIM card, which still not everyone realizes. The lock is a security measure that may become a standard, but is far from common knowledge at this point in time. Only one person I have mentioned this to has known what it actually means in regards to selling or giving your device to someone.....only because he tried to sell his iPhone once before. No one else had any idea what the procedure is or that there was a procedure.
So, my point to said posters is to show some respect, and realize that this, and probably other issues, are not necessarily common knowledge....yet. When someone comes here looking for help, a helpful reply would be something like, "The only way to unlock your device is to (then explain the procedure) If that can't be done you will need to contact Apple. In the future, always remember to check any used apple device to make sure the previous owner has unlocked it." Believe it or not, this is a lot different than "you should've checked to see if it was unlocked" or "its your responsibility to see if it has been unlocked". Said in this manner, the recipient is made to feel that they are inept and that they are responsible for knowing something that, in actuality, is not common knowledge and that they should feel like an idiot because they didn't know.
In conclusion, if this is going to be the new standard, let's get everyone educated. Mention it to your friends....it could help someone out.
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Dec 7, 2015 2:54 PMby rccharles,And why would those on this forum I am taking issue with think that I should've known?
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. I've heard. Stealing cell phones was rampant. State of California passed a law requiring an activation lock.
"SB-962 was signed into law on Monday [ 8-25-2014 ] by California Governor Jerry Brown. The bill, introduced in the State Senate earlier this year, was strongly supported by George Gascón, San Francisco's district attorney.
Smartphones that are manufactured after July 2015 will be required to have a kill switch installed to deactivate the phone if it's stolen."
R
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Dec 7, 2015 4:29 PMby gail from maine,ZibonST-1 wrote:
So, my point to said posters is to show some respect, and realize that this, and probably other issues, are not necessarily common knowledge....yet.
In conclusion, if this is going to be the new standard, let's get everyone educated. Mention it to your friends....it could help someone out.
Not sure how after over two years this qualifies as "not common knowledge...yet". And along the same lines, the standard is not "new".
At the beginning of this thread, when this lock was a new feature, it was explained to the posters who were encountering it. Not only was the feature explained, but the reason behind the feature was explained. After a while, some posters simply posted to complain and to throw out their conspiracy theories, some posters became extremely argumentative if not downright nasty at times.
We are all volunteers here. We are not here to defend Apple or Apple's decisions, just to help people out when they run into issues. However, there is not much to say on this topic. The Activation Lock is a part of the Find My iPhone app. If you turn on Find My iPhone, you device will be Activation Locked to your ID, and if you do not turn it off on a device before you sell it, then the unfortunate person down then line who purchases it will never be able to use the device. There is no way around the Activation Lock. There is information available on the Lock, how it works, how to remove it, and how to get a previous owner to remove it if you are able to contact said previous owner. There is also a support article on what to do if you want to sell or give away your device.
There is really no excuse in this day and age for not consulting Google when you acquire a new piece of equipment, or when you want to do something with that piece of equipment such as sell it or give it away. Nobody seems to have any issues spending hours and days visiting their favorite social media websites, or playing their online games, but when it comes to doing a little simple research, or acquiring readily available information that will increase one's understanding of their very sophisticated and expensive devices, no one seems to have the time, and it's every one else's fault....
So, not sure what your editorial was about, but if you have a question or need some help, please provide us with some direction as to the nature of your question.
Cheers,
GB
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Dec 8, 2015 7:31 AMby Phil0124,gail from maine wrote:
ZibonST-1 wrote:
So, my point to said posters is to show some respect, and realize that this, and probably other issues, are not necessarily common knowledge....yet.
In conclusion, if this is going to be the new standard, let's get everyone educated. Mention it to your friends....it could help someone out.
Not sure how after over two years this qualifies as "not common knowledge...yet". And along the same lines, the standard is not "new".
At the beginning of this thread, when this lock was a new feature, it was explained to the posters who were encountering it. Not only was the feature explained, but the reason behind the feature was explained. After a while, some posters simply posted to complain and to throw out their conspiracy theories, some posters became extremely argumentative if not downright nasty at times.
We are all volunteers here. We are not here to defend Apple or Apple's decisions, just to help people out when they run into issues. However, there is not much to say on this topic. The Activation Lock is a part of the Find My iPhone app. If you turn on Find My iPhone, you device will be Activation Locked to your ID, and if you do not turn it off on a device before you sell it, then the unfortunate person down then line who purchases it will never be able to use the device. There is no way around the Activation Lock. There is information available on the Lock, how it works, how to remove it, and how to get a previous owner to remove it if you are able to contact said previous owner. There is also a support article on what to do if you want to sell or give away your device.
There is really no excuse in this day and age for not consulting Google when you acquire a new piece of equipment, or when you want to do something with that piece of equipment such as sell it or give it away. Nobody seems to have any issues spending hours and days visiting their favorite social media websites, or playing their online games, but when it comes to doing a little simple research, or acquiring readily available information that will increase one's understanding of their very sophisticated and expensive devices, no one seems to have the time, and it's every one else's fault....
So, not sure what your editorial was about, but if you have a question or need some help, please provide us with some direction as to the nature of your question.
Cheers,
GB
Could not have said it better myself.
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Dec 8, 2015 8:59 AMby DrJJWMac,I can emphasize with the folks here. The process to clean an iPad before selling it is not as easy as one might wish. I had the same problem when I handed over an iPad to my spouse. Only after I tried to set up her iTunes account did I discover that I had to de-link the iPad from my iTunes account. I consider myself a rather knowledgable user, but still, this aspect of the process was new to me and a bit confusing to follow thru.
So, while analogies with the car keys and thefts and such are spot on as to the reason, throwing such reasons back in a poster's face is really not helpful at all. In truth, it is rather rude. In addition, throwing this issue back as the reason to stop buying Apple products (i.e. to get away from" the control" of mega-corporations) is a rather childish approach to the world. Finally, suggesting that "everyone should all know better by now (via Google or whatever)" is a bit condescending. Not everyone is always so clever as _you_ might hope them to be.
It seems, the only way around the problem being posted is to have the original owner disconnect the iPad from the iTunes account. When someone has a different solution, please clarify. Even though I now know better for future reference, I would also still like to know otherwise.
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JJW -
Dec 8, 2015 9:18 AMby Phil0124,DrJJWMac wrote:
I can emphasize with the folks here.
You mean empathize? Because emphasize is what you do when you make a word bold for instance.
DrJJWMac wrote:
The process to clean an iPad before selling it is not as easy as one might wish.
It could not be simpler. Sign out of iCloud which turns off find my iPhone, and then simply Erase the device. Its a 2 step process. It really does not get simpler than that. People are just mostly lazy on both ends of the issue. But anyone with common sense would assume if you are selling a device, perhaps I should clear it of everything before doing so. And not just blindly sell it without doing anything to it.
A 5 second Google search yields Apple's own support document as the first result:
"What to do before giving away or selling my iPhone"
It gets a little more involved when buying one, but still if you are paying a chunk of change for a device, one would expect you research it extensively before actually buying it.
Again, there are resources online, and with Apple, to help you before buying. People just choose not to take the time to learn. Because its faster and easier to simply buy a device blindly and assume it will work than to take 10 or 15 minutes on Google, or even at an Apple Store to learn that Activation lock cannot be bypassed.
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Dec 8, 2015 1:58 PMby DrJJWMac,Phil0124 wrote:
You mean empathize? Because emphasize is what you do when you make a word bold for instance.
Yes. Empathize. Thanks.
Phil0124 wrote:
It could not be simpler. ...
I agree that it is simple. One does however naturally presume that simply erasing a device completely will clear _everything_ on it. As duly noted, the step "log out of iCloud" is now a necessary first step. Otherwise, all goes to **** afterward. So, the process is not "as easy as one might wish".
Phil0124 wrote:
1) People just choose not to take the time to learn.
2) Because its faster and easier to [do something based on seemingly blind but logically-consistent, previously-workable reasoning instead].
I agree with 1), but not as the end-all root of the problem. Statement 2) has my clarification of a different and perfectly valid perspective.
Clear Device --> that should do everything I need (otherwise it should say "Clear Device But Do Not Close Out iCloud")
Device has been Cleared --> this device should be ready for me to use the way that I want (otherwise it should say, "Device has been Cleared but Still Needs the Previous Owner to LogOut of iCloud")
It is not that we do not "choose to take the time to learn [what is truly correct to do next]", rather it is that we move forward with our next steps based in faith on what we know to have been true in the past or anticipate to be correct based on the information at hand.
And some of us are really rather literal in how we interpret what "clear device" or "reset device" should mean.
To put this in perspective, before my experience with transferring my iPad, I would have never thought that I needed to consider the status of the device registration on iCloud BEFORE OR AFTER I clear the device. Even now, I still think that "clear device" should automatically deregister the device from its iCloud account. That would be both simple and easy.
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JJW
