Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Users Report Some iPhone 7 and 6s Models Activation Locked With Wrong Apple IDs
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Steve Jobs would..."You're activating it wrong!"
Oh, never mind.
Oops, guess it doesn't just work.
Apple, the ultra expensive smartphone
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?
yesterday i called with the activation problem, the lady on the phone sent me a link to submit proof of purchase. last night i submitted and call apple again, another lady on the phone said it's too blurry and said she'll send me the link to submit it again (the link only let you submit once.) it's been 2 hrs and still waiting for the email to submit.
Had to do this twice over the last year or so, after you submit the picture it can take a day or two before they act on it. Excruciating I know, but that has been my experience...since they want to be very careful with these.
I had this issue on my 6s last week when trying to restore it to trade it in. Had to call apple, provide proof of purchase and their engineering team removed the activation lock for me.
I wonder if somehow the IMEI of phones are being spoofed in Asia, like perhaps phones that are stolen in the USA and then imported into Asia. That would explain why the lock reoccurs even after Apple clears it.
Last edited:
hmm it happened with my iPhone 6s few weeks ago after I wiped it and restored it. Some email I've never heard of came up when I was activating the phone.
This happened to my work 5S this morning. I noticed that iMessages won't send so I rebooted my phone. Upon reboot, it prompted me with the Activation Lock screen. Luckily, it was my iCloud login so I was able to unlock it. I've literally owned the phone for over 2.5 years so how is that even possible to have that prompt come up?
You're activating it wrong.
[doublepost=1475697838][/doublepost]
Damnit! Always beaten to the punch(line)
[doublepost=1475697838][/doublepost]
"You're activating it wrong!"
Damnit! Always beaten to the punch(line)
It doesn't make sense. It's clearly an issue that Apple should be concerned with. It's affecting users of all iPhone models across the boards
Apple activation servers having a bad time...?
I also heard of many iOS activation issues regarding devices registered in DEP over the past month or so
I also heard of many iOS activation issues regarding devices registered in DEP over the past month or so
It has to be that somehow IMEI's of phones are being associated with the wrong device. I theorized above that maybe it's from hackers spoofing IMEI's onto stolen phone, such as using a known clean (but used) IMEI and encoding it onto a stolen phone. Or maybe it's just a database snafu on the iCloud servers.
Interesting, my 6s had this happen yesterday and I've had it for a year...the phone got very slow during the day which I attributed to low space so I started clearing it out. Then before leaving work it kicked me out of my work WIFI and then the passcode asked to be reset. Eventually the phone kicked me out to the Activation screen and I could not activate it over WIFI, Cellular or even connect it to Itunes directly. Final solution was a total wipe of the phone and starting from scratch
Apple takes privacy so serious that they lock you out of your own phone.
maybe related to:
"hackers" are able to remove the activation lock by changing the serial number of the device to an unused one. if apple then uses this number for a legit device...
"hackers" are able to remove the activation lock by changing the serial number of the device to an unused one. if apple then uses this number for a legit device...
Last edited:
This is a very simple glitch that apple are resolving as I type.
No need to worry, these things are sent to try us.
No need to worry, these things are sent to try us.
I went through this... twice.
It was pure hell getting this resolved. My phone was locked twice within 19 hours to the same email address. Apple support didn't know what to do and there is no way to expedite an unlock request. My second request took over 4 days before I finally went to the store and had them do it. Even then, the manager didn't want to replace the phone knowing I was in there for the second time. Eventually the advisor I was dealing with put it in my notes that it was at his recommendation to replace it and they did.
It was pure hell getting this resolved. My phone was locked twice within 19 hours to the same email address. Apple support didn't know what to do and there is no way to expedite an unlock request. My second request took over 4 days before I finally went to the store and had them do it. Even then, the manager didn't want to replace the phone knowing I was in there for the second time. Eventually the advisor I was dealing with put it in my notes that it was at his recommendation to replace it and they did.
This happened to one of my developers and I. He borrowed a test phone for the weekend since he cracked his screen. When he got his personal phone replaced, he gave back the test phone. We turned off Find my iPhone and signed out of iCloud on the company phone, and then restored the phone. When it was done restoring, it came back with an AppleID activation lock with an AppleID we'd never seen before, and belonged to no one in the company. I called apple with the receipt for the phone, and it took em three days, but they eventually unlocked it. Very strange.
Ugh...
"You're activating it wrong"
"At least it doesn't explode"
"But is safari snappier"
"ActivateGate"
We get it, it's the same cheesy "jokes" every time.
"You're activating it wrong"
"At least it doesn't explode"
"But is safari snappier"
"ActivateGate"
We get it, it's the same cheesy "jokes" every time.
Same thing happened to me. I sold my 6s plus and the guy I sold it to reported that it was locked to some random icloud account. I ended up sending Apple proof of purchase and they unlocked it 3 days later. I feel bad for the guy I sold it to but am glad he was so patient about it.
I've personally been working with a Senior AppleCare specialist since about 9/26 on this exact issue. We first went through the process of removing the activation lock. It was removed and I was up and running in about 3 days. Then I happened to wipe the phone to sell (as I bought the 7 plus on launch day) and then read people were still having the issue happen again after the initial Activation Lock was removed by Apple. Acting as a responsible seller, I wanted to make sure my phone wasn't also a "repeat offender" Soooo...I wiped phone again and popped in my SIM and sure enough it was locked again. Each time it has listed some generic icloud email address that isn't (and has never been) mine or associated to this phone.
I had received this phone as a replacement back in June for my original iPhone 6s plus that had a few pixels go bad in the screen.
A few forums posts have popped up of users having the exact same problem here on MacRumors forums.
Simply removing the activation lock isn't going to prevent someone we sell the phone to down the road having the same problem when they try to sell or restore the phone as new. Fortunately, I discovered all this while being up and running with my 7+. I can only imagine if I was having this issue on a phone I was relying on for daily use currently.
I had received this phone as a replacement back in June for my original iPhone 6s plus that had a few pixels go bad in the screen.
A few forums posts have popped up of users having the exact same problem here on MacRumors forums.
Simply removing the activation lock isn't going to prevent someone we sell the phone to down the road having the same problem when they try to sell or restore the phone as new. Fortunately, I discovered all this while being up and running with my 7+. I can only imagine if I was having this issue on a phone I was relying on for daily use currently.