I sold my iPhone but forgot to erase it...

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I sold my iPhone but forgot to erase it...

I sold an iPhone 4S, forgetting to erase it (dho!...). When in use, I did enable Find my iPhone on it, and I understand that I can issue a remote erase command via the iCloud website. However, the SIM card was removed prior to the sale, so presumably the phone now has to connect to the internet via WiFi. But to do this, the I presume that the new owner must connect to a WiFi network using some password, so he must open the phone with the passcode to access WiFi settings. I'd rather not give him access to the passcode and phone contents to do this.

I would be very grateful if anyone could shed some light on this dilemma!

Posted on Sep 8, 2014 12:35 PM

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Answer 1

jeff-4 Author

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Sep 8, 2014 1:06 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

In Find My iPhone Activation Lock: Removing a device from a previous owner’s account it says the following:

If the previous owner is not present

Make sure the device is powered on and connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network. Then contact the previous owner and ask them to follow these steps to remove the device from their account:

These are instructions for the buyer, of course. It seems there is a Catch-22 in the first sentence which says that the device must be connected to a WiFi or cellular network. I am pretty sure I turned off the "Ask to Join" WiFi option.

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Answer 2

jeff-4 Author

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Sep 8, 2014 12:42 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

I can contact him and will give this a try. However, are you sure that the phone will automatically connect to a public WiFi, if it has never connected to it before? To make this even more awkward, the U.S. buyer forwarded the phone to his brother in India, so he likely won't see the networks I've logged into here before (like Starbucks). Any further thoughts?

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

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Sep 8, 2014 4:14 PM in response to jeff-4

If you remove it from your iCloud account, then the ability to lock Find My iPhone is removed. The user can then connect the phone and restore it. After it is restored, then the owner can activate the device on their own. If you do not remove it and disable Find My iPhone, the new owner would not be able to activate the device.

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Answer 4

ChrisJ4203

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236,345 points

Sep 9, 2014 9:33 AM in response to jeff-4

With a passcode, the new owner would not be able to access the device, but that would not prevent it from being restored. The data could not be accessed without the passcode, but the device could be restored. The restore would delete all of the data on the device. Good luck with the additional information you reported.

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Answer 5

jeff-4 Author

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Nov 20, 2014 6:11 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

The new owner finally got around to tryin the procedure, but he reports that he is getting the following message:

"Activates iPhone: This iphone was lost and erased. sign in wit Apple ID that was used to erase this iPhone".

Does this mean that the phone was erased? I have not yet removed the phone from my iCloud account. Also, there is no indication on iCloud that the phone was actually erased. Its status is listed as "Pending: Erase iPhone".

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Answer 6

ChrisJ4203

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236,345 points

Sep 8, 2014 12:43 PM in response to jeff-4

You are correct that you have to have internet connection to process the remote erase. It could be done via a public Wi-Fi, which would not require a passcode. Can you contact the buyer? If so, you should be able to work this out. You can also look at the steps in this support document for help if you have access to the new owner. What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Even if you cannot erase it, if you remove the device from your iCloud account, and that would allow the new owner to restore the device.

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Answer 7

jeff-4 Author

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Sep 9, 2014 8:52 AM in response to jeff-4

I think I have found out an answer to my questions via this joined discussion Re: How can I delete my icloud account without wifi or sim. I will try to report back on its effectiveness.

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Answer 8

ChrisJ4203

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Sep 8, 2014 12:45 PM in response to jeff-4

See my edited post. If they attempt to connect to a public Wi-Fi that is not password protected and you have ask to join turned on it would. But I believe if you remove it from your iCloud account it will remove Find My iPhone and allow the new owner to restore the device.

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Answer 9

jeff-4 Author

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Sep 8, 2014 12:52 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

I'll first try the remote erase and instruct him to try to connect to a public network.

Could you clarify what would happen if I remove the device from my iCloud account? How would the new owner then restore the device? Thanks a bunch for your help!

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Answer 10

jeff-4 Author

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Sep 9, 2014 5:53 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thanks for the info. What concerns me is this. Wouldn't the iPhone will still be locked by its passcode, preventing access? And even if the iPhone is restored, wouldn't the new owner have access to the data still on the device? It seems a safer route is to erase the phone via iCloud, wait for confirmation of its erasure, then remove it from my iCloud account. Or is this unnecessary? Can I achieve the same result simply by removing it from my iCloud account?

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Answer 11

jeff-4 Author

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Nov 21, 2014 11:07 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

You were correct! Apple was able to erase my phone (although it never confirmed this on the iCloud account; I had to call Apple Support to confirm). I then removed the phone from the iCloud account, and, after re-powering and putting the phone into recovery mode, the buyer was able to activate and set up the phone. Thanks so much for your help!

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Answer 12

ChrisJ4203

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236,345 points

Nov 20, 2014 8:33 AM in response to jeff-4

Yes, that means it was erased. I'm not sure why you are still seeing the Pending, but then I have never tested this method. Don't really want to erase my phone.

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