Apple Has an Activation Lock Removal Process -- Will it Work on 10-Year-Old iPhone 5s?

I was excited to learn that Apple has an official Activation Lock removal process! Could I have been wrong about Activation Lock all along? I'll try the process on 21 old iPhones.
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[@hansofmadata3565]

The guys saying it worked for them in the Reddit thread are probably the same people who sell the lots of activation locked iPhones on eBay 😂

[@RDKLInc]

I mean, yeah, probably? The locked devices need to be sold for parts if they can't get unlocked. That's better than scrapping at least.

[@barbadolid5170]

The hopes of icloud recovering a 4 year old super cheap iPhone will destroy the savings of more than one savy teenager 😔

[@RDKLInc]

Certainly no one should buy a locked device for the 1/100 chance that Apple will unlock it. Not good odds. @@barbadolid5170

[@X1ZR]

So you're suggesting this doesn't work at all?

[@SulphurS16]

stolen 😂

[@Gegsite]

TLDR: it is not working.

[@alejandroalzatesanchez]

"This is apple bussiness how i can help you?" "Hello i'm a refurbisher i want to unlock a bulk of devices" **wheezes** "Refurbishing what the heck are you talking about?!" **They put him on hold**

[@RDKLInc]

Yeah, unless you're the first owner of a device, they really don't want to talk to you at all

[@ryangurnick]

@@RDKLInc In my view it's sad, because even though you are not the first customer, you are still essentially helping support apple's services division. Getting these iPhones back into peoples hands, you would think, is their goal to continue improving their own service profits as hardware sales decline. I have a feeling when Apple realizes exactly what I just said, they will be nicer to all refurbishers.

[@otisobl]

@@RDKLInc You just have to call once per serial. ;-) They will probably think in pure profit terms: a re-activated consumer iphone will still sell more subscriptions and apps, whereas a refurbished 10-yo phone will be bought by people who don't have the purchasing power or consumerist attitude to spend on apps and subscriptions anyway.

[@Sparklebeard9000]

@@ryangurnick I think you're missing the point of the activation lock. It's to make stolen devices useless. It's been hugely successful in reducing iPhone theft. If you can easily just remove it then it's back to iPhones being highly lucrative for theft. It's not about service profits.

[@FallenVixen93]

No, they still answer as Apple support

[@tbdtobedetermined3138]

good video! another note: if you're on the "Activation Lock" Screen, you can also obtain the serial number from the device by putting the device asleep and hitting the ( i ) icon on the lock screen

[@RDKLInc]

Ahhh good to know, now I feel like a moron :-)

[@teamredstudio7012]

@@RDKLInc I also didn't know for a long time! We can be morons together.

[@grandcalifornia8410]

The audacity of Apple to say they care about reducing waste when they literally are number 1 contributor of it.

[@hdslave]

Stacks of working computers going to the bin daily. Insane

[@zachcoleman2153]

Agree that caring about waste is just BS. However, I 100% support activation lock because it makes it harder for thieves to turn a decent profit on stolen devices. I liked the idea of potentially not turning on activation lock unless the device is in lost mode. However, I could see issues with that method depending on how fast the stolen device gets sold.

[@britneyfreek]

@@zachcoleman2153it‘s not audacity. it’s called green washing. and most people are gullible enough to fall for the lies.

[@johnandrews9433]

@@zachcoleman2153Most thieves though are either stupid and don’t know/care about this or they’re sophisticated enough to strip them for the parts. All that really happens is they’re worth less when stolen. Doesn’t really solve the problem at all

[@PiotrK2022]

Cool, don't shit urselff.

[@archtitan1795]

I've only gotten this system to work once, with my mom's cousins' iPad Pro 1st Gen. She had passed away so there was no way to remove it from iCloud so I pretended like I bought the iPad on eBay and Apple surprisingly unlocked it. Every other device I've tried hasn't worked though.

[@yuuki69y]

I tried it on my own, and it worked perfectly 7 months ago. The issue is, Apple used bots to check surveys back then and unlocked them without asking. But now, based on what people on Reddit are saying, it doesn't work anymore.

[@aakashdeepshome7415]

How did u get unlocked? Could u please tell me

[@dh2032]

@@yuuki69y yes, hurting sales of new phones (but what apple forgets is most people are that keen on spending £$€ 1,000 on a new phone from company, that goes out of it's way to brick it at every opportunity it gets,

[@falox5136]

@@yuuki69y it worked for me too some 6 months ago, but i've tried it recently and it does not work anymore

[@AUATUWVSH]

the reason for the lock is not for data security, it is for the security of your money in their pocket, money from resold devices isnt going into apple's pockets

[@L2002]

Cry harder

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Crying softer is better!

[@magnoliy08]

​@@L2002 but he's right? seems like the one crying is you

[@bestgamting]

@@L2002he’s right bruh Mr apple ultra fan

[@KimoKimochii]

The robot voice is killing me.

[@alwaysappleftd]

I really loved the video! I honestly hate Activation Lock as well. I used to have more success with the Apple unlocking method but ever since November they keep denying me. I also smiled when you said “When the response back is quicker, it means it was a bot and not a human” because I used to get quick responses when it worked, and it took quite a few days when it failed.

[@RDKLInc]

Thanks, glad you liked it! Yeah it’s hard to make sense of it

[@Anonymous99997]

I used to work for Apple Retail. In the early days of Activation Lock, if a customer came in with a locked phone I could unlock it on my Apple checkout device. All I needed was a manager to log in and the device was unlocked. That process later became more complicated and required an invoice and then not long after that the process disappeared altogether.

[@MAG-Crew]

So people must buy more of new Apple products.

[@Genericname-xd4yl]

I also remeber when I had one with a receipt and the owner wouldn't respond so I got it unlocked at a store

[@celebrityrog]

I've always chatted online or iMessage or in person with Apple Support, never on the phone, so it's nice to finally know what it sounds like talking to them on the phone. They have the same accent as the Charlie Brown teacher.

[@SteveMaves]

Thanks for going to the extra effort to figure this out in detail! This was a really informative video.

[@RDKLInc]

Thanks Steve!

[@marcuskotsu]

What really gets to me about this is -- why not provide some way of contacting the previous owner? I get not wanting to expose their email address or phone number, but why not add a button to the activation lock screen sending a notice to the previous owner notifying them that someone is trying to activate an old device? If they're using the same account on a new device, it could just show up as a notification -- or within remote management console, if that's what is going on. There's clearly real value in the Activation Lock feature in case your device is lost or stolen, but if you sold your device without realizing this is still activated, or that it even exists at all, there's got to be *some* way of getting in contact with you, no?

[@mikehall3976]

Again, this lock is just apple bricking old devices so your money goes to them, not a third party reseller.

[@barbadolid5170]

Big news: nothing new under the sun. Thanks for going the extra mile and trying, big company bureaucracy isn't pleasant to deal with

[@OliTheRepairDude]

agreed

[@cassiuscartland]

I think how they should do it is: if the phone has been reset, it has 10 days to be reported Lost or Stolen before it automatically removes Activation Lock. It would mean there is still that layer of security but there arent loads of devices ending up in landfill

[@eDoc2020]

Realistically 10 days is not nearly enough, that's easy to miss. Perhaps 90 days might be enough.

[@M.V.P23]

Great video, I'm not in the refurb business but I did accumulate 3 Apple devices throughout the years. 1 iPad found in the trash and 2 Locked MacBook's purchased from eBay. These locks should automatically expire after a certain amount of time. Such a waste!!! They're just going to end up in a dump somewhere. They're just banking on people buying new devices PURE GREED!!!

[@hello.i-am-jimmy]

6:13 Famous words 💀 "Hopefully your human, and you can get through the captcha here, sometimes I have problems with that"

[@davidgagnon2665]

Because you purchased these devices from recyclers that got them from large institutions and schools, they're probably Remote Managed in addition to be iCloud locked, that seems to be the message that was returned by Apple as being owned by an institution. Maybe success rate higher with personal devices? I have a bunch of locked devices, should give it a try.

[@RDKLInc]

Yes they could very possibly be remote managed, and they don’t remove remote management under any circomstances, so that could be it. You should try yours! Can’t hurt

[@AndrewCerny]

This is correct. You’ll have much better luck submitting consumer devices instead of managed devices.

[@RDKLInc]

@@AndrewCerny I did verify that they are NOT remote managed

[@bastian775]

if they are remote managed, at least with how it's done at my organisation you can get to the step of seeing the company name, and ask them if it can be removed if the device was not stolen or missing but just got rid of due to old age.

[@RDKLInc]

@@bastian775 They are all confirmed not remote managed

[@monstersquishy]

i can totally relate to this. i work for a e-waste recycler slash reseller and we have had to scrap tons of apple products do to the activation lock. It sucks because its always on the newer models of things, the ones people want more but we cant sell them because we cant restore them back to a usable state. Its not a problem with apples older stuff, but apple doesn't support them any more and nobody wants them because they are too old.

[@user-dv5sm3lw9w]

Some of Apple's MDM helper actually priced base on numbers of devices or users, such as Apple's Business Essentials, which means more devices/users = more money from the institution / company paid to an MDM helper in this case Apple by month / year. As the time goes by, old devices are replaced and dumped but didn't roll out of MDM, they're still charged per month / year, so the cost of managing will actually adds up, usually like these little things are not cared by giant companies simply because it makes more money, maybe not a lot, but more for sure.

[@RDKLInc]

True. But it’s exactly the same kind of institution that would be negligent in removing MDM that would also be careless about finances. So I’m not sure that the prospect of saving money is going to entice them.

[@AnimatorAaron]

If the EU has managed to force USB-C and Sideloading, shouldn't they be able to, with enough force, get Apple to at least change how Activation lock works?

[@re4zoon]

What sideloading? :D

[@OliTheRepairDude]

I don't think so as it is anti theft feature that the US law enforced

[@JARI]

only for european customers

[@OliTheRepairDude]

@@JARI yeah I agreed but US laws make kill switch compulsory

[@isaacwright2247]

@@OliTheRepairDudeU.S. is too communist but Europe has too many immigrants. Also, why does Europe have mandatory USB Type C and sideloading but at the same time they have immigrants invading their country?

[@andimom2010]

Thanks it was a fun ride NGL

[@RDKLInc]

Hey thanks, that’s good to hear. Sometimes I’m too “in it” to know if it’s any good

[@timewideinternational]

Man apple can drive you nuts , i have tried 35 times just to get an activation lock removed all attempts have been denied 😂😂

[@RDKLInc]

At this point they probably deny it just because you've tried so many times :-)

[@jarboer]

Cool video, I have a few iCloud locked devices which would be nice to unlock. One was when I was working at a repair place and the customer was upgrading, she forgot her password so I changed it. The new iPad accepted it but the old one didn't even after being reset, I asked my boss if it was ok if I kept it since the customer didn't want it and they said I could. I still never got activation lock removed but I was able to bypass it and use it. I would be nice to have it fully unlocked, maybe I'll get it one day. Also, personally I found the use of AI photos offputting, often it felt like it didn't add much but distract me because I knew they were AI. Just doing a voice over showing the actual sites and docs would be better imo.

[@Ultrrr]

How do you bypass it? Im in a bad situation rn

[@themeantuber]

I see the problem. You told them you are a refurbisher and you know how jealous Apple gets when someone else wants to put his hands on their devices.

[@RDKLInc]

They are not THEIR devices, they are MY devices. But Apple is not a fan of acknowledging property rights

[@themeantuber]

@@RDKLInc exactly!

[@sgtbonsai]

I got it to work in November 2022 on my 5s, but I got a locked 7 hoping to unlock it recently, but it’s just been getting denied (they even flagged it as an automatic rejection). Some people on that reddit are saying that they’ve temporarily stopped approving requests due to the sheer volume of requests they’ve been receiving? Don’t know how credible that is, but it seems possible. Good luck on your journey though! I really enjoyed the video.

[@lsvnriv]

Thank you for sharing this video. I want to personally buy 2 MacBooks and 2 iPad Pro from you

[@RDKLInc]

Thanks, glad you like it! I don't have inventory to sell, but check out my recent video on buying from electronics recyclers!

[@robertfoster3214]

Als can work ipad

[@anthonybush3134]

I have a 2019 MacBook Pro I need to try this on. Bought it as is iCloud locked at a pawn shop about a year ago

[@Lord-Fappington]

Needed an iphone unlocked. it was on contract in my name yet after giving apple all the info they refused with no explanation. Know why that is? Because they didn't have one. They'll decline it whatever you say.

[@2elw]

It only worked 5 times for me last year, i got a iPad 5 2017 unlocked and a few iphone 5S' and SEs. I selected a third world country and a random adress and a screenshot of the serial number and thats it. Theres one iPhone SE that i cant get unlocked though, apple says its unlocked and every other website also says its unlocked but the iphone itself stays locked, and i used the serial number from the motherboard and not housing.

[@glaubhafieber]

I had a region locked iPhone. Didn’t even know this existed until a great guy from Apple explained to me. He said nothing he can do and he also wouldn’t want to buy a new device. He gave me an address of someone who jailbreaks idevices. Unfortunately this guy said he might not succeed. After confronting the seller he accused me pf lying because they don’t sell sim locked phones. It’s region locked, not sim locked. After showing up there in person he suggested that the insurance i had should replace it. Told him this is probably fraud, so he gave me a brand new one but never acknowledged that region lock exists

[@kwedl]

It's crazy to me that there are probably tens of millions of locked iphones and ipods that are just bricks now for no reason. With iphones i can maybe understand it, but what is the point of not unlocking and reseting a decade old ipod touch.

[@computersales]

I have a friend's phone that is iCloud locked I should try this on. Fixed it many years ago to recover his photos. He didn't want it anymore and said I could keep it. Tried to reset but it wanted a password. I didn't want to be a pain and big him so threw it in a box. I really could use it since I have a flir camera made for iPhone 5.

[@cassiuscartland]

Fun Fact: For Macs, you can actually use them if they have activation lock if you use a different OS. For example, Activation Lock wont appear if you install Windows or Linux.

[@RDKLInc]

No that’s not actually true - try it!

[@BatteryDie]

Silicon-based Mac don't have ability to boot non-macOS due to Silicon. Asahi Linux installation required running macOS to set up dual boot between Linux and macOS but Activation Lock still stop it because Asahi Linux developers mentioned "Apple still controls the boot process". If you are talking about x86-based Mac, then Mac computer without Apple T2 chip can easily boot OS what you want.

[@RDKLInc]

@@BatteryDie pretty much it’s limited to pre-activation lock macs ie 2017 and older

[@chriswright8074]

Ain't worth it​@@RDKLInc

[@sulliops]

I definitely think this process is meant for enterprise MDM administrators. I haven’t personally made one of those calls, but I remember being told by the Mac admin I worked with at my last internship that it was an option. We just never really did them because our MDM provided a bypass method.

[@RDKLInc]

Buy Apple will not deregister MDM under any circumstance. Only activation lock, and not even that 99% of the time

[@falox5136]

To whom it may concern, the method used by the reddit man used to work, but it does not anymore I bought a few iphones from a flea market last year and they all turned out to be locked and out of all of them i managed to unlock all but one, using the exact method on the reddit thread. There was a brief one year period when unlocking was posible but it turned out to be either an employee accepting unlock requests for second hand locked phones or just an error, either way for some reason apple turned a blind eye for a while before "fixing the error". It was still nice that it happened but now a lot of people are confused why this does not work

[@djpainkiller3326]

this is great but if you bought the device and didn’t know about this right away and no longer have proof of purchase for example let’s bought it off a random person off eBay who did not know their info you’re never getting it unlocked

[@IvanMartinez-wf4sw]

If they’re from businesses that didn’t bother to sign out, it could be that the devices are enrolled in Apple business manager, which they would need to be unenrolled from to be used. In my experience even if a phone is free from an iCloud lock they still end up being unusable because you don’t have valid credentials from the company it’s enrolled with

[@IvanMartinez-wf4sw]

Could also explain why people of Reddit had better luck, since their devices wouldn’t have ever been enrolled into ABM

[@elyzsabethahne2116]

Please, would this also work on a used Mac Mini that I could buy on eBay? Also, does "Activation Locked" and "iCloud Locked" mean the same thing? I haven't purchased one, but I was just curious. Also: bureaucracy is AWFUL!

[@mintybudgie]

activation locked and icloud locked are the same thing, and yeah it should work with a mac mini as long as you have the s/n

[@songsan807]

Thanks for the informative video and links. While watching the video I remembered that I purchased a few iPads and iPhones from Amazon and eBay a while back. Looking through the invoices there are no serial number or IMEI there. Also purchased many Apple macbooks and iPads from Fry's, CompUSA or companies which are no longer around. Hopefully Apple would take them. I agreed with many folks that mentioned that keeping them hard to unlock would be more money coming into Apple for more sales. But not good for devices that are still good going into the scraps.

[@_seekingthetruth_1447]

I think the problem is that they don't make any money by unlocking your locked phones. Figure out a way that Apple can make money, such as helping people by getting them phones they can use to trade in for newer devices with known retailers and they may be more open to unlock some or all of them. I suspect it will be a one-by-one case though. Great video and thanks for testing the process. I hope you're able to find success in the future.

[@mrfoxesite4482]

i got to the apple store took a ipad, downloaded the apple logo pic put it in notes app wrote on black on top of apple logo pic in notes app using apple pencil yesterday that activation lock causes millions of ipad to ewaste. so no one can see it easily. im 12.

[@RDKLInc]

Wow congrats you are getting started early :-)

[@Zebra_Paw]

Hopefully one day someone develops a custom firmware for these Macs, in a way that would let the device boot to some Linux ignoring any iCloud lock. Then, with OpenCore, we could literally hackintosh real Macs to run macOS again 😂

[@BeatLyric-ox4cm]

Has anybody automated this process ? Its not you being dishonest its them being dishonest as a company, so creating a workaround is not being dishonest it evening the playing field.

[@bharathkumarj1998]

just ship those millions of devices to DOJ and EU so that they know about this 🤣🤣 they might slap it to apple

[@markerrrr]

I unlocked an iPhone 4s with Ebay invoice about 1 year ago.

[@Pacificbell]

So my sister got a iPhone 7 Plus from my great aunt and so how would we do that my great aunt says she logged the device out of her account but it’s still locked

[@XantheFIN]

Actually there has been ways remove the account long times... the certain sellers has had access or buddies inside Apple to do these things.

[@1080p_gamer_]

A few months ago I had a recovery mode 6s plus that I got for free but when I restored it, it was locked. In the request thing I literally talked about how I jailbroke the phone to bypass the lock but SIM didn't work and it was buggy but they still accepted it.

[@eDoc2020]

I don't even know how you would jailbreak a locked device. I have some iPad 2 and the jailbreaks I know of require sideloading apps.

[@1080p_gamer_]

@@eDoc2020 i used palera1n, it uses a computer and doesn’t require running any apps

[@cyan2048]

​@@eDoc2020never heard of checkra1n?

[@eDoc2020]

@@cyan2048 Checkra1n is for iOS 12 and newer. iPad 2 has iOS 9.

[@hayriboracnar3348]

Last year, i submitted form for my iPhone 4s which was in use 1 Month ago. I accidentally lock myself and I wrote in description ‘’ this is my email address please unlock it’’ and I added a receipt which I found on Google photos and it worked like charm. After that I tried dozens of devices but I couldn’t unlock any of it

[@CrypticConsole]

why would apple remove the lock when they can force you to buy a new iphone?

[@nabtoad49]

Wish I could do a workaround for an iCloud locked iPhone 5 two years ago, but they had to go to waste because the iCloud account on that was disabled for security reasons. I will try it for my old childhood iPad Mini 2.

[@antonijegrujic]

iPhones have serial number printed on the SIM card holder, except the newer models that don't have a SIM card tray.

[@eDoc2020]

It would be nice if an activation request sent an automated email to the registered iCloud owner. They could click "I sold or gave away this device" and the request could be completed instantly or there could be another option to mark as stolen. If there's no reply after 30-90 days it could then automatically unlock, such as if the registered owner is no longer alive.

[@RDKLInc]

Doesn’t work so well when it’s an institution that dumped 3000 machines. That’s where most of these come from, not individuals

[@unseendeaths]

I would agree with your activation lock strategy. What I would implant is a timing system, when u reset your device it would say do you want activation lock enabled on your iPhone? If yes, a time system would occur like 30 days and during them 30 days there would emails

[@flyingspaghettimonster8912]

It keeps the prices of apple products high keeping them locked. why else would they want to lock parts to products as well?

[@cassiuscartland]

thought this was an april fools video for a sec

[@derfakeaccount5183]

It would be interesting if it works with faking a purchase receipt with all the information like serial number.

[@387catcat]

it worked for me once in 20 tries (iph 6)

[@Tamay.]

You can easily get the phone’s IMEI as its on the setup screen on the info button, on the back of the phone, or on the SIM tray. And the iCloud activation check websites are free.

[@sweatyurbex]

I have a couple of thoughts, is it possible to maybe make a request where the serial number serving as the ID for the support ticket, is from an iPhone that definitely wasn't owned by a business previously? I'm wondering if they're basing the whole request on the main serial number and then it's failing some kind of validation.

[@Penguinnoly]

I just asked apple online for unlocking the og iPad mini and they were like yeah sure

[@Penguinnoly]

no proof of anything too

[@elbert5208]

But this only works for older models, right? Can it work with iPhone 13?

[@Penguinnoly]

@@elbert5208 I would assume it's only older models unless you have a proof of purchase then maybe they'll unlock it

[@flashesbuck]

I have one locked iPhone 5, I don't have a receipt, I picked it up at a garage sale years ago. How would one manufacturer a recipe for this process?

[@RDKLInc]

I don’t know, be creative. Give it to your wife and then she can sell it back to you for $5 and provide paperwork

[@xbes7]

@@RDKLInc 🫡🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Mr.QuantumC0re]

I wish I can unlock this iPhone XS that I bought a while ago, but it’s activation locked 😢.

[@RDKLInc]

So watch the video and try the process! That’s what this is about

[@Mr.QuantumC0re]

@@RDKLInc I did, but you end up failing in the end. Also, there is no way that they will ever unlock this iPhone XS that I got a while back. Lucky you’re a e-waste dude though. I don’t think they will want some random person to have access to an unlock One iPhone that isn’t mine.

[@dani77774]

I remember doing this back on 2018 for my company at that time and was the same process also the part when they ask you to write the imeis and serial numbers. I got all of them unlocked because they were bought by the company.

[@Frjttr]

I'm sure there always was a way for Apple to remove Activation Lock for those cases, it worked upon providing a proof of purchase. Suggesting to make it as a paid feature is dangerous and crazy.

[@Tech_481]

Ive had 23 out of 40 of my devices unlocked this way lol. Around a year the success rate was even higher around 80% but now it's around 20%. The way done devices instantly go through is they check to see if that apple id hasn't had activity in the last year and if it has it gets kicked off into human reviews vs a robot doing it. You should have made this video long ago when the "glitch" was found lol

[@Arman-wm3fx]

this has been around for a while now i got locked out of my ipod touch 7th and apple told me to do this and i never used a recipt

[@perplxxd]

i was genuinely excited for a minute thinking i could unlock my old 4 but nah, i bought this thing from a dude at a flea market.

[@frostech3149]

There are means to do so, albeit not officially, and you'll need to redo the procedure should you decide to reset your phone.

[@perplxxd]

@@frostech3149 ive done probably every single tutorial I can find but absolutely nothing works

[@supersmashmaster43]

You could unlock it through a jailbreak I'm pretty sure. I bought a 4 with an icloud lock back in 2015 and there was a jailbreak method that could unlock it. It only worked specifically for the 4

[@perplxxd]

@@supersmashmaster43 i cannot find any working jailbreak methods for the life of me, not sure if i'm looking in the wrong place or if people are just gatekeeping lmao

[@RobertFixit]

Interesting. I have several iphones where the owners simply forgot the password and no longer have access to the email. No proof of purchase of course, but I do want to see what the process would be like for a legitimate owners to get them unlocked.

[@RDKLInc]

Try it, can’t hurt

[@marko4480]

you play by their rules try doing it the first way as a costumer and print recepts as seller from ebay or your store with s number on it, sometimes you have to do it that way, also for samsung you have program that bypasses email lock and resets it maybe there is something like that for apple too

[@retrogaminggenesis6102]

Very sad that this requires you to delete all data, my father has an iPad 2 filled with childhood photos and he made the iCloud with a work email.

[@rpst39]

Last August I got an iPhone 5 unlocked after 11 attempts. The first one attempt was in February. I put a 4S this morning, wonder how that will go.

[@cheezybread7783]

ah rip first condition is a no -no sadly, cuz i bought it used from someone who forgot their icloud password, maybe if i have their box? and recript?

[@daniellelaurino1469]

I am not sure if this matters or not but maybe they are registered with a device management system like at a school..... and i noticed that it keeps referencing the iphone 5 are they all iphone 5 if not maybe they are only going off the 1st phone listed.

[@Lord-Fappington]

Any iphone that is icloud locked and already sat on the setup screen has an info button that gives the serial and IMEI.

[@EncounterTheTheme]

Did you ever try a mac or ipad?

[@RDKLInc]

No I have only tried what I've shown here. I'd suggest reading the notes on Reddit to see if others have tried iPads or MacBooks. Hey, it's always worth a shot.

[@buffuniballer]

I submitted a request for the iPhone 4s I had that my wife, then son used, but couldn't remember his iCloud account information. I sent Apple proof of purchase and my request was denied. So while there is a process in place, they don't always follow the process. Proof of purchase should be sufficient to get the phone unlocked.

[@railerswim]

Just send the serial numbers to the recycler to put on a revised invoice. Have someone in a management position sign the invoice. Also don’t give Apple ideas about charging to enable activation lock. All they need to do is make this process more transparent and give it serious attention.

[@RDKLInc]

That's not how recyclers work -- watch my video about buying from recyclers

[@isaackingvideos]

I have an ipad mini thats been icloud locked for 4 years. Ive also tried this method to unlock my ipad and i got denied. Silly Apple. Also the official unlock process was released by apple in 2021.

[@HALDikopter]

@3:26 How many fingers does this AI generated hand have? ;)

[@QuyNguyen-tz6zh]

Hey, I was researching this when the method was working at a high rate. This method worked for a while for old devices and then some redditors decided to spam Apple with hundreds of requests, after that Apple make the requirements for unlocking much more strict. Now it doesn't work for most devices which is a real bummer Other than the official method, there are some alternative ways to "bypass" these devices, especially old ones with ios 16 or below, free method will have the SIM card locked but it still can be used to some extent tho

[@samuraiedge3539]

Do you know any of these free methods? I’m trying to unlock an iPod touch 5th gen

[@FactsOverFear.]

You said 99% are not stolen. That’s your experience given the budines you’re in. Those devices were not corporate locked(MDM) they had an email account connected to those devices. The corporate(MDM) locks display a different message. It’s good they remain locked.

[@RDKLInc]

They may or may not be in that condition - I’ve dealt with 10s of thousands of devices and seen all types of

[@rafaelappleseed8140]

they want the serial on the receipt

[@LoveBbyJay]

I love this video, many thanks for going through this with us!

[@RDKLInc]

Hey thanks, I'm really glad you liked it!

[@isaacwright2247]

What about if you like to adopt devices like Action Retro?

[@yodelingcloud9612]

At least you can use them as parts

[@kitcat2559]

Its rediculous that having a activation lock can brick a device forever unless you have the account owners info who might not even remember that info or even be around still, it should be if you don't have the information let the device erase itself fully and boot as a new device without any data on it but this would be to easy for apple

[@Subgunman]

Any positive outcome from this issue since posting?

[@Xpoint.ZeroSuou]

Perhaps it worked for the individuals because they didn’t say they were refurbishers buying from a recycler. Maybe your story is a red flag to them? Even if you never buy stolen, it might not be worth the risk?

[@unimatrix82]

I wish i would have known this when i got my late step dads phone.... I ended up having to part it out.

[@user-jr8kc5bw8i]

How about trying One Locked phone, and the receipt use the original and add a serial number and see if at least One gets the green light, you never know?

[@danielgartin-oh9ik]

Is there a way to remove Activation Lock on a phone without wiping data, my dad forgot his password for his old account and had to make a new account when he bought a new phone problem is he doesn’t have his data from the old phone

[@Techno-Universal]

If only the lock would only stay active on a device for a year after its last use unless it’s reported as lost or stolen! :)

[@RDKLInc]

A year is a little long. The problem is by then recyclers will have scrapped it for being locked. But that's the right idea -- I think 30 days is good

[@Techno-Universal]

@@RDKLInc Yeah that should be a lot more reasonable however it’s also possible that Apple want to be the only ones who can properly refurbish and resell those devices on top of donating those devices to the most impoverished communities on the planet which they have been doing for quite some time.

[@RDKLInc]

@@Techno-Universal They have no legal right to be the only ones -- they do not have property rights to their old products, the owners do. As for Apple donating refurbished devices to impoverished communities, please show some evidence of this. That's a new one to me. I can show you recyclers that Apple pays to destroy thousands of their devices, but no evidence that they donate them

[@Techno-Universal]

@@RDKLInc Pretty much I strongly remember coming across a news article video a while back of the population of a remote village in the African region being donated IPhones and being blown away by it as it was the first time in their lives they had ever used phones like that and accessed the internet. It was seemingly a charity that Apple was partnered with while I also just searched around for that article but was unable to find it. It still makes sense for Apple to do that in a limited capacity for positive publicity/press to hide the fact that most devices they repossess somehow like through trade ins get scrapped through recycling companies like you mentioned.

[@eDoc2020]

@@RDKLInc 30 days is too short for automatic unlocking. 90 days would be more reasonable.

[@destertew]

Paji simple ja process hunda va 1000 rs naam da lende aa. Ikko patti jini marji vaar chlao. Basd upgrade ni krna hunda kyo kr patti software according hundi aa te ikko version te kamm krdi aa.

[@idarkness7789]

What about…if the iPhone was given instead of bought? Because I got an iPhone 5c from a friend of my brother, and he told me that he forgot most of the stuff on this phone, it is possible to remove the activation lock on this phone?

[@RDKLInc]

Good question! Might want to have the friend draft a receipt and then try it. Or go to an Apple store with the friend. Nothing is guaranteed but worth a shot

[@weltvonoben]

Didn't work unfortunately if you dont have a perfect invoice.

[@freedomfrochaos7730]

Does this work on the iPod touch fifth generation? I have one but it’s activation lock

[@bluebary]

Where’d you get that giant charger. asking for a friend

[@RedVRCC]

4:10 i definitely think they need to change it but hard disagree with making it a paid thing. That could not be more awful and greedy to lock a security feature behind a paywall. 8:18 if you can already find the serial number why not just create a fake more detailed invoice to use? Edit: oh lol, you literally mentioned this right after...

[@isaacwright2247]

I got my iPad Mini 1 from Pioneer Chevrolet in Abingdon, VA but stuck on iOS 9.

[@X1ZR]

Great video👍🏾