Previous owner removed iPhone from his iCloud account, I tried 3G and WiFi, but the phone won't activate: it still thinks it belongs to the previous owner. What gives? Do I really have to drive 100km to make him manually unlock the phone? This is getting pretty frustrating.
iPhone 5, iOS 9.3.2
Did he wipe the phone before removing it from his iCloud account? If not, and you still cannot activate because it is still asking for their iCloud ID, then you are going to have to get their assistance. Is that why you cannot activate because it is asking for that owner's ID?
The phone was wiped, then I tried to activate it and it was activation locked so I told him to remove the phone from iCloud, which he did, but it's still asking the owner's ID.
Did the previous owner wipe the phone, or did you? The device needs to be wiped by the previous owner before removing the device from iCloud, or Find My iPhone is not disabled correctly. If all they did was remove it from iCloud, then it probably didn't remove Find My iPhone, and they may have to activate it again with their credentials and then remove Find My iPhone from the device in person before you can activate it.
I believe the previous owner can turn off Find My iPhone remotely.
Have that person follow the instructions shown under "If the device is erased" here:
Ok, so that's the problem: I wiped the phone. Guess I have to drive all the way to get him unlock the **** thing. Thanks for the info 🙂
I would test what sberman has provided before you decide to travel. It may work. You have nothing to lose at this point.
If the previous owner removes the phone from Find My iPhone after it's in your hands, you need to put the device in Recovery Mode, reinstall iOS, and then you should be able to activate it.
I've had to do this with some iPads that were handed from one staff member to another - as long as I had the previous owner remove the device remotely first, then tried Recovery Mode, all was well 🙂
Instructions for Recovery Mode are here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263
~Lyssa
Activation lock won't disable.
