Activation Lock?

[laziestninja]

I own an iPhone, my wife has an iPhone, we have another iPhone for my daughter and my son has an iPad mini we had for a few years.

He was watching a movie tonight in his iPad and out of nowhere a white screen appears requesting to enter the Apple ID and password for the device to unlock the activation lock.

I tried mine, won't work. Tried the others and doesn't work. I m le we used my ID when we originally set up the device. I noticed where it says This iPad is linked to an Apple ID it shows in brackets (2*****@qq.com). Is that the username or just an example? If it's the username / Apple ID associates then we were hacked.

Anyway I tried everything and can't seem to recover the iPad for my son. Any suggestions for next steps? I can't believe how incredibly stupid of a situation this is. I'm out hundreds of dollars over this? If that's the case I'll NEVER purchase an Apple product again.

 

[chrfr]

I own an iPhone, my wife has an iPhone, we have another iPhone for my daughter and my son has an iPad mini we had for a few years.

He was watching a movie tonight in his iPad and out of nowhere a white screen appears requesting to enter the Apple ID and password for the device to unlock the activation lock.

I tried mine, won't work. Tried the others and doesn't work. I m le we used my ID when we originally set up the device. I noticed where it says This iPad is linked to an Apple ID it shows in brackets (2*****@qq.com). Is that the username or just an example? If it's the username / Apple ID associates then we were hacked.

Anyway I tried everything and can't seem to recover the iPad for my son. Any suggestions for next steps? I can't believe how incredibly stupid of a situation this is. I'm out hundreds of dollars over this? If that's the case I'll NEVER purchase an Apple product again.

You can contact Apple if you have the receipt for the device and they'll be able to clear the lock for you, but that's the only option.

 

[laziestninja]

You can contact Apple if you have the receipt for the device and they'll be able to clear the lock for you, but that's the only option.

Wow. No i don't the receipt I'm sure it's been years since I bought. That's crazy. I'll call and ask some questions. Only my ID was used setting up this iPad. There is no reason this should of locked up and no reason my ID shouldn't unlock it. It's clearly a back of some kind and that's sad. Lesson learned moving forward.

Thanks for your quick response.

 

[DeltaMac]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht204106

You may need to call AppleID support, as they may have a way to help you, particularly if your iPad was purchased new, and you are the original owner of the iPad. You will probably need proof of ownership.
Hope that helps.

 

[TheRealAlex]

Wow. No i don't the receipt I'm sure it's been years since I bought. That's crazy. I'll call and ask some questions. Only my ID was used setting up this iPad. There is no reason this should of locked up and no reason my ID shouldn't unlock it. It's clearly a back of some kind and that's sad. Lesson learned moving forward.

Thanks for your quick response.

Happened to me too. Sort of. Luckily I knew my Secret Questions and Answers Apple support was able to fix it for me also had the iPad in hand helps. They nuked everything possession is 9/10th of the law.
Hacker will never come forward to claim property they just want a quick hit to use any credit card info to buy Apps Music etc

Would check all credit bureaus next month and Flagg alerts too.

 

[laziestninja]

Happened to me too. Sort of. Luckily I knew my Secret Questions and Answers Apple support was able to fix it for me also had the iPad in hand helps. They nuked everything possession is 9/10th of the law.

That's great to know. I live in Canada so there is no Apple Store near me but I'll call and certainly see what they can do. Just so random after all these years with no issues ever. I know all my security questions and can demonstrate reasonability. I'm equally concerned what prompted this lock why my only account used to set it up isn't working. Crazy. But thanks you guys all rock on advice and quick responses. Appreciate it. My 7 year old isn't too happy at the moment.

 

[TheRealAlex]

That's great to know. I live in Canada so there is no Apple Store near me but I'll call and certainly see what they can do. Just so random after all these years with no issues ever. I know all my security questions and can demonstrate reasonability. I'm equally concerned what prompted this lock why my only account used to set it up isn't working. Crazy. But thanks you guys all rock on advice and quick responses. Appreciate it. My 7 year old isn't too happy at the moment.

Your password no doubt is way simple. Is my speculation

 

[960design]

... my son has an iPad mini we had for a few years.

This... sounds... improbable. It would take some pretty fancy work arounds to make this happen.

Possible scenario:
I would send an email or create an advertisement that downloads a supervisory profile to the iPad. The install would have to be approved by the user. Several years ago the approval was just a single, Yes, but now requires multiple yes with warnings about your security. There would also be a control profile message under: Settings > General > About and full disclosure under Settings > General > Profiles.

Now I have control of your device and can watch email traffic and attempt to start guessing your AppleID and password. Easy enough... no, not really. After several guesses, I would be locked out and so would you, of your AppleID. I could at this point attempt a password receipt, gleened from the data retrieved from your device to guess your Date of Birth and two Security Questions. When asked: What is the name of your best friend in high school. Enter something like: %_Zdw=FxwL[YKB87 Probably not a good idea to enter your real friends name, the one you email about or chat at on Facebook.

With supervisory ( profile ) control of your device I could bypass activation lock and with a compromised Apple ID ( again, pretty tough, unless you sent the password via email, text or saved it in the notes on the device ).

UNLESS there was no Apple ID added to the device. Then I would just add one and have control. Again, that requires a profile install, which wipes the iPad, so it doesn't really go unnoticed.

Receipt and you are good, otherwise... slow mo smash it and put it up on Youtube, maybe advertising revenue will soften the new purchase.

PS. Apple has all the past receipts, if you purchased through Apple ( highly recommended ).

PPS. If you end up tossing it, I would like to research the 'hack' as a project and write a paper about it. Just a thought.

PPPS. Welcome to MacRumors.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Wow. No i don't the receipt I'm sure it's been years since I bought. That's crazy. I'll call and ask some questions. Only my ID was used setting up this iPad. There is no reason this should of locked up and no reason my ID shouldn't unlock it. It's clearly a back of some kind and that's sad. Lesson learned moving forward.

Thanks for your quick response.

I save all receipts as .pdf files... for the items purchased directly from Apple, they email you the .pdf receipt. For purchases from other sources, I scan the receipt and store it in a folder on my Drobo NAS labeled with item, date and source. You'd be surprised how often the need arises to locate the receipts.

Failing that, all you can do is contact Apple and throw yourself on their mercy. Not sure I like your chances, though.

 

[jdclifford]

My father-in-law just did same thing. I opened case with Apple support and provided proof of purchase since I was original owner. They are escalating case and said it should take about 4 business days before they have unlocked his Apple ID. I will tattoo the new PW and answers to security questions on his arm so he can't forget them again.

 

[akadafni]

I own an iPhone, my wife has an iPhone, we have another iPhone for my daughter and my son has an iPad mini we had for a few years.

He was watching a movie tonight in his iPad and out of nowhere a white screen appears requesting to enter the Apple ID and password for the device to unlock the activation lock.

I tried mine, won't work. Tried the others and doesn't work. I m le we used my ID when we originally set up the device. I noticed where it says This iPad is linked to an Apple ID it shows in brackets (2*****@qq.com). Is that the username or just an example? If it's the username / Apple ID associates then we were hacked.

Anyway I tried everything and can't seem to recover the iPad for my son. Any suggestions for next steps? I can't believe how incredibly stupid of a situation this is. I'm out hundreds of dollars over this? If that's the case I'll NEVER purchase an Apple product again.

You can contact Apple Care and provide the device serial number. If they are able to see the Apple ID, they can try to ask you security questions if the Apple ID matches your first and last name. If you can verify the account they can provide the Apple ID and maybe you can reset the password

 

[kazmac]

OP, I just went through this with my 6s, I thought it was part of the yahoo hack had my receipts etc., called AppleCare: it took them 5 days to unlock.

I have since set up two step verification on my Apple ID and do not surf beyond this site and another 1 or 2.

Definitely good advice here and good luck.