sold Apple Watch – activation lock did not disable

[lars666]

Hi everybody,

I sold my Apple Watch and removed it from all my Apple iCloud profiles, "Find my iPhone" etc., even disabled "Find My iPhone" on the iPhone it was connected to – but the activation lock still is active, the buyer is always prompted to enter my iCloud ID and password. As he is quite far away now, I am not there to type it in and don't know anymore what to do. (Besides giving out my iCloud password to him.)

Has anybody a hint why the activation lock still is active? I got a replacement watch (dead pixel on the first one) with a different serial number a few months ago – anybody heard of trouble with "My devices" because of this, not correctly (de-)registering the replacement?

 

[swarlos]

Hi everybody,

I sold my Apple Watch and removed it from all my Apple iCloud profiles, "Find my iPhone" etc., even disabled "Find My iPhone" on the iPhone it was connected to – but the activation lock still is active, the buyer is always prompted to enter my iCloud ID and password. As he is quite far away now, I am not there to type it in and don't know anymore what to do. (Besides giving out my iCloud password to him.)

Has anybody a hint why the activation lock still is active? I got a replacement watch (dead pixel on the first one) with a different serial number a few months ago – anybody heard of trouble with "My devices" because of this, not correctly (de-)registering the replacement?

Did you actually go into the watch app and unpair it from the iPhone? That could be your problem.

 

[lars666]

Did you actually go into the watch app and unpair it from the iPhone? That could be your problem.

Maybe I forgot this before giving the watch away. But according to the official Apple support documents, deleting the watch remotely from my iCloud account and "Find my iPhone" should disable the activation lock, shouldn't it?! Can't imagine otherwise...

 

[swarlos]

Maybe I forgot this. But according to the official Apple support documents, deleting the device from my iCloud account and "Find my iPhone" should disable the activation lock, shouldn't it?! Can't imagine otherwise...

It should but the safest route is to unpair from the Apple Watch app on the phone as it asks you for your iCloud password and then proceeds to wipe the watch.

 

[electronicsguy]

Hi everybody,

I sold my Apple Watch and removed it from all my Apple iCloud profiles, "Find my iPhone" etc., even disabled "Find My iPhone" on the iPhone it was connected to – but the activation lock still is active, the buyer is always prompted to enter my iCloud ID and password. As he is quite far away now, I am not there to type it in and don't know anymore what to do. (Besides giving out my iCloud password to him.)

Has anybody a hint why the activation lock still is active? I got a replacement watch (dead pixel on the first one) with a different serial number a few months ago – anybody heard of trouble with "My devices" because of this, not correctly (de-)registering the replacement?

welcome to "it just works"

 

[lars666]

It should but the safest route is to unpair from the Apple Watch app on the phone as it asks you for your iCloud password and then proceeds to wipe the watch.

Not possible anymore unfortunately as I already gave the watch away. When I open the watch app now, it's giving me the start screen to link a watch, but no option to (remotely) unpair the old one ...

 

[swarlos]

Not possible anymore unfortunately as I gave the watch already away. When I open the watch app now, it's giving me the start screen to link a watch, but no option to (remotely) unpair the old one ...

Yep unfortunately there's no way to remote unpair That would be awesome though.

 

[jgelin]

When you go into devices on iCloud.com you should be able to go into Settings, see your devices, then click the little X next to the watch and it will remove activation lock.
I would post a screen shot but the information is quite sensitive so I would need to blur much.

 

[lars666]

When you go into devices on iCloud.com you should be able to go into Settings, see your devices, then click the little X next to the watch and it will remove activation lock.
I would post a screen shot but the information is quite sensitive so I would need to blur much.

I definitely deleted the Apple Watch from there and went through all other My Devices / Find my iPhone subpages, too, to be sure that the watch is removed everywhere - but the activation lock still stays active. That's the strange thing.

 

[jgelin]

I definitely deleted the Apple Watch from there and went through all other My Devices / Find my iPhone subpages, too, to be sure that the watch is removed everywhere - but the activation lock still stays active. That's the strange thing.

Well this is looking to be a tricky one, all that I see is to give him the iCloud password, so that it is unlocked and can be deactivated, and then you just change the password right after.

 

[lars666]

Well this is looking to be a tricky one, all that I see is to give him the iCloud password, so that it is unlocked and can be deactivated, and then you just change the password right after.

That's what I'm now planning to do. Don't like to give out my iCloud password, but I trust the buyer and will change it immediately after he has unlocked the watch. Will give Apple support a call first though - worth a try, maybe they can help. Thanks for the reply!

 

[jasie02]

welcome to "it just works"

It just work for non-idiot-non-lazy person who is welling to spend time read online Apple instruction:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205009

From Website:

Activation Lock for your Apple Watch requires watchOS 2 or later, and it turns on automatically when you set up Find My iPhone on your paired iPhone. With Activation Lock, your Apple ID and password will be required before anyone can:

• Unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone.
• Pair and use your Apple Watch with a new iPhone.

For OP, Buyer need to enter old activation lock to unpair or delete from AW and repair with new phone.
Make sure you do NOT Mark as Missing in your iCloud, or your buyer is screwed.

 

[lars666]

It just work for non-idiot-non-lazy person who is welling to spend time read online Apple instruction:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205009

Hey, hey, hey ...

All official Apple documents – that includes yours if you genius are willing to read it until the end – say that the previous owner can remotely deactivate the activation lock when he deletes the watch from his devices / Find my iPhone in his iCloud account account. I've done so with all my iPhones, iPads etc. before with I deleted completely before selling and un-added then in iCloud "My linked devices"/Find my iPhone. And that's the way it should and has to be. What kind of a system would it be not being able to disable the activation lock online even when you have full control over your iCloud / Apple ID account it is still linked to?!

 

[jasie02]

Hey, hey, hey ...

All the official Apple documents say that the previous owner can remotely deactivate the activation lock when he deletes the watch from his devices / Find my iPhone in his iCloud account account. I've done so with all my sold iPhones, iPads etc. before.

2. I have done it this way all the time with my sold iPhones, iPads etc. What kind of system would this be to den me access of unlocking the watch even when having full iCloud / Apple ID control to delete my device there?!

AW is extension of iPhone. It is different than iPhone or iPad. As slave of iPhone.
I will never sell my AW without unpair and completely erase.
Heck, I might erase twice, or three times.
It is just not a good idea to give away my own personal info inside AW.
Common sense in this day of age easily someone could extract personal info from unerased data.

There is no safe route WITHOUT erase personal info before give away any electronic device.

If you read AW online instruction BEFORE you sell the watch, carefully, double check, in order to ensure not give away your personal info in AW, you will know better to not sell AW without unpair AND erase.

 

[lars666]

AW is extension of iPhone. It is different than iPhone or iPad. As slave of iPhone.
I will never sell my AW without unpair and completely erase.
Heck, I might erase twice, or three times.
It is just not a good idea to give away my own personal info inside AW.
Common sense in this day of age easily someone could extract personal info from unerased data.

There is no safe route WITHOUT erase personal info before give away any electronic device.

If you read AW online instruction BEFORE you sell the watch, carefully, double check, in order to ensure not give away your personal info in AW, you will know better to not sell AW without unpair AND erase.

Yeah, right ... I just called Apple Support and they confirmed that I did everything correctly, that the Watch is removed from all my profiles and they have no explanation why the activation lock is still active. They will manually disable it now, after I have forwarded them my invoice ...

Happy three-time erasing, by the way. I also erased (one time) my Apple Watch before selling, of course. Still activation-locked.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Yeah, right ... I just called Apple Support and they confirmed that I did everything correctly, that the Watch is removed from all my profiles and they have no explanation why the activation lock is still active. They will manually disable it now, after I have forwarded them my invoice ...

Happy three-time erasing, by the way. I also erased (one time) my Apple Watch before selling, of course. Still activation-locked.

I suppose we'll never know if you could have prevented this if you had unpaired the AW first before erasing it. However, common sense dictates that you'd want to unpair from the iPhone before erasing it. The more layers of detachment, the safer it is when it comes to selling.

 

[lars666]

I suppose we'll never know if you could have prevented this if you had unpaired the AW first before erasing it. However, common sense dictates that you'd want to unpair from the iPhone before erasing it. The more layers of detachment, the safer it is when it comes to selling.

If even fully erasing the watch AND disabling/deleting it from "Find my iPhone" / my iCloud devices doesn't "unlock" it, Apple probably sells even less units of their flop watch than suspected – cause otherwise "sold my watch, activation lock, help!" would be every second thread in all the message boards out there...

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

If fully erasing the watch AND disabling/deleting it from your "Find my iPhone" / my iCloud devices doesn't "unlock" it, Apple surely sells even less units of their flop watch than expected – cause otherwise "sold my watch, activation lock, help!" would probably be every second thread in all the message boards out there...

Maybe, but most people have the common sense to actually unpair the AW from the iPhone before selling.

 

[sunapple]

Have you considered the scenario in which the buyer is trying to get your iCloud password for the wrong reasons? Never ever give it away or you'll lose all control.

 

[lars666]

Have you considered the scenario in which the buyer is trying to get your iCloud password for the wrong reasons? Never ever give it away or you'll lose all control.

I trust the buyer* and would have changed the password immediately after he unlocked the watch. However, you are totally correct, of course, and giving him my iCloud password (which one should definitely never do) would have been the very last "desperate" instrument – therefore I am glad that after calling Apple, they will now manually unlock the watch in their system.

*He also sent me a screenshot showing that it is MY Apple ID which still locks the watch – which he doesn't know.
[doublepost=1458206305][/doublepost]

Maybe, but most people have the common sense to actually unpair the AW from the iPhone before selling.

Sorry – to me, disabling and deleting an Apple device from my iCloud devices / "Find My iPhone" always was the relevant step to "free" it for the next owner. I know better now, but considering that it did these steps (and additionally erased my watch – a step which implies giving it "free" first, too), you surely can't deny me common sense. Finally, if it isn't possible for an iCloud user with full access to his account to manage your devices online (and, again, again, again: Apple even describes in its official documents as the working remote way and confirmed me on the telephone that it should have worked), the system simply would be wrong. If you e.g. lose/break your iPhone without a backup, you can throw your Apple watch to the trash, too? What's next, taking you every possibility of changing your iCloud password or whatever if you don't still have the Apple device anymore?

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Sorry – to me, disabling and deleting an Apple device from my iCloud devices / "Find My iPhone" always was the relevant step to "free" it for the next owner. I know better now, but considering that it did these steps (and additionally erased my watch – a step which implies giving it "free" first, too), you surely can't deny me common sense. Finally, if it isn't possible for an iCloud user with full access to his account to manage your devices online (and, again, again, again: Apple even describes in its official documents as the working remote way and confirmed me on the telephone that it should have worked), the system simply would be wrong. If you e.g. lose/break your iPhone without a backup, you can throw your Apple watch to the trash, too? What's next, taking you every possibility of changing your iCloud password or whatever if you don't still have the Apple device anymore?

You can rationalize till the cow comes home. Yes, there exists a method to delete from iCloud in the absence of iPhone, but what do most people do when they decide they no longer want the AW? They unpair it from their iPhone. This is obvious.

 

[exxxviii]

This is an Apple design defect. Until Apple fixes the OS software to make it more intuitive for both original owner and new owner of an AW to know that the device is free for use, then it is Apple's fault. We have seen a number of posts recently from people with this shared problem. Apple created the mess, Apple needs escalation from its customers so that the software groups hear it and fix it.

 

[jgelin]

This is an Apple design defect. Until Apple fixes the OS software to make it more intuitive for both original owner and new owner of an AW to know that the device is free for use, then it is Apple's fault. We have seen a number of posts recently from people with this shared problem. Apple created the mess, Apple needs escalation from its customers so that the software groups hear it and fix it.

Exactly this and no amount of name calling or intelligence shaming is going to change that fact. Some on this thread need a friggin chill pill.

 

[jasie02]

Yeah, right ... I just called Apple Support and they confirmed that I did everything correctly, that the Watch is removed from all my profiles and they have no explanation why the activation lock is still active. They will manually disable it now, after I have forwarded them my invoice ...

Happy three-time erasing, by the way. I also erased (one time) my Apple Watch before selling, of course. Still activation-locked.

You did everything right by giving your personal data to someone else.
Good for you.

Added: I bet you will believe if anyone tell you you are the smartest person in the world. It is not about how other people tell you, it is about doing the smart thing YOURSELF, not based on what other people think. You live your own life, other people does not live YOUR life.

 

[lars666]

You did everything right by giving your personal data to someone else.
Good for you.

It's funny that you've proven in every single of your posts that you *still* fail to read (and understand) what I have explained multiple times regarding having erased my Apple watch before selling or/and having called Apple Care which unlocked the watch - within two hours, btw - without having to give out any personal data. You should really work on your reading skills - and your manners, even or *especially* on the Internet, calling other people lazy idiots without need and reason. Frustrated much by your life?