My son gave me this iwatch as a gift 2 years ago. The seller has not removed iwatch from their account. How do I work around this?
You don’t.
There is no way to bypass the activation lock.
Only the owner of the account used to lock it can do that.
If they won’t or can’t or you can no longer contact them, you may as well toss it in a recycle bin. It’s useless.
This was Apple’s response:
You don’t.
There is no way to bypass the activation lock.
Only the owner of the account used to lock it can do that.
If they won’t or can’t or you can no longer contact them, you may as well toss it in a recycle bin. It’s useless.
That’s comforting… Grrr!!!
I wrote back to Apple and asked for them to make this right to their clients who are having this same issue. I requested that they either have their technical department remove the Activation Lock, submit purchasers a full refund, or accept a return and then send a replacement of equal or greater value.
I’ll return here with their response.
Let’s pray it’s a great resolution!
MaxandPax2017 wrote:
This was Apple’s response:
You don’t.
There is no way to bypass the activation lock.
Only the owner of the account used to lock it can do that.
If they won’t or can’t or you can no longer contact them, you may as well toss it in a recycle bin. It’s useless.
No. That was not Apple's response.
That was my response. This is a user forum. You are not talking to Apple. Apple does not participate here.
That’s comforting… Grrr!!!
I wrote back to Apple and asked for them to make this right to their clients who are having this same issue. I requested that they either have their technical department remove the Activation Lock, submit purchasers a full refund, or accept a return and then send a replacement of equal or greater value.
I’ll return here with their response.
Let’s pray it’s a great resolution!
Activation lock is an anti-theft feature.
Your son purchased a second hand / used device that was very possibly stolen.
This is not Apple's problem.
Apple is not going to remove the activation lock.
Oh, and by the way, in this instance you are NOT Apple's customer. You did not purchase the device from Apple. Your son did not purchase it from Apple. Someone else did. They are the ones who enabled the activation lock. The activation lock is designed to made the device unusable to anyone other than the rightful owner.
I'm sorry you're upset by this, but it is what it is.
If your son bought a used car and gave it to you, and the car was actually stolen, the police would be towing the vehicle and potentially arresting one or both of you for receiving stolen property.
The only difference here is you're not likely to be arrested.
Take this as a life lesson.
Unless you have proof of purchase or ownership, as explained in this related article, the official Apple Support can not disable the Activation Lock:
How to remove activation lock on iwatch purchased second hand
