Cannot contact previous owner to remove phone from their account

If you cannot contact the previous owner the phone is useless. There is no way to bypass Activation Lock without the cooperation of the one who enable Find my iPhone.

I contacted the previous owner and received all the correct credentials. I cannot get past the security. I receive a message saying I must use a specific Apple ID but when I do, I receive another message saying that ID cannot be used. It is weird because the system knows the difference because the correct credentials because I use a bad password and it says "wrong password." So Apple is acknowledging the ID and password are good - but won't let the phone activate or unlock.

Then that ID is NOT the one that was use to turn on FMiP on that device. You MUST use the credentials for the account that was used to lock the device to begin with. There is no way around that. Since you obtained it used, Apple will not intervene. Return it to the seller for a refund.

I'm not crazy. It says use a specific Apple ID but when I do I get an error that the ID will not work! Apple's servers know I'm providing the correct password because if I put in a bad password it says "Incorrect Apple ID or Password."

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I think what is happening is the same Apple ID is now being used on another phone and I cannot do anything with this phone. Apple doesn't have a way around this? Really??

Charlie-adman wrote:

I think what is happening is the same Apple ID is now being used on another phone and I cannot do anything with this phone. Apple doesn't have a way around this? Really??

No, I have 5 devices all using the same Apple ID. And I can turn off Find my iPhone on any of them. What is happening is the previous owner did not give you his apple ID or password correctly. Possibly intentionally. I would never give anyone my Apple ID and password; why should the previous owner? You must contact the previous owner and have them follow these instructions:What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If they won't do this the phone is useless to you.

Thanks for the "What to do . . ." link. I can direct my users to that one. FYI - I oversee 40 iPhones in a corporate account. I require people to wipe their old phones before returning to me but this one phone did not get processed. I have all the correct credentials. I have access to the users iCloud account and only one phone appears - the new one. It appears that the "old" phone is now orphaned. I agree with you, Apple should recognize two phones, i.e., two serial numbers, IMEI numbers, etc., but for some reason there is a glitch. It is frustrating because I'm returning 5 phones for gift certificates, sadly this one has to go in the trash.

If you or your company is the original owner of the phone, you can take proof of purchase to Apple and they should be able to help you.

Thanks