Not totally sure what's the hesitation to fix. But I'll just feel hopeful that the buyer is still communicating with OP. Perhaps, the buyer is busy... Has matters he have to take care of. Perhaps, he's not feeling well. Maybe... He had a serious situation... Who knows? But if the buyer no longer responds... Then yeah... OP should be worried.
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Can't Set Up Used Apple Watch...
- Thread starter myrtledog
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Not totally sure what's the hesitation to fix. But I'll just feel hopeful that the buyer is still communicating with OP. Perhaps, the buyer is busy... Has matters he have to take care of. Perhaps, he's not feeling well. Maybe... He had a serious situation... Who knows? But if the buyer no longer responds... Then yeah... OP should be worried.
At this point. Pair the Apple Watch with your iPhone before leaving. Now, with the Activation Lock... Have to be caution and not just go by the Language Selection. You'll have to go through the entire set up, it might take awhile though.
Before Activation Lock... It wasn't a big deal exchanging hands. Now, it's different. Can't take any shortcuts. Gotta go the distance!
Is he? The OP wrote "Not currently getting any responses from the guy. I'll keep trying."
Not sure what the OP means when he later wrote the seller is on/off again trying to help. The solution isn't that difficult.
Last thing OP mention was the buyer is off/on again... The responses are sporadic I guess. But the buyer is communicating... It would be easier to find away to meet up with the buyer. I know if I paid 500, I'll find some kind of way to meet.
Not sure what the hang up is then. The aforementioned solution is quite simple and doesn't require meeting up.
hence my gut feeling he's tried to pass on his problem (hopeful that the next buyer knew what to do? perhaps he's not at all tech savvy rather than a con man) and gotten caught out
I spoke again to the seller of the watch. He's gone thru and checked everything that's been suggested by Apple Care as well as the info I've provided to him from this thread (thanks Night Spring) and he's been sending me screen grabs from what he's seeing on his end.
It appears that there are no traces of the watch left in his Apple Account, iCloud account etc... He as anxious to get to the bottom of this as I am.
I spoke with Apple Care on Saturday and they seemed to be very interested in the details and asked that I call them back with an update. The buyer would like to have a conference call with AC and me. So of course I've left 3 voice mails for AC and so far no return call.
I'm pretty confident this will get fixed but its painful jumping though all the hoops...
It appears that there are no traces of the watch left in his Apple Account, iCloud account etc... He as anxious to get to the bottom of this as I am.
I spoke with Apple Care on Saturday and they seemed to be very interested in the details and asked that I call them back with an update. The buyer would like to have a conference call with AC and me. So of course I've left 3 voice mails for AC and so far no return call.
I'm pretty confident this will get fixed but its painful jumping though all the hoops...
By the way, on the page that Night Spring linked to it said this:
If you can't access your iPhone or Apple Watch, or if your Apple Watch isn't paired with your iPhone and you need to turn off Activation Lock:
The seller has tried this and the watch simply isn't listed as one of his devices. It only shows his two iPhones... He's sent me a screen grab of what he is seeing...
Somehow it looks more and more like this might be an Apple problem.
If you can't access your iPhone or Apple Watch, or if your Apple Watch isn't paired with your iPhone and you need to turn off Activation Lock:
- On a computer, go to iCloud.com.
- Sign in with your Apple ID, and open Settings.
- Under My Devices, click your Apple Watch.
- Click
next to your device.
![icloud-site-remove-icon.png]()
- Click Remove to confirm.
The seller has tried this and the watch simply isn't listed as one of his devices. It only shows his two iPhones... He's sent me a screen grab of what he is seeing...
Somehow it looks more and more like this might be an Apple problem.
Edit: I think the only way to remove the activation lock, (if the iCloud thing doesn't work), is to have the buyer enter his iCloud password directly on the Watch. Sounds stupid but this seems to be the last resort.
If this still doesn't work, hmm... I'm guessing the Watch didn't belong to the seller.
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The seller has called me a couple of times today to try and resolve this. He even called Apple Care to look at his account to see what the issue was and they don't even show the watch associated with his account any longer.
He's offered my money back... Id rather resolve this as I really want the watch. We will see what tomorrow brings...
He's offered my money back... Id rather resolve this as I really want the watch. We will see what tomorrow brings...
if he's willing to give you your money back, he must be willing to meet.
why not just meet up and have him remove the activation lock there and then? and if it doesn't work, take your money and run.
I bought one in Dublin yesterday, in my excitement I forgot to ask if it was iCloud locked, when I got home I discovered it was. I called the guy, he came to my house an unpaired it from his phone. So, it looks like that's the best bet when buying second hand; have the buyer unpair it from their iPhone while you wait, or show you in the app settings that it's not paired.
There's a potentially simpler solution. Have him change his iCloud password, which will dissociate all associated devices.
Read back through the hold thread. Unpairing it doesn't solve the problem. I believe it was unpaired. It needs to be removed from the sellers iCloud account and that's not something most people are going to probably even know they need to do unless they have some tech savvy. I didn't know it until this thread.
Yes. It has been unpaired and yes the seller has gone into his icloud account and the watch doesn't even show there.
He's also tried changing his icloud password as Jay suggested above...no success.
Have been into the Apple Store several times and they don't know what's going on...
If I understood Apple's webpage at the link I posted correctly, unpairing the watch should remove activation lock. I think the problem may be that people are resetting the watch without unpairing first.
i'm starting to wonder how the apple watch is supposed to find out that activation lock has been removed, given after unpairing it it no longer has access to any kind of network?
Well, OP says the watch does pair:
So it pairs, connects to Apple's servers, and checks to see if it's activation locked or not.
AC just called for a follow up to see if we've been able to resolve this.
She says the reason nothing we've tried has worked is since the seller un-paired the watch without first unlocking the activation lock, the watch is currently not paired with any phone so can't get a wifi signal to get the change updates...
I'll meet him tomorrow at an Apple Store where I've made a Genius Bar appointment to try and sort this out.
She says the reason nothing we've tried has worked is since the seller un-paired the watch without first unlocking the activation lock, the watch is currently not paired with any phone so can't get a wifi signal to get the change updates...
I'll meet him tomorrow at an Apple Store where I've made a Genius Bar appointment to try and sort this out.
It appears that it is a bug. You shouldn't have to remove it from iCloud based on the manual. Here is the text from the manual on this subject:
Sell, give away, or lose Apple Watch
Before you sell or give away your Apple Watch, be sure to unpair it from your iPhone anderase its contents. If your iPhone and Apple Watch are fully functional and connected, you can accomplish this just by unpairing the watch. If your Apple Watch is lost or stolen, you can remove any credit or debit cards associated with it.
Unpair Apple Watch and iPhone. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Apple Watch, tap Unpair Apple Watch, then tap Unpair [watch name]. The Apple Watch is also removed from your iCloud account.
So, the seller did nothing wrong it appears if it was unpaired. Must have been a glitch.
Wow, this is a world-class design screw-up. Apple tries to introduce a feature to protect against theft, and instead creates a major problem for legitimate sellers. Someone can try to do everything correctly to un-pair and unlock a watch, but it still may not work. And neither the buyer nor seller can tell until the buyer tries to pair the watch.
Morons-- I wonder if they even thought it through and tested it?
Morons-- I wonder if they even thought it through and tested it?
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