I think that may be from an older manual, describing how things worked in Watch OS1, which didn't have activation lock.
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Can't Set Up Used Apple Watch...
- Thread starter myrtledog
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I think that may be from an older manual, describing how things worked in Watch OS1, which didn't have activation lock.
From my experience the unpairing removed it from iCloud as the seller had to sign in with his Apple ID to unpair. Just like signing out of Find My Ph.one.
I have an Apple watch that I sold. I unpaired it from the iPhone and everything worked and I got emails the cards in Apple Pay had been removed. I paired my new watch to the phone no problem. I found an Apple webpage to check if a device had activation lock disabled, entered the old watch serial number and it said everything is fine.
Yet if I look in my iCloud settings the old watch is there and it shows Apple pay credit cards assigned to it. If I try to remove it, it says and error occurred and try again later (this has been going on for three days now). The old watch is being delivered today and this is making me nervous.
Yet if I look in my iCloud settings the old watch is there and it shows Apple pay credit cards assigned to it. If I try to remove it, it says and error occurred and try again later (this has been going on for three days now). The old watch is being delivered today and this is making me nervous.
I just bought a used one on eBay and getting nervous too. Its from a reputable seller with a storefront and thousands of sales, so it shouldn't be a problem... but there is something going on with this that sounds messed up on Apple's side. There is some handshake that isn't happening and then the watch can't be communicated with.
I finally called Apple about this and they say my old watch shows it is removed from their side of the system and it is inactive. So in theory the buyer should not have any problem. They said to wait a couple of days (it's already been four days since it was unpaired) and hopefully it will remove from my side by itself. If it doesn't then I should call back and they will file a ticket on it.
None of this is confidence inspiring.
My seller also showed on the Apple side that the watch was no longer on his account. However the Activation Lock is still active so I can do nothing with it. Therein lies the problem...
Is Apple doing anything about this? Your earlier message about Apple saying the seller must remove activation lock is wrong (wrong by Apple). There is no way to do this on the watch, all you can do is unpair it. The activation lock is an Apple side thing, if the lock wasn't removed they messed it up. There is literally no control in the iPhone or anywhere else for a current owner to deactivate the lock, the only control is either mark it as missing (keeping the lock active) or unpair it.
AC insists that we must get the sellers phone and the watch back together, re-pair them and then un-pair them... I'm trying to arrange a meeting tomorrow with him to see if it works.
OK, that sounds like total BS. Think of how many watches that Apple has take back as returns. Are they saying that if this happens on one of those, that they'd have to hunt down the original owner and repair them, then un-pair them? Surely if this happened to you, its happened to them. Or do they just trash any that end up in this state... perhaps.
Interesting - I purchased a 42mm Space Grey Sport Open Box yesterday from Best Buy. When I went to pair the watch with my phone I received an Activation Lock message and could not enter my iCloud information. I called Apple Support and they stated that there was nothing they could do even though I had a receipt with the serial and just also purchased Apple Care. I was instructed by Apple to return the Apple Watch to Best Buy and work with them. Lucky for me Best Buy exchanged the Open Box Watch with a brand new one at the discounted price.
No, but the process to actually restore them outside of activation lock most likely requires retiring the device (serial) and restoring software with a hard connection (which can only be done at warehouse atm) and new assigned identity. They won't do it unless the device is retired (pending refurb) because that defeats the purpose of activation locking, and they can't retire the device until the owner (of AC) gives it up to Apple be replaced for n reason.
I suppose this issue is unique because the device was unpaired without activation lock being disabled; the watch cannot access the OP's phone because it needs to be activated first, but can't activate because it can't reach the Internet since it cannot pair to OPs phone or find a phone with the original owners iCloud info, and with no existing Wifi networks, there is no access to the web. Compound that with the inability to manually join a network because of lack of UI and you get this weird conundrum that wouldn't be possible on any other iOS device.
If the watch has AppleCare, you may be able to get them to replace it with the digression of the original owner (or by transferring the AC), as it isn't working properly because of this loop of disconnection. Another ideas is if the device is still associated with his information, it may also retain a copy of the networks so it can join them via info screen; Starbucks or Apple Store may work assuming the previous owner has ever been to one and used their Wifi.
Though this is just me throwing **** at the wall. Best of luck, OP.
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It does have Apple Care and I think this is where this might be heading. The AC rep I dealing with says the in person thing will work. She's also set a follow-up date and time to call me to see if this resolved it. If it doesn't I'll press hard for a replacement...
This is the path that will lead to a general resolution, similar to mzuzzi's experience above. Essentially, Apple created a defect so severe in their architecture that it renders watches unusable when everyone involved had the best intentions. And, the Apple infrastructure does not provide a path for resolution. That is a manufacturer defect equally as bad as any hardware defect.
How would anyone here know for certain that this watch was ever linked to the seller. If there was a chance to get the money back do it and buy from Apple. I would rather pay full price than have to go through drama when it's a chance it's a BS deal. Some private sellers are out to get people.
I have absolutely no doubt they'll replace it (though they may give some trouble if AppleCare is still in the original owners name, rightfully so of course), as this case falls into the realm of people who bricked watches with OS 2.
Honestly, I'm surprised it's been this long. I would have assumed they would do everything in their power to prevent you from walking out of the store with a useless device given the circumstances. Though, I am assuming the store had all of the pieces of the situation that we have here; it's easy to lose bits and pieces along the way between consumer and faceless-person from support.
At this point, his persistence will probably get him a nice new and mint Watch
But that's worth it in my opinion.
At this point, his persistence will probably get him a nice new and mint Watch
But that's worth it in my opinion.
This...
About $300. It'll be worth it if it gets worked out or I get a new watch. If not I'll get a refund on the watch.
There is no way for the user to unpair the watch and not deactivate the activation lock. If it wasn't deactivated then it's an error on Apple's servers. For anyone that says otherwise, show the procedure on how to do this. There are only two things a user can do, mark as missing or unpair a watch. There is no need for the user to remove the device in iCloud if they have unpaired. The same with an iPhone, once you turn off "Find my iPhone" then the activation lock is gone.
There's always someone who has to have the last word...
Example: Restoring your iPhone without unpairing the watch first.
This will automatically unpair the watch but leave AL active on it if the watch is in range. Or if the watch is off/out of range, it will remained paired without a connection point + AL enabled, requiring verification after you reset all connect & settings to try and pair it again.
In both cases, you will be asked to disabled Find my iPhone for the phone, but not paired watch. Since being prompted to disable activation lock only occurs when unpairing from your phone, there are a few other paths that get you to this loop, but they are few and far between, thus the small amount of people affected by this conundrum.
Edit: And I just checked and you can reset all content & settings on the watch, from the watch, thus unpairing it, with activation lock enabled. It's in beautifully bold print below the big "Erase All Content and Settings". This is most likely how the original owner unpaired the devices.
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Of course if you don't unpair the watch then activation lock is still on. But if you unpair the watch (which the original owner did in this case) the activation lock should be off. That's the whole problem here and it must be something flakey on Apple's part.
I have a different problem. I did unpair a watch and checking the serial number it shows it inactivated. Yet when I log into iCloud it still shows the watch and if I try to remove it just errors. Apple support claims on their end they can't see the watch listed. Something is not right here. As long as the user unpairs the watch everything should be fine. If not, there's a problem on the Apple server side.
I have a different problem. I did unpair a watch and checking the serial number it shows it inactivated. Yet when I log into iCloud it still shows the watch and if I try to remove it just errors. Apple support claims on their end they can't see the watch listed. Something is not right here. As long as the user unpairs the watch everything should be fine. If not, there's a problem on the Apple server side.
I described two (three!) methods by which you can unpair without disabling activation lock just as you asked... If you're talking about explicit unpairing, both the second second situation and my edit are credible examples. There is no error, this is intended behavior. There is nothing flakey, just people's' inabilities to fully read before making large actions.
Your issue seems radically different with no relation to OP, imo.
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Whatever happens you've flagged a very important issue that may affect many second hand buyers to come. A simple unpairing worked for me and I'm counting myself lucky. Hope you get this sorted pretty soon, it's a gem of a device.
As far as this case goes I don't think the seller is legit.
I wouldn't be so trusting in the information a stranger is giving me. Forget about Apple's servers being screwy how about this. The seller could very well be a liar and a thief. People do it all the time.
There are thousands of stories of this happening with a iPhone. There's nothing flawed in the activation lock process. If you own the device you can remove it from the device.
I wouldn't be so trusting in the information a stranger is giving me. Forget about Apple's servers being screwy how about this. The seller could very well be a liar and a thief. People do it all the time.
There are thousands of stories of this happening with a iPhone. There's nothing flawed in the activation lock process. If you own the device you can remove it from the device.