If you’re reading this article, my friend… you’re in big trouble. But don’t worry. Not all is lost, and we may be able to solve it.
If you began to configure your iPhone, and you have reached one of these two screens and you don’t know how to proceed, then you’re in the right place. Let’s solve it!
Activation lock: This iPhone got lost and was wiped out. Introduce your Apple ID and the password that were used for configuring that iPhone.
Very common scenario.
Or you could also:
Activate iPhone: This iPhone is associated to an Apple ID (J******@icloud.com). Log in with the Apple ID that was used for configuring this iPhone.
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What is activation lock
Once you purchase an iPhone, you will pretty much have to configure an Apple ID by default to be able to download apps on the App Store, and to be able use other Apple services, such as, for instance, iCloud.
You could also choose to not to configure your iPhone with an Apple ID, but that wouldn’t make much sense since most of its services will require you to have one. In other words, avoiding this point is possible.
Find my iPhone is one of iCloud’s functionalities, and it includes Activation Blocking. This security functionality protects your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Apple Watch so that nobody is able to use it if you lose it. Activation Lock will be automatically activated when activating Find my iPhone.
Why do you need to remove iCloud’s lock on an iPhone?
Many users, just like myself, have quickly created an apple ID without paying much attention while we were configuring our new iPhone. Also, some of us forget to save the password, and some of us do not establish any method to recover it in case of not remembering it.
There are even people that don’t even know what an Apple ID is, or that their iPhone comes configured with one, or don’t even know what an Apple ID is useful for.
Others have bought a second-hand iPhone, and its previous owner didn’t even bother unlinking its iCloud account. Or maybe someone has sold you a phone that was stolen or lost.
In any case, and regardless of the reason, after resetting the iPhone to start using it, just like in all the previous cases, we reach the same point where we get stuck:
Activation Lock or iCloud Lock
Icloud Activation Lock is a lock for your iPhone. Regardless of whether your phone gets reset or its information gets deleted, no one will be able to activate it without its Apple ID and its password, that is, without your consent.
How does activation blocking or iCloud blocking work
After you activate “Find my iPhone” on your iPhone or in any other Apple device, the Apple ID is securely stored on Apple’s activation servers that are linked to your device.
From that moment, it will be impossible to deactivate this function without these credentials and, therefore, unlock the device.
We need to repeat that Activation Lock is activated automatically when configuring Find my iPhone.
Besides activation lock, there is also another similar functionality called Lost Mode. This blocks your iPhone’s screen with a password, and also allows us to configure a message where you could indicate a phone number so that, if someone finds your phone, they will be able to easily return it to you.
If you’re reading this article for this second motive, just know that that iPhone has not been sold legally, and you could get in trouble. It is an indicator that shows that the iPhone has been stolen or lost and that that iPhone’s rightful owner has activated it through iCloud’s web.
So, without further ado, let’s explain the instructions to be able to deactivate activation blocking or iCloud blocking so that you can keep enjoying your iPhone, and that you don’t end up with an expensive paperweight with the little apple icon.
Case 1: you have forgotten your Apple ID
An Apple ID has an email format, and it’s the account that you use to log in on Apple’s services: App Store, iTunes, iCloud…
If you don’t know your own Apple ID, and your iPhone is not a second-hand one, it will be easy to recover it. With a bit of luck, the Activation Blocking message will suggest you an email account. -you will at least see the email service provider (gmail.com, Hotmail.com, Yandex.ru, icloud.com…), and the first character of the email account.
With this, you can go to the email service in question, if you have many, and look for the welcome message that shows up after creating an Apple account to confirm that you have the correct account. With this information, you can go to the next case.
Case 2: You have forgotten your Apple ID password.
In this case, we can pretty much say that we have almost solved the problem. The first thing that needs to be done is to try to log in into your email account (not on your Apple ID) since they will most likely send us to this account the link to reset your Apple ID password.
Once we have access to this account, we will try to reset the password from the Apple ID account website. I’ll leave the link where you have to request your password to be changed.
https://appleid.apple.com/#!&page=signin
To obtain more detailed information on how to retrieve it, you can click on the link that says: “Have you forgotten your Apple ID or password?”
Case 3: You can’t find the Apple ID because you have a second-hand iPhone
This is the case where we have the feeling that we may have problems. However, if you don’t mind spending a bit of money, there are services that help you remove iCloud lock for an affordable price. It’s better to do this than to have a useless iPhone. But we will leave this for the last section.
If you haven’t bought the iPhone yet, you have enough time to verify that your iPhone is not linked to any account. If, when turning it on, you see any of the screens that are included on the image at the beginning of this article, you need the owner to unlink it.
If you see a screen asking you to dial a PIN, the iPhone has data from its current owner, so ask them to unlock it and check that the phone’ iCloud session has ended.
And, if you decide to keep it, ask them to insert their Apple ID and password on the Activation Blocking screen, and to also delete the device from their account. Otherwise, you will have the same problems even after resetting the phone to its factory settings.
The safest thing to do is to go to Settings, enter into the first section where the data from the current account are located (username) and, once you’re here, scroll down and press “log off.”
Then, go to Settings > General > Restore > Delete contents and settings, insert the corresponding Apple ID and password, and click on accept.