The seller has been most cooperative in this. I'm meeting him tomorrow morning to attempt to resolve...
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Can't Set Up Used Apple Watch...
- Thread starter myrtledog
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The seller has been most cooperative in this. I'm meeting him tomorrow morning to attempt to resolve...
Simply not true. I cannot remove an Apple Watch from my iCloud settings even though I properly unpaired it. Simply because one person hasn't encountered an error doesn't mean the system is perfect. Everything said by the OP so far points to the original seller being legitimate.
So changing the iCloud password (not the Apple ID, just the password) did nothing, as that's supposed to dissociate all associated devices?
Say if the seller is BS. We would have the situation that the OP is presenting. A watch that is activation locked.
My point is that the OP is not observing the sellers iCloud account only what the seller is telling him. For me to believe that it's a Apple error I would need more from the seller.
Like was Find your phone turned on the phone this watch was paired with? Because that automatically turns on activation lock on the watch.
It's absolutely easy to sell someone a stolen watch that's bricked.
But I hope this hasn't happened to the OP.
this doesn't work in practice (the underlined section) - i bought a new apple watch. I unpaired my old one, and then obviously paired the new one. the old one still shows on my icloud account as a device in addition to the new one. the old one has not been paired with a new device.
It "not working in practice" is why I suggested its a bug. If its stated in Apple's manual, and it doesn't work that way, then to me that is a defect or bug.
It appears I did quote an out of date manual for the Apple Watch. I just found this on Apple's website, and it is even more specific about Activation Lock. Here is the relevant quote.
Sell, give away, or lose Apple Watch
Before you sell or give away your Apple Watch, be sure to unpair it from your iPhone. This erases its contents, including payment cards, and removes Activation Lock (which prevents someone else from activating it). If you lose your Apple Watch, you can mark it as missing. This unpairs Apple Watch and erases it, but doesn’t remove Activation Lock.
Unpair Apple Watch and remove Activation Lock. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Apple Watch, then tap Unpair Apple Watch. Apple Watch is erased, removed from your iCloud account, and Activation Lock is removed.
https://help.apple.com/watch/#/apdd3f9d7bc6
Multiple people in this thread are reporting that these things aren't happening when they unpair. I've got another Apple Watch on order and will try this as soon as it arrives.
It appears to me that there is a handshake missing in the process. The unpair should not complete until confirmation that the iCloud and Activation Lock have successfully cleared... otherwise they've effectively "sawed off the branch they were standing on". If it doesn't complete, then these things should all be restored and an error generated to let the user try again.
Sell, give away, or lose Apple Watch
Before you sell or give away your Apple Watch, be sure to unpair it from your iPhone. This erases its contents, including payment cards, and removes Activation Lock (which prevents someone else from activating it). If you lose your Apple Watch, you can mark it as missing. This unpairs Apple Watch and erases it, but doesn’t remove Activation Lock.
Unpair Apple Watch and remove Activation Lock. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, tap Apple Watch, then tap Unpair Apple Watch. Apple Watch is erased, removed from your iCloud account, and Activation Lock is removed.
https://help.apple.com/watch/#/apdd3f9d7bc6
Multiple people in this thread are reporting that these things aren't happening when they unpair. I've got another Apple Watch on order and will try this as soon as it arrives.
It appears to me that there is a handshake missing in the process. The unpair should not complete until confirmation that the iCloud and Activation Lock have successfully cleared... otherwise they've effectively "sawed off the branch they were standing on". If it doesn't complete, then these things should all be restored and an error generated to let the user try again.
"If you lose your Apple Watch you can mark it as missing. This unpairs the Apple Watch and erases it, but it doesn't remove activation lock."
This right here is a possible scenario if this seller is BS. If the seller is not the true owner and the true owner marked as missing the watch is erased and activation lock remains.
This has to be taken into consideration because it's something that keeps activation lock on a erased Watch.
Personally I could only believe the seller if I was watching him remove activation lock or remove it from iCloud and I was able to pair and activate it myself in his presence.
When marked as missing remains a possibility in creating this situation it can't be automatically assumed that it's a Apple error.
If the OP resolves this buy having the seller pair the watch and then unpairing and removing activation lock then a Apple error could be a possibility. The true owner whoever that may be can resolve this.
This right here is a possible scenario if this seller is BS. If the seller is not the true owner and the true owner marked as missing the watch is erased and activation lock remains.
This has to be taken into consideration because it's something that keeps activation lock on a erased Watch.
Personally I could only believe the seller if I was watching him remove activation lock or remove it from iCloud and I was able to pair and activate it myself in his presence.
When marked as missing remains a possibility in creating this situation it can't be automatically assumed that it's a Apple error.
If the OP resolves this buy having the seller pair the watch and then unpairing and removing activation lock then a Apple error could be a possibility. The true owner whoever that may be can resolve this.
Success!!
I meet the seller early this morning and he re-paired the watch to his phone and then went back through the Un-pairing process. It took a while to complete but worked.
Now I can move forward and enjoy my new watch.
I meet the seller early this morning and he re-paired the watch to his phone and then went back through the Un-pairing process. It took a while to complete but worked.
Now I can move forward and enjoy my new watch.
Great news! And this exposes a huge problem with the activation lock design. And, it appears to everyone with honest intentions that the watch is appropriately un-paired, when an invisible lock is still in place.
I guess recommendation to all used AW buyers is to pair the watch yourself when you are with the seller. It makes it difficult to buy a used watch over eBay.
Great news glad it all worked out for you and there was no nonsense. Enjoy the Watch.
SS with Milanese band. Pretty good deal after all. The watch (like new) in the box with all the paperwork, Apple Care etc. for $500.
Great Deal. Let me know how the Milanese band feel. I had gotten the SS w/ BSB for 500, but no AC. But that was two months ago.Glad it all worked out for you!
It's hardly invisible, just a little muddy.
There is a minor difference between unpairing and resetting content & settings.
Unpairing will remove the device from your iCloud account, activation lock, and reset it thus unpairing it from the phone. This can only be done from the Watch app on iPhone.
Restting content & settings will remove everything from the watch, thus unpairing it, but will not remove it from your iCloud account. On the Watch, it explicitly says: "Activation lock will not be disabled", however, on the phone, this message is not presented anywhere which is, I assume, causing the confusion.
- Double Post my bad, adding this:
IMO it would make the most sense if they just added a "connect to wifi" screen on the intro of the Watch software which would allow the watch access to the internet without the dependence of an iPhone, when a known iPhone isn't present. This situation could never happen with an iPhone mainly because you always have the ability to manually join a network which allows it to check it's AL status.
IMO it would make the most sense if they just added a "connect to wifi" screen on the intro of the Watch software which would allow the watch access to the internet without the dependence of an iPhone, when a known iPhone isn't present. This situation could never happen with an iPhone mainly because you always have the ability to manually join a network which allows it to check it's AL status.
My point about being invisible is that the appearance of the watch is the same to the seller and buyer. So, if the seller did not fully understand the Apple process, that person could be offering an unusable watch. Similarly, there is no visual verification that a buyer could rely on to know that the seller properly followed the process.
Ah gotcha, I was thinking you were referring to it being impossible for the user who is selling to know how to do it, which is fixed with a simple additional dialog. IMO, there just needs to be some form of connection outside of iPhone dependence, or allow a Watch to share Wifi with any phone.
The chance that someone will be sold a device that was stolen, ALed, and then resold are only as high as with iPhones now.; the bigger annoyance is the loop that can't be broken without explicit device pairing.
But it is "invisible" because, when looking at a used watch, there is no way to tell if it was unpaired properly so that activation lock is removed, or it has been reset to factory without unpairing so that activation lock is still on.
Also, the seller should have been able to remove the activation lock from the webpage without having to meet up again with the buyer. So there is a bug/glitch in the system.
Have you actually tried this? I unpaired an Apple Watch correctly and it did not remove it from iCloud. As a matter of fact, I had a couple of Apple Watches that I returned because of problems with them. Because of this thread I went into iCloud and checked and every single watch I've ever paired my iPhone with DID NOT get removed from iCloud after unpairing. I have never used reset content and settings, only unpairing. There is a either is a serious bug somewhere or Apple documentation is completely wrong.
Yes, multiple people in this thread have reported that. If it remains in iCloud, then there is some bug in their system, or their manual is wrong. Either way, Apple has a problem here.