Users Report Some iPhone 7 and 6s Models Activation Locked With Wrong Apple IDs

[hexagenia]

while I can't rule out the yahoo hack playing a part for some I can say it hasn't played a part for me. I've never used a yahoo account for anything related to Apple. not even a communication back and forth about an iPhone I am selling...etc. The iCloud account mine continuously locks to is an @icloud.com email extension.

I don't use a Yahoo account either, and I never would have used one for an AppleID, but there are all these compromised yahoo.com and Mac.com accounts because of the hacks at Yahoo, and Home Depot, and LinkedIn and Adobe. It makes this game way too easy for the opposing team.

If you want to check if your own email has ever been exposed in these large scale hacks, this site is helpful:
https://haveibeenpwned.com

The site just shows the "payload" of potentially compromised accounts that are out there. My old one was.

 

[kazmac]

@hexagenia thanks for that link doesn't show my now deleted Yahoo accounts, but everyone here is making some solid points about Apple being compromised. Whatever the case, this needs to be resolved fast.

@smarks90 thanks for letting me know your rep was able to get your AppleCare+ showing on website again. About the only thing I can take solace in as far as AppleCare+ from everything I bought / returned over the past 11 months I always asked for the refunds on my AppleCare+ if it was an item I had beyond the 14 day return window.

Still doesn't tell us WTH is going on though....

 

[macstever]

I got my iPhone unlocked for the second time yesterday. I was able to activate it this time to my iCloud account. Activated it within 30 minutes of getting the unlock e-mail from Apple.

My iPhone was locked twice with two different iCloud accounts, k*****@icloud and b*****@icloud.

I don't have any confidence that it would remain unlocked long enough to sell it. I guess I'll just keep this phone as a back up in case something happens to one of our other iPhones.

 

[cibble10]

2 weeks in and my 2013 Ipad purchased from an Apple dealer is still locked because I can't currently prove my invoice ties to my actual Ipad. Yes, really. So I have got the dealer digging deeper to try and prove chain of ownership from Apple, through the dealer to me. Apple is playing policeman and I am getting very very bored of this. What really p*sses me off is the 'tough ****' attitude they seem to have. An iphone with a contract helps force a resolution. My 'find your phone' has been hacked which is Apple's responsibility but they are making it my problem. Not being able to reason with someone, and/or Apple acknowledge how unreasonable this is just unnacceptable. My advice to everyone is not to buy Apple unless you really want to put up with eventually owning something that won't work and will be worthless. Yes, it is that plain and simple!

 

[likegadgets]

I would demand that they swap your phone. If mine re-locks again that is what I will ask. If they refuse, I will try my luck in small claims court, at which time they can explain to the Judge why this is happening. (Luckily I have all my receipts). We dislike abusive lawyers that file class actions for ridiculous issues, but clearly this is a real problem, affecting many customers, and Apple is making us go to extremes to use our own devices because someone broke into their systems.

I got my iPhone unlocked for the second time yesterday. I was able to activate it this time to my iCloud account. Activated it within 30 minutes of getting the unlock e-mail from Apple.

My iPhone was locked twice with two different iCloud accounts, k*****@icloud and b*****@icloud.

I don't have any confidence that it would remain unlocked long enough to sell it. I guess I'll just keep this phone as a back up in case something happens to one of our other iPhones.

 

[robotica]

The thing that makes me really concerned is that Apple may not have a solution to this problem.

 

[smarks90]

I got my iPhone unlocked for the second time yesterday. I was able to activate it this time to my iCloud account. Activated it within 30 minutes of getting the unlock e-mail from Apple.

My iPhone was locked twice with two different iCloud accounts, k*****@icloud and b*****@icloud.

I don't have any confidence that it would remain unlocked long enough to sell it. I guess I'll just keep this phone as a back up in case something happens to one of our other iPhones.

The thing that makes me really concerned is that Apple may not have a solution to this problem.

I agree this concerns me too. and even more so, if they do come up with some solution, IDK that I'll ever be confident I won't get a call from whoever buys the phone saying "it's locked". I would then feel obligated to get involved at that point knowing they won't have necessary documentation to prove ownership that I have as original buyer... ugh! at this point, I just want them to replace the phone, I'll do a few test set ups to verify no lock over the course of a few days. if all is still good then I will feel better about the whole thing.

 

[Manacit]

Has anyone tried initiating a chargeback for their affected device? I know American Express doesn't have a time limit.

I am furious about this - I bought my iPhone day one from Apple and 72 hours after I deactivate it to sell on CL it's been taken over by c****@icloud.com account and there is nothing I can do but wait until they take look at my receipt? I spent an hour on the phone today with 5 different people and now I'm sitting on my thumb waiting for an e-mail. From the sound of it, I might end up having to do the same thing if it's not activated ASAP.

Honestly this is insane - this iCloud account has never touched a Yahoo account, and my iCloud account has an unguessable password, 2FA, etc etc. Something must be pretty seriously messed up for this to keep happening.

I wanted to sell the 6s after buying a 7 on CL, but I don't even feel comfortable doing that as the new person isn't going to be able to unlock it like I can, and that's not fair to them.

 

[TitleistGolfer]

Just got my new iPhone 7 plus, jet black, and it came up showing to random yahoo, and iCloud email address, both of which are not mine. Apple chat support says they have never heard of this.......UNREAL

 

[ZhenyaF]

I bought 2 used iphone 6s+ off Swappa about 6 months ago. I now have 2 iPhone 7+ and have been procrastinating selling the 6S+'s. Since I am not the original owner, should I hold off on wiping and selling them?

 

[nottooshabby]

Just got my new iPhone 7 plus, jet black, and it came up showing to random yahoo, and iCloud email address, both of which are not mine. Apple chat support says they have never heard of this.......UNREAL

That is the most aggravating part. Acting like it's not happening when there are 14 pages of discussion on this topic.

 

[TitleistGolfer]

yeah it makes no sense......I have never been known for Apple to act like this.....super annoying

 

[Gypsy36]

This freaks me out a bit. A year ago I was constantly receiving emails that someone was trying to log into my Apple account. I called Apple and they told me not to worry about it.

I wonder how I would prove ownership of my old phone if I had to. I've had my phone replaced under Apple care three times. I received no proof of purchase for each of the phones...

 

[tntwhite]

Similar story here. I deactivated "Find my iPhone", signed out of my iCloud account, reset the device (General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings), and removed my SIM. I even confirmed that the phone wasn't appearing under my iCloud account. I thought all was well and sent the phone off for trade-in but received it back stating that "Find my iPhone" was not deactivated. Come to find out, my phone had been associated with an unknown iCloud account (m....@icloud.com).

I contacted Apple, sent proof of purchase, and the activation lock was removed a few days later. After that, I was able to "activate" the device again (this time with my iCloud account), and repeated the same reset/wipe process as above. Before sending off the device in the mail again, I checked the Activation Lock website to confirm all was well (yep, Activation Lock: Off). The next day, I put it in the mail, but just out of curiosity, I checked the IMEI again on the Activation Lock website later that day. To my disappointment, the status had magically changed to "Activation Lock: On" once again....Now the phone is in shipment to the new buyer, and I'm possibly going to have to repeat the process all over again.

Apple Support is baffled as to why this occurred, but I've read several similar stories online. The issue was escalated, and I'm supposed to receive an update sometime tomorrow.

This all occurred with an iPhone 6 purchased in April 2015 from an Apple Retail Store. It's an unlocked, SIM-free model none-the-less.

 

[Val-kyrie]

This freaks me out a bit. A year ago I was constantly receiving emails that someone was trying to log into my Apple account. I called Apple and they told me not to worry about it.

I wonder how I would prove ownership of my old phone if I had to. I've had my phone replaced under Apple care three times. I received no proof of purchase for each of the phones...

If Apple sent you an invoice for the replacement by e-mail, all of your information, including the IMEI/SN for the replacement iPhone will be listed on it.

 

[jeffwingo]

An increasing number of iPhone users are experiencing an Activation Lock issue in which the device is linked to an Apple ID email address that does not belong to them, according to crowdsourced information from MacRumors and Twitter.

MacRumors reader Balders, who recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus, explained in our discussion forums:With the wrong Apple ID being displayed, users cannot sign in and are therefore unable to proceed with setting up the iPhone. The issue has primarily affected new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models upon being turned on for the first time, and iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models upon being restored to default settings, although older models appear to be affected to a lesser extent.

MacRumors user TheKricket said his iPhone 6s suddenly became activation locked:The discussion topics above and others have received multiple replies from other MacRumors readers experiencing the same issue, while several Twitter users have also shared similar complaints. It is unclear when the Apple ID mixups first began, but user reports have gained traction since at least September.

​

A number of affected users said Apple was able to remove the Activation Lock on their iPhones upon providing the company with proof of purchase. This process can seemingly be completed at an Apple retail store by scheduling a Genius Bar appointment, or remotely by calling Apple's support team at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

On rarer occasions, however, the Activation Lock screen linked to a wrong Apple ID email address reappears more than once. In these cases, some users report that Apple fully replaced their iPhones.

It remains unclear what is causing the Activation Lock issues. Apple has not publicly commented on the matter.

Article Link: Users Report Some iPhone 7 and 6s Models Activation Locked With Wrong Apple IDs

Yes more than a little scary, anybody have an idea what would cause something like this? Could this be some kind of breach with apples data base?

If it shows that it is locked to an ID that is not yours, the serial number of your phone was probably burned onto another phone by a hacker in China. I had the same thing happen on my iPhone 6s right after I had cleared it out to give to my son. Apple Care told me it would take a couple of days.

 

[Scotty2Hotty]

I've heard of knockoff iPhones in the past... Today I believe I came across one.

Guy was selling a "Almost brand new 6s Plus" in Gold. Arranged the meeting and arrived. Phone looked real good. When he handed it to me, first though was that it was light. I already have a 6 Plus as my daily driver, so I have a frame of reference. Go to pop in the SIM and the fit/finish was a little rough. Cosmetically, it was a 99/100. IMEI was not written on the back of phone. Immediately thought red flag. IMEI came back as clean... And right then it hit me... Maybe these "stolen" (what I'm calling it for now) IMEI's are not really used for ONLY stolen/lost iCloud locked phones - they would also be needed if you made a knockoff phone.

Kicker for me was the battery. It was at 4% when I powered it up and 3 minutes later it died. When plugged in it displayed the battery VERTICALLY instead of horizontally and also had a numeric value on top of that (eg. 2%) I silently said "Wow - almost perfect"

I politely said that my gut feeling was to walk away from it. I think he was a little taken aback when I said it. He asked if I was sure and I made it abundantly clear that I was!

Buyer beware!

 

[Robcwill]

An increasing number of iPhone users are experiencing an Activation Lock issue in which the device is linked to an Apple ID email address that does not belong to them, according to crowdsourced information from MacRumors and Twitter.

MacRumors reader Balders, who recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus, explained in our discussion forums:With the wrong Apple ID being displayed, users cannot sign in and are therefore unable to proceed with setting up the iPhone. The issue has primarily affected new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models upon being turned on for the first time, and iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models upon being restored to default settings, although older models appear to be affected to a lesser extent.

MacRumors user TheKricket said his iPhone 6s suddenly became activation locked:The discussion topics above and others have received multiple replies from other MacRumors readers experiencing the same issue, while several Twitter users have also shared similar complaints. It is unclear when the Apple ID mixups first began, but user reports have gained traction since at least September.

​

A number of affected users said Apple was able to remove the Activation Lock on their iPhones upon providing the company with proof of purchase. This process can seemingly be completed at an Apple retail store by scheduling a Genius Bar appointment, or remotely by calling Apple's support team at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

On rarer occasions, however, the Activation Lock screen linked to a wrong Apple ID email address reappears more than once. In these cases, some users report that Apple fully replaced their iPhones.

It remains unclear what is causing the Activation Lock issues. Apple has not publicly commented on the matter.

Article Link: Users Report Some iPhone 7 and 6s Models Activation Locked With Wrong Apple IDs

An increasing number of iPhone users are experiencing an Activation Lock issue in which the device is linked to an Apple ID email address that does not belong to them, according to crowdsourced information from MacRumors and Twitter.

MacRumors reader Balders, who recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus, explained in our discussion forums:With the wrong Apple ID being displayed, users cannot sign in and are therefore unable to proceed with setting up the iPhone. The issue has primarily affected new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models upon being turned on for the first time, and iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus models upon being restored to default settings, although older models appear to be affected to a lesser extent.

MacRumors user TheKricket said his iPhone 6s suddenly became activation locked:The discussion topics above and others have received multiple replies from other MacRumors readers experiencing the same issue, while several Twitter users have also shared similar complaints. It is unclear when the Apple ID mixups first began, but user reports have gained traction since at least September.

​

A number of affected users said Apple was able to remove the Activation Lock on their iPhones upon providing the company with proof of purchase. This process can seemingly be completed at an Apple retail store by scheduling a Genius Bar appointment, or remotely by calling Apple's support team at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

On rarer occasions, however, the Activation Lock screen linked to a wrong Apple ID email address reappears more than once. In these cases, some users report that Apple fully replaced their iPhones.

It remains unclear what is causing the Activation Lock issues. Apple has not publicly commented on the matter.

Article Link: Users Report Some iPhone 7 and 6s Models Activation Locked With Wrong Apple IDs

Me. Too got a new iPhone 7 plus shipped direct from china to Australia locked on arrival and a restore did not fix it. Unlock came though after shipping back phone for a replacement which took 2 weeks! Very unhappy.

 

[bwanamaker]

Last night, my wife and I went to our local Apple store to upgrade her 6s to a 7 Plus. During the process, the team member kept seeing "Turn off Find my iPhone" regarding my wife's iPhone 6s on his device and wouldn't let him proceed. Her 6s had somehow become locked to someone else's iCloud account (m*****@yahoo.com) before the iPhone 7 was even out of the box. I brought up this article, had a copy of our receipt saved to Google Drive, showed it on my phone and the manager reset the activation lock. It was a big pain and it is concerning, especially if this happens to her iPad, which she received from her previous employer as a perk.

 

[UpRight]

I ordered iPhone 7 Jet Black couple of hours after Apple website started accepting orders in Australia. I was told there will be 3 - 4 weeks wait. I received my phone early. Arrived on Monday direct from China.

The phone arrived with iOS 10.0.2. I decided to setup as new, instead of restore from previous iTunes backup.

I have NOT had any locking issues. Phone was setup just fine and working for the past few days.

 

[Gypsy36]

If it shows that it is locked to an ID that is not yours, the serial number of your phone was probably burned onto another phone by a hacker in China. I had the same thing happen on my iPhone 6s right after I had cleared it out to give to my son. Apple Care told me it would take a couple of days.

None of that. Both times they just walked out and handed it to me.

 

[WolfSnap]

Two iPhone 6s Plus (Gold), two iPhone 6s (Gold) that were Activation LOCKED.

Apple unlocked one on Sept 20. Ended up locked AGAIN.

2nd phone locked too.

Apple store unlocked them and replaced them. But, seriously, this is a huge issue. I don't trust that my iPhone's can ever be activation unlocked for more than a minute or two anymore..

Apple needs to fix this.

 

[cibble10]

After 3 weeks my ipad is finally to be unlocked. I had to provide evidence of the supplier who supplied the reseller that sold my ipad to me in 2013!!

What I have learnt after phone calls and numerous e-mails.

Yup, dodgy people are somehow able to set up a 'find your device*' on your device. I have no idea when the *.yahoo account first held power over my ipad because it was only when version 10 of the IOS came out and Apple insisted on the extra layer of security of the input of the 'find your device' name and password that I was aware of this. Does it mean my device might actually be cloned somewhere to enable someone to do that? Your guess is as good as mine.

Advice! As soon as your device is unlocked, lock it! If you sell your device don't unlock it until the purchaser lets you know they are about to set it up, then unlock it, and tell them to lock it straight away.

I have never set up 'find your device' but will do as soon as my ipad is unlocked. I can only hope that Apple will make this a compulsory element of set up going forward otherwise this will become a self perpetuating problem for new purchasers!

*ipad,ipod,iphone...

 

[Floris]

I don't use a Yahoo account either, and I never would have used one for an AppleID, but there are all these compromised yahoo.com and Mac.com accounts because of the hacks at Yahoo, and Home Depot, and LinkedIn and Adobe. It makes this game way too easy for the opposing team.

If you want to check if your own email has ever been exposed in these large scale hacks, this site is helpful:
https://haveibeenpwned.com

The site just shows the "payload" of potentially compromised accounts that are out there. My old one was.

It doesn't have yahoo on there yet. A bigger source (2x the accounts) is leakedsource dot com
[doublepost=1476690219][/doublepost]Maybe I missed it, but has Apple given an official explanation or solution for this?

 

[rhenley]

It has been over a week now since I went to the Apple Store "Genius's'" and the originally compromised iPhone 6s is still unlocked. I completely restored, and setup the phone as new over the weekend without any problem. It appears for the time being that Apple has some solution available for these locked phones.

However AppleCare and my AppleID for this device are still incorrectly recorded, and there appears to be no solution available, nor interest from Apple to fix that data. Because of that I tend to think at some future point the phone will re-lock with a bogus email address.