Another activation lock question, no i'm not trying to bypass it!

[dna47]

Hey,

First post on Imore, since i'm usually on the Crackberry side (yes i'm a blackberry die hard....). 2 months ago, my GF wanted to upgrade her Iphone 4 to a 4s, so i bought her one second handed. The woman that sold it to me seemed legit but she wasn't that tech savy since she sold me the phone without "wiping it" first (her facebook account was still connected, i had access to her bank account, her contacts, her pictures, everything...so the phone did belong to her *at least it seems like it did*).

She tried to erase her data before selling it to me but the phone was asking for a password and she kept telling me she never set any password. We've met at a Videotron store (Canadian carrier) because she was about to buy a sammy phone. Since i'm clueless about everything that has to do with Ios, I asked the clerk if i could wipe the phone with itunes without any password and he told me "yes", so i bought the phone.

Once i got home, i backed up my GFs Iphone 4 and then "wiped" the 4s. I then proceeded to restore the data from the 4 to the 4s. Everything wen't smoothly until i got to activate the phone...it said that the phone had the "find my iphone" feature ON and i had to enter the password. at the time (we're talking about 3 months ago) i didn't know what it meant. After some research on Google, I now know that if "find my iphone" is turned on and you don't have the password, the phone is a brick (the phone is on Ios 7.something)!

But the thing i really don't understand is that the phone shouldn't be "wiped" with the "find my iphone" ON, but i was able to do it. and I remember when i messed with the settings that features was OFF (i was looking if the phone was synced with Icloud because i was taking some pictures and i didn't want the previous owner to get them)

So why the hell did Itunes let me restore the phone and THEN ask me for a password? From my research, you can't wipe it without the password...

I also checked the IMEI of the phone to see if it was reported stolen or lost, but it isn't. and like I stated before the women that sold me the phone really did look legit and she had all her stuff on the phone....

So here's my question, when it asks for the password, it gives me part of the Icloud email, is there any way to see all the characters? Because when she sold me the phone, she also changed her number (she was with Telus and switched to videotron), so the # i have is now obsolete. I'm really trying to get the email address in hope that she can remotely activate the phone...

I understand that this ios7 feature is to prevent thief's from using the phone, but the fact that Apple hides part of the email really sucks!!!!

Anyway, sorry for the long thread, hope you guys can help!

 

[kataran]

Welcome to iMore dna47

Sorry to hear about your predicament. Just because the Find my phone app is off doesn't mean the feature was turned off and the woman that sold you the device just needed to disable it thru her iCloud account that can be done remotely

Try and find her and inform her you need her Apple ID and password which will be the same as her App Store email and password that she should recall as you stated she had apps installed

Good Luck and thanks for joining our great community

 

[anon4757448]

Is it possible for you to return to the store where you met her, provide her contact info (whatever info you have) and ask them to contact her for you so that she could turn find my iphone off?

She may not have had a passcode on the phone but she had to have a password associated with her Apple ID. She probably won't give you the info, but she can turn it off remotely.


Sent from my iPhone 5S using iMore Forums

 

[Just_Me_D]

The person who sold you the phone has to login to www iCloud.com via a computer using her iCloud username and passcode. After that, she has to click on the Find My iPhone option and then select to remotely wipe it. Doing so will free up the phone for you to use as your own.

 

[route664]

Hey dna47! I'm a crackberry guy too. Funny that you put that first. haha.

Anyways. same problem different story. We gave out a company ipad, and the user turned on find my iphone feature. We wiped the ipad to prepare for a different user. Now, we're stuck.

If we give a call to apple, would they be able to do something. Technically, the device was purchased by the company.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Hey dna47! I'm a crackberry guy too. Funny that you put that first. haha.

Anyways. same problem different story. We gave out a company ipad, and the user turned on find my iphone feature. We wiped the ipad to prepare for a different user. Now, we're stuck.

If we give a call to apple, would they be able to do something. Technically, the device was purchased by the company.

Apple will not help you in this regard, at least they haven't with similar situations to the best of my knowledge...

 

[dna47]

The person who sold you the phone has to login to www iCloud.com via a computer using her iCloud username and passcode. After that, she has to click on the Find My iPhone option and then select to remotely wipe it. Doing so will free up the phone for you to use as your own.

I know that, the problem is that i can't communicate with said person because she changed her number when she bought her new phone. So all i have is part of her email address from the activation screen. what i'm asking is if there's a way to actually see the whole email address, that way i could contact her and ask her to deactivate the "find my iPhone" feature remotely.

 

[HankAZ]

I know that, the problem is that i can't communicate with said person because she changed her number when she bought her new phone. So all i have is part of her email address from the activation screen. what i'm asking is if there's a way to actually see the whole email address, that way i could contact her and ask her to deactivate the "find my iPhone" feature remotely.

Unfortunately, no. Apple purposely masks the email address to keep it hidden from the user. What is there is to serve as a hint to what the address is, assuming that the user knows it already. It’s helpful in cases like mine, where I have multiple Apple IDs for different purposes/functions. I know of no way to resolve this.