Activation Lock Nightmare

Question

Activation Lock Nightmare

If I buy a car legitimately from a used car dealership I do not have to go hunting down the original owner to ask for a secret password. This activation lock thing is horrible. It is basically turning plenty of good phones into pretty paper weights.

I rebuilt a 4s from parts for my daughter's 9th birthday. Once I finally finish this project, low and behold, the logic board is activation locked. I call customer support and Apple guy says find the original owner. In fact, he lies to me and tells me he can not even see original owner's email. He could at least give me the means to contact the owner and see if its stolen or lost. Right? What?

Back to the car analogy. I build a car, as a project, from parts, I do not have to say "open sesame" or something to get it started.

So, after spending money and time on the literal "labor of love" for my little girl and after getting lied to by Apple I begin to search online for a solution. What I find is a whole load of stupidity. Everyone is applauding Apple for this ingenious solution to iphone theft. I couldn't believe what I was reading. People are OK with this. It is truly amazing what a multi-billion dollar company can get away with and people say its a great idea. Amazing!! Now if the phone is reported lost or stolen, sure Apple go ahead and lock the thing, trace it and arrest the thief. All cool with that. Now if your senile grandma starts fiddling with the icloud and gives her phone away, it is useless or someone upgrades to a 5 and recycles there old 3 without removing it from icloud it becomes useless. And guess what?? Apple gets to sell more brand new phones by crippling the second hand market. It truly is genius, if you think about it. And the public smiles and applauds Apple's crime fighting stance. ????

So my question is... How do I unlock this stupid phone???

Posted on Oct 27, 2014 3:16 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 28, 2014 9:31 AM in response to Star Traveler

And that's why we go to Android my friends. I know what phone I am getting with my next upgrade and it's not an iphone. I hope anyone reading this thread will do some outside research on this matter and come to an informed conclusion. This does not just pertain to rebuilt devices, stolen or lost devices, it is ALL devices connected to an icloud account at anytime. If you decide to sell, give away, or recycle your iphone please remove the device from your icloud account. Apple does NOT want you to do this, in fact they are counting on it. It is a hassle I know but you may make someone happy who does not have $600 to go out and buy the latest and greatest phone.

Ok Apple not going to read anymore of your responses as they point fingers to ebay or paypal or thieves, rather than being solution oriented.

This icloud activation process benefits nobody except Apple. Unless it is reported stolen it works then.

I will end on this. If the guy whose phone I repaired was lost or stolen then why can I or Apple not contact this person so they can reclaim their property? That's what the App is for? Right?

Sent from my iPhone

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2014 3:23 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

But if you buy a stolen car for which the seller does not have the keys you do need to go hunt down the original owner for said keys to get the car to work.

In your building analogy, if you built the car from parts, when you got he ignition switch you would have needed keys. If this ignition switch came form a stolen car, there may be no no keys.

If your senile grandma gave the iPhone away to someone, it was the responsibility of the person getting the iPhone to check he could use it before buying it. Same as with the car, when you buy a car you check that everything is in order. There are no outstanding warrants for the car, and most importantly, the seller has keys and the pink slip for the car.

In this case the pink slip and keys to the car would be the Apple Id and password to disable find my iPhone.

Responsible sellers would have done this before selling the iPhone, and it would be usable by the buyer. If you buy without checking that it works, its your fault when you get bitten by activation lock.

Activation Lock is a fantastic idea which will soon be required by law on most mobile devices sold in the U.S. If you don't like the idea, stop buying shady iPhones.

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Answer 3

Oct 27, 2014 3:35 PM in response to Phil0124

Faulty logic friend! You are over complicating a very uncomplicated and obvious ploy to fatten Apple's pocket's. Too many steps in your analogy, too many variables.

It is my responsibility to report my car stolen. The police do not work under the assumption every care is stolen. Apple's argument is invalid as is yours.

We need to get Apple a superhero suit too!!

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Answer 4

Oct 27, 2014 3:36 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

Wasted too much of my life on this. Gonna throw the phone in the garbage and upgrade to a 6. Lol. See how it works?

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Answer 5

Oct 27, 2014 3:40 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

But its the responsibility of the car buyer to make sure the car is not stolen before they buy it. Otherwise the buyer would be caught with stolen merchandise, and completely unable to prove they did not steal it.

Apple does not work on any assumption. The Buyer needs to work on that assumption until proven otherwise. If the seller is unable to remove activation lock, simply do not buy the iPhone. Its that simple. No complication at all.

If you buy a used iPhone 6, make sure Activation lock is off.

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Answer 6

Oct 27, 2014 3:40 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

Remember when we could build computers from second hand parts? Steve Jobs does (or did)? Wasn't that fun?

Love Steve Jobs by the way, not a knock on him, in fact, I do not belvive this would be happening if he were still helming this ship.

And of course everyone is following Apple's business model here.

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Answer 7

fromsouth

Level 5

4,945 points

Oct 27, 2014 6:49 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

IT is happening, starting June of next year it becomes a legal requirement for every cellphone manufacturer that ships phones to California, which is all of them. Hopefully you move on with your life, without scarring from that incident and your love to Steve Jobs. Btw dell's motherboard password unlock policy is just as strict and existed way before.

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Answer 8

Oct 27, 2014 7:01 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

The bottom line is that this "lock it up" thing, unless the original owner unlocks it ... is simply what legislators are demanding and passing laws regarding doing that. Apple has implemented what the laws are ... ahead of time. And Apple has done a good job of it.

Oh ... and when a car is stolen, do you go to "Ford" or "GM" and ask them to run it down, find the thief and lock him up? ... LOL ...

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Answer 9

Oct 27, 2014 7:47 PM in response to Star Traveler

I would hope when I went to the dealership the salesmen wouldn't lie to me number 1. Also I would want the dealership to attempt to contact the person who reported their car stolen so they could get their property back.

Realistically, the vast majority of these locked phones are not stolen. If they were reported stolen it tells you on the lick screen.

Sent from my iPhone

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Answer 10

Oct 27, 2014 7:51 PM in response to chipperjoneshof

If you bought your parts from a junk yard ... I don't think there are any protections there ... :-) ... but, if you went to a used car dealership, you get the paperwork that shows the release from the previous owner - or you simply don't buy the car.

If you want the "release" from the "paperwork" on an iOS device ... you go here ... the second link below ...

Find My iPhone Activation Lock: Removing a Device from a Previous Owner's Account

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4515

Apple release Tool to check the Activation Lock Status of iOS Devices

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2014/10/01/activation-lock-status-check/

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Answer 11

fromsouth

Level 5

4,945 points

Oct 28, 2014 4:07 AM in response to chipperjoneshof

chipperjoneshof wrote:

"I would hope when I went to the dealership the salesmen wouldn't lie to me number 1. "

Are you serious?

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Answer 12

Oct 28, 2014 7:07 AM in response to fromsouth

Yes the parts were from the equivalent of a junkyard but I have redirected them and made the functional.

All I would like to do is use the phone or return it to the owner if in fact they care at this point since the phone is 3 years old. I would be glad to give it back even though I put $60 in the thing replacing the screen and folderibg connections on it. But you won't even contact the owner or give me a way to contact the owner. The term owner here is also misleading. Just because someone is signed into icloud doesn't necessarily mean they are the current owner. ?????

Sent from my iPhone

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Answer 13

Oct 28, 2014 7:37 AM in response to chipperjoneshof

chipperjoneshof wrote:

Yes the parts were from the equivalent of a junkyard but I have redirected them and made the functional.

If you were to take junk parts from any device (electronic, appliance, auto, etc.) from several different places, or junk yards, or thrift stores or yard sales or garage sales and piece it together ... THEN ... you wanted to talk to the original manufacturer about some facet of the operation of this "pieced together" device, because it was not operating the way you thought it was intended to operate ... any manufactuere would laugh at you and say "Come back and talk to us when you have something you bought from us and it's under warranty ... otherwise you're on your own!"

But you won't even contact the owner or give me a way to contact the owner.

Why should a user on this forum be expected to contact the owner? AND for that matter, why should the manufacturer be expected to contact the owner on your behalf? You don't go to Ford or GM to contact an owner of one of the pieces of a car, that you happened to get at the junkyard or at a garage sale ... LOL ...

Just because someone is signed into icloud doesn't necessarily mean they are the current owner. ?????

AND ... just because someone is selling it at a garage sale doesn't mean they're the owner either, but "there it is" ... :-) ... AND, just because someone gave something to the thrift store doesn't mean they are the owner either, but the thrift store will sell it anyway. And just because someone is driving a car down the road doesn't mean they are the owner or that they have permission to be in it or drive it. "Life" is complicated that way ... :-) ...

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Answer 14

Oct 28, 2014 9:57 AM in response to chipperjoneshof

chipperjoneshof wrote:

And that's why we go to Android my friends.

Android is subject to the same laws that Apple has addressed - ahead of time. Apple has done it before Android could even "get it together" yet, but Android will be required to have that kind of lockout process on theirs too ... by law, as that's coming into effect soon ... and also, whenever they can figure out how to do it ... LOL ...

As soon as Android can figure out how to do it to comply with the laws, you won't be getting a free pass there ... :-) ...

This icloud activation process benefits nobody except Apple. Unless it is reported stolen it works then.

Except for the fact it is being mandated by law ... LOL ... and more police departments are asking for it, as it dramatically reduces the crime in this area. And more legislators are demanding it in their municipalities.

AND NOTE ... the thing that you conveniently ignore, which puts the lie to your "theory". There are two things ... one is that one doesn't have to "lock" the device, if they don't want to. And if they do lock it, they can put a phone number on there that will show up on the device, for the owner to be called. And I have seen a user post here's the success he had when his iPad was stolen and when the thief discovered he could do nothing to get it to work, he called and returned it!

The second thing is that there is no requirement mandated by Apple for any user to actually use the function at all. They don't have to even have the process functional in the first place. BUT if you've followed these forums for a while, you'll see many users LAMENTING the fact that they didn't use it, or activate it. In fact there was a user yesterday, that asked if he could activate this process AFTER his device had been stolen ... :-) ... I had to regretfully inform him that no he couldn't.

I'm sorry to inform you that your major problem here, with this issue is that you're completely out of touch with the laws regarding this be done, out of touch with the police departments demanding this, out of touch with the legislators demanding this and out of touch with the many people in the past who have had their iPads stolen and wish that this had been in place for them!

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Answer 15

Oct 28, 2014 10:07 AM in response to Star Traveler

Yes. Lost and stolen iPads show a number to contact owner I completely agree with this it's wonderful. Mine does not give a phone number or email to contact the person at all. I would be glad to contact the person. Or Apple could contact them. But I have NO way of contacting the person. That is my problem and I have been given NO solutions. Did you do the research ?? You did not even come close to addressing the real issue once again.

Sent from my iPhone

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