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4haydyl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 19, 2016
2
1
hi everyone, I purchased a used watch and the prior owner reset the watch but forgot to unlink it from his iCloud account. The seller is being difficult to get a hold of and I wanted to know if there were any way to get the watch to work without him unlinking it. The watch is not stolen since the AppleCare name matches his. Any thoughts? Otherwise I guess I can sell it for parts. Thanks.
 
hi everyone, I purchased a used watch and the prior owner reset the watch but forgot to unlink it from his iCloud account. The seller is being difficult to get a hold of and I wanted to know if there were any way to get the watch to work without him unlinking it. The watch is not stolen since the AppleCare name matches his. Any thoughts? Otherwise I guess I can sell it for parts. Thanks.

No way to unlock it without him.

Perhaps consider involving the police, depending on where you are in the world.
 
You have to call  and start a case. If you have the purchase receipt or anything stating you purchased the watch, it has to be sent to a special Dept. After a few days they will unlock the watch for you.
 
You have to call  and start a case. If you have the purchase receipt or anything stating you purchased the watch, it has to be sent to a special Dept. After a few days they will unlock the watch for you.
Thanks for the help.
 
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At the root, this an Apple software defect. They effectively created a product that an owner cannot intuitively tell if it is able to be passed on to someone else. And, if it is sold or given to someone else, it is not easy for the original owner to correct the problem. The more consumers push Apple on this, the more likely Apple is to fix it.

In its current state, the AW used market is not viable. I plan to sell my watch when AW 2 arrives, so I hope this defect is not in the way.
 
To effectively sell an apple product the original owner needs to log into iCloud>settings>devices. Once there click the little x to delete the item. Then it is unattached to anyone. It's so much easier than selling an android phone that has to be wiped, encrypted, wiped again and hopefully the phone isn't financed and flagged.
 
At the root, this an Apple software defect. They effectively created a product that an owner cannot intuitively tell if it is able to be passed on to someone else. And, if it is sold or given to someone else, it is not easy for the original owner to correct the problem. The more consumers push Apple on this, the more likely Apple is to fix it.

In its current state, the AW used market is not viable. I plan to sell my watch when AW 2 arrives, so I hope this defect is not in the way.

Well I mean all you do is disable activation lock and reset the watch. Right?
 
To effectively sell an apple product the original owner needs to log into iCloud>settings>devices. Once there click the little x to delete the item. Then it is unattached to anyone. It's so much easier than selling an android phone that has to be wiped, encrypted, wiped again and hopefully the phone isn't financed and flagged.
Thanks for the tip.

I never thought to check, but there it is, available in the Settings app on my iPhone. I'd post a screenshot, but all sorts of info is there.

OP, contact the seller if you can. It'll take less than a minute for them to do what dooku77 posted.
 
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It isn't very hard to do - unless you can't contact the original owner to do that easy unlock task.
If the new owner has a locked AW, the new owner can't unlock it without help.
If one can't contact the first owner, then the process gets a little more involved...
 
Well I mean all you do is disable activation lock and reset the watch. Right?
More importantly, would you know how to tell by looking at a watch that the previous owner did it correctly? Would you buy a used AW today? I wouldn't.
 
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