Need to reset iPhones with Activation Lock as new

[joflo723]

Having a little trouble and hoping someone can help.

We purchased iPhones for about a dozen employees a couple of years ago for a trial business that ended up not working out. Most of the employees left the company on their own and we unfortunately had to let a few of them go before closing the business.

We have collected all of their phones, and wanted to offer them to the employees of our parent company, but I need to wipe them all and reset them as new iPhones first. The problem is, most of the employees who had them previously had Find My iPhone enabled, and the Activation Lock is now prohibiting me from finishing the reset via iTunes. I have no way of contacting these old employees now, so I can't ask them for their Apple IDs and passwords, or ask them to delete the device from the iCloud account.

Do I have any options? Surely these can't be *bricked* at this point? There has to have been employers who have had to deal with this issue before after employees have either been fired or quit.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jo

 

[T5BRICK]

Do I have any options? Surely these can't be *bricked* at this point? There has to have been employers who have had to deal with this issue before after employees have either been fired or quit.

They are bricks if you can't contact the employees and ask them to unlock them. There is nothing you can do otherwise.

The companies IT department should have set these up so the admin can control who they are assigned to.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

They are bricks if you can't contact the employees and ask them to unlock them. There is nothing you can do otherwise.

The companies IT department should have set these up so the admin can control who they are assigned to.

Shouldn't Apple be able to help, assuming he or she has proof of purchase under his or her name?

 

[T5BRICK]

Shouldn't Apple be able to help, assuming he or she has proof of purchase under his or her name?

It may be worth a try, but I'm pretty sure they aren't able to bypass Activation lock.

Apple offers this advice:

What if I purchase a device that is still linked to the previous owner's account?

Contact the previous owner as soon as possible and ask them to erase the device and remove it from their account. Learn how to remove a device from a previous owner's account.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5818

 

[dave420]

Shouldn't Apple be able to help, assuming he or she has proof of purchase under his or her name?

Yes it's definitely worth a shot to call Apple, especially if they have proof of purchase and they are in warranty. I wouldn't write them off as bricks quite yet. Might be tricky to find the write person at Apple, but I've heard it is possible before.

 

[joflo723]

Yes it's definitely worth a shot to call Apple, especially if they have proof of purchase and they are in warranty. I wouldn't write them off as bricks quite yet. Might be tricky to find the write person at Apple, but I've heard it is possible before.

We do have proof of purchase, however I doubt they're still in warranty. Most of them are iPhone 4 (the first ones we purchased) and just a couple of 5 and 5s that we purchased more recently.

We'll give Apple a call and see what we can do. And lesson learned!

Thanks!

 

[NT1440]

Shouldn't Apple be able to help, assuming he or she has proof of purchase under his or her name?

Yes it's definitely worth a shot to call Apple, especially if they have proof of purchase and they are in warranty. I wouldn't write them off as bricks quite yet. Might be tricky to find the write person at Apple, but I've heard it is possible before.

Apple has NO ability to unlock them.

 

[Givmeabrek]

Plus proof of purchase does not prove the current owner. The Apple ID is what proves ownership. Not much you can do.....

 

[joflo723]

What about this....assuming the employees used their company email as their Apple IDs on the company phones, what if we re-activate their emails and use the "Forgot Password" on iCloud to have the password reset? Do you think that might work? Since the company email IS owned by the company.

 

[Newtons Apple]

What about this....assuming the employees used their company email as their Apple IDs on the company phones, what if we re-activate their emails and use the "Forgot Password" on iCloud to have the password reset? Do you think that might work? Since the company email IS owned by the company.

Not sure if that will work either.

 

[CEmajr]

What about this....assuming the employees used their company email as their Apple IDs on the company phones, what if we re-activate their emails and use the "Forgot Password" on iCloud to have the password reset? Do you think that might work? Since the company email IS owned by the company.

That would work if you know the passwords to their emails.

 

[VSMacOne]

What about this....assuming the employees used their company email as their Apple IDs on the company phones, what if we re-activate their emails and use the "Forgot Password" on iCloud to have the password reset? Do you think that might work? Since the company email IS owned by the company.

This would work. All you need is access to the email account in order to reset the password.

 

[legioxi]

Apple has NO ability to unlock them.

Apple can turn off the "Activation Lock" but they cannot unlock the phone so you can view the contents. If you do a DFU restore and are stuck at the Activation Lock you need to contact your wireless provider rep (you have a business account, right?) and have them reach out to apple to turn off the Activation Lock on the phones.

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That would work if you know the passwords to their emails.

If it is a company email, the company has the ability to reset the email password quite easily.

 

[joflo723]

This would work. All you need is access to the email account in order to reset the password.

Sweet. Our IT Department can reset each of their passwords...that's no problem. Then we can access those and use the Forgot Password on iCloud. Again, this is assuming they set them up using their corporate email address and not their personal email address.

Thank you all very much for the info.

 

[heisenberg123]

I did not read everyones replies but we use iPhones at my work and I manage them internally, when an employee leaves and it has an activation lock I email my carrier who in turn get apple to unlock them.

we are a very large company so I only look after the phones in my office, I am not sure what info the carrier provides apple I assume the obvious IMEI # Serial Number and some kind of verification that lets apple know who is the owner of the phones

so to answer yes apple can get them working again

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Apple has NO ability to unlock them.

this is wrong, I have had iPhones with activation locks removed for my work

what do you think everyone who gets fired or quits is allowed to make a phone useless?

 

[NT1440]

Apple can turn off the "Activation Lock" but they cannot unlock the phone so you can view the contents. If you do a DFU restore and are stuck at the Activation Lock you need to contact your wireless provider rep (you have a business account, right?) and have them reach out to apple to turn off the Activation Lock on the phones.

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I waited for 3 weeks for them to deactivate a former professors Activation Lock after proving definitively that it was State property for the campus. Nothing.

I had to hunt down the visiting professor from Arizona and get her to remove Activation Lock through Find My iPhone.

Apple may have the ability, but good luck getting them to do a damn thing about it.

 

[legioxi]

I waited for 3 weeks for them to deactivate a former professors Activation Lock after proving definitively that it was State property for the campus. Nothing.

I had to hunt down the visiting professor from Arizona and get her to remove Activation Lock through Find My iPhone.

Apple may have the ability, but good luck getting them to do a damn thing about it.

Did you go through the wireless carrier the phone was on? Using your business account rep?

 

[NT1440]

Did you go through the wireless carrier the phone was on? Using your business account rep?

It was an iPad, won't don't have an account rep, we are a State University.

 

[legioxi]

It was an iPad, won't don't have an account rep, we are a State University.

Ah, I can't say anything about going to Apple direct. We go through our ATT/Verizon/Sprint reps. Our iPads also have accounts (Cellular models). Usually large accounts (like a university) have more pull with cellular companies who have a lot more pull with Apple than a customer direct.

 

[AppleBonker]

If you do a DFU restore, Apple CAN remove an activation lock (Apple ID activation lock) as long as you can provide proof of purchase and photo ID. That said, I know this can be done for a single device, not sure what the protocol would be if you showed up with multiple.

 

[NT1440]

Ah, I can't say anything about going to Apple direct. We go through our ATT/Verizon/Sprint reps. Our iPads also have accounts (Cellular models). Usually large accounts (like a university) have more pull with cellular companies who have a lot more pull with Apple than a customer direct.

You'd think, I've found that they are useless and it's far more effective to just use GSX to do our own repairs or send things out.

Our iPads are all wifi models as well.

 

[rabbitjetta]

I'm curious on this as well. I manage my company's iPhones and have about 5 that are locked. We currently have 175 roughly with verizon.

 

[BriOS]

You have to call apple with the serial # of the device, and they will generate a ticket. Then they will send you an email and you have to respond back with a scanned PO or proof of ownership. Once they get it, they have up to 10 days to unlock it on their side. Sometimes they send a confirmation email when its been done, sometimes they dont. Here at my work, we manage 3000 ipads for employees and have to do this weekly. Its free too even if you are out of warranty. Thats the process.