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Craiglist flooded with iCloud locked iPhones

Craiglist flooded with iCloud locked iPhones

maflynn said:
Did you have Find my Phone turned on? What about the lock screen?
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I don't remember. I just read that I'm supposed to reset everything and I'm good to go.

If the person that bought it has any trouble is there anything I'll be able to do on my end?

I thought I was good since I was immediately able to access my iCloud on a different iphone.
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
So how was is that I bought a used iPad mini last month that had been reset to the "Hello" page asking me to choose a language and country but then asked me to login to a specific iCloud account?
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Erase from phone/device with no Wireless/Cell connection? The Apple servers then have no idea it's been erased, and Find my iWhatever will still be activated surely?

Just put my iPhone in Airplane mode, tried to erase all content and settings, but obviously didn't go as far as actually doing it. Didn't look like it was going to stop me though.
 
Erase All Content and Settings under Reset is all you need. To complete the reset you will be asked to disable Find my iPhone.

You can restore your device via iTunes to get back to the welcome screen. The old iCloud account/password combo will be required to get past the welcome screens.

If a user had iOS6 on the device and and upgraded they may have skipped past all the screens that informed them of the 'new' activation lock.

I always require the device to be reset before it is handed off to me. That proves the owner and device will be used.
 
960design said:
Erase All Content and Settings under Reset is all you need. To complete the reset you will be asked to disable Find my iPhone.

You can restore your device via iTunes to get back to the welcome screen. The old iCloud account/password combo will be required to get past the welcome screens.

If a user had iOS6 on the device and and upgraded they may have skipped past all the screens that informed them of the 'new' activation lock.

I always require the device to be reset before it is handed off to me. That proves the owner and device will be used.
Click to expand...


Nice. Thank you. I should be good then. I seem to recall that asking me to disable find my iPhone while I did the E race all content and settings.
 
Gjwilly said:
Except that you can't reset your phone without first turning off the activation lock.
These annoying phones are stolen, pure and simple.
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Actually you can. I've bought one from a guy and he went into the settings and reset it to factory settings right in front of me. When I took it home to activate it asked for his iCloud password so I had to track him down in order to get it because I couldn't use the phone.

Also I used to work at a carrier store and when iOS7 first came out we had problems with people not turning off Find my iPhone before resetting their phones and then the phones being iCloud locked until we were able to contact them and get their iCloud info from them.

So yes if someone resets their iPhone without first turning off Find my iPhone, it will be activation locked and ask for their iCloud password.
 
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So if you reset your phone without first turning of iCloud and find my phone you need to run set up again to turn it off? Is there a way login to iCloud from a different phone to reset?
 
serega said:
So if you reset your phone without first turning of iCloud and find my phone you need to run set up again to turn it off? Is there a way login to iCloud from a different phone to reset?
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You can not reset your phone without turning it off.
iOS simply won't let you.
I don't know why people just don't try it themselves instead of arguing about it.
Here are the instructions straight from Apple.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5661
 
serega said:
So if you reset your phone without first turning of iCloud and find my phone you need to run set up again to turn it off? Is there a way login to iCloud from a different phone to reset?
Click to expand...

As far as I know you have to log into iCloud on that phone in order to remove it. During the setup you just need to put in your iCloud password to get past the activation screen and then everything is all good at that point. The phone will be like new.

I think the iCloud lock is a good idea and feature from Apple. They've just done a poor job at educating consumers on how it actually works.
 
CEmajr said:
I've bought one from a guy and he went into the settings and reset it to factory settings right in front of me.
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Was his name David Copperfield?
Cuz he made the Statue of Liberty disappear right in front of me, once.
Don't trust that guy.
:p
 
maflynn said:
iOS 6 does not have the activation lock.
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Very true but if you ever installed iOS7 and then dropped back to iOS6 during the very small time window when this was an option, then you do have the potential for activation lock.
People found this out during the beta testing.
Again, the magic all happens on Apple's servers so if your phone ever communicated with Apple's servers using iOS7 then that serial number is forever linked to that iCloud account until you unlink it.
It's not an option you need to enable.
It happens automatically during the activation of any iOS7 device.
 
If you already sold your iPhone and you are not sure if it is still linked to your iCloud account simply login to your www.icloud.com account go to find my iPhone then go to my devices and remove the iPhone. Once it's removed from all your devices new owner will not be asked for your iCloud name and pass during activation.
 
Mike Boreham said:
How would a thief persuade you to reset your device? seems an unlikely scenario to blame Apple for not covering....or am I misunderstanding something?
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Sarcasm :) I suppose it didn't translate well into text.

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jg321 said:
Erase from phone/device with no Wireless/Cell connection? The Apple servers then have no idea it's been erased, and Find my iWhatever will still be activated surely?

Just put my iPhone in Airplane mode, tried to erase all content and settings, but obviously didn't go as far as actually doing it. Didn't look like it was going to stop me though.
Click to expand...

That could be it. It's wifi only, and I have no idea if he used it on wifi or not. He could've reset it at our meetup location which didn't have wifi. Now I have a possible explanation :)
 
If it is in airplane mode it still asks for password before you can erase. It always asks for password after you press erase button second time (and find my iPhone is turned on) unless you do this trick I think.

http://youtu.be/EID-QvCJZ_c

Again the only way to have activation lock during activation of the iPhone is to erase it with DFU mode or through www.icloud.com or through the trick I think (I have not tested it)

On the other hand if the owner logs in to icloud.com and removes the iPhone from all devices, at any point of time, the activation lock is gone forever.
 

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I encountered this issue when I picked up an iPhone 4 last week from a local pawn shop. I had to return it when it asked for this activation. Not good but I managed to find another iPhone 4 that was not locked due to iCloud issues.
 
I sold an iPad mini and forgot to turn off Find my iPhone before resetting. It was an innocent mistake and the buyer didn't activate the phone before leaving. He called me and I logged onto the computer and deactivated the mini from my iCloud account. He was able to activate the phone after that and all is well.
 
CEmajr said:
Actually you can. I've bought one from a guy and he went into the settings and reset it to factory settings right in front of me. When I took it home to activate it asked for his iCloud password so I had to track him down in order to get it because I couldn't use the phone..
Click to expand...
Incorrect. Resetting your device will prompt the user to disable activation lock.
Should I provide a video?

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richwoodrocket said:
Can an Apple store remove the activation lock?
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No. I do forensics and know a bit more than your typical apple genius. I have not found a way to bypass / remove activation lock with the iCloud account ( which is obfuscated on the device and the password ).

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nox5 said:
If you already sold your iPhone and you are not sure if it is still linked to your iCloud account simply login to your www.icloud.com account go to find my iPhone then go to my devices and remove the iPhone. Once it's removed from all your devices new owner will not be asked for your iCloud name and pass during activation.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Log into iCloud.com-> Erase your device-> then Remove from account. Device no longer requires iCloud account or password to setup.

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KUguardgrl13 said:
Sarcasm :) I suppose it didn't translate well into text.

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That could be it. It's wifi only, and I have no idea if he used it on wifi or not. He could've reset it at our meetup location which didn't have wifi. Now I have a possible explanation :)
Click to expand...

I setup a new test device. Removed WiFi access. After verifying WiFi is NOT active:
Settings->General->Reset->Erase All Content and Settings->Erase iPad Modal->Erase->Erase iPad(Are you sure you want to continue? All media, data, and settings will be erased. This cannot be undone.->Erase->Password Required: This is where you should enter your AppleID password to erase this iPad and remove it from your account.->Verification Failed The Internet connection appears to be offline.

You CANNOT Erase All Content and Settings without internet connectivity.
 
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My question to those of you who say it is not possible to reset iDevices with Find My iPhone turned on: then how does it happen so often? And not just to thieves. Used devices that are sold, corporate devices, it's happening yet you say it can't. And with used devices it seems to happen because of ignorance. Someone sells their iPhone or iPad and doesn't realize the buyer is locked out. Since at least in some cases they're willing and able to remove it, then the devices aren't stolen. And these seem to be people who wouldn't know about DFU resets and things like that. The fact that Apple has instructions for how buyers and sellers can resolve the issue is telling. It can and does happen that somehow devices get reset with activation lock still active.
 
CEmajr said:
Activation lock has made buying used iPhones even more annoying. A lot of people aren't even aware of it so they'll reset their phones thinking it's all good and sell it and the buyer finds out later that they can't get through to activate it without the old owner's Apple ID. It's pretty annoying.
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Wrong. As already mentioned, to reset / format the phone you are asked for your Apple ID.

It's impossible to leave the phone in activation lock, unless it's stolen.
 
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