I recently bought an iPad mini for my 6-year-old daughter, which she'll mainly use while traveling. I went through the setup process and selected her child profile, but now I'm stuck at the iCloud password stage. I've searched everywhere—my password manager, email, Google Drive—but can't find her password. When I tried resetting it, I could verify my and my husband's phone numbers, but then it asked to send a code to her email, which I obviously can't access. I clicked the 'I don't have access' option, but it's telling me I'll get an email at her address in a couple of days. I don't need to recover the account since she hasn't used it, but I just want to set up her iPad. We're leaving in two days, and I'm wondering if there's a way to reset everything without the password. Feeling a bit silly for clicking her icon instead of mine!
3 Answers
Unfortunately, you can’t reset a locked iPad without the Apple Account that set it up. You might want to confirm if it really is set up as a child device because that could affect how you can access it.
You can check the status of your account recovery at iforgot.apple.com, which you might’ve missed. If you’re the Family Organizer, and listed the correct age for your daughter, you can reset her password using your device. Just go to Settings > Family > [daughter's name], click on her Apple Account, and there should be an option to help reset her password. If you have the old iPad and it hasn't been erased, you might also be able to change her password from there.
Thanks for the tip! I found that option but it kept asking for her password instead of letting me reset it.
Apple usually requires proof of purchase to unlock a device if you're having trouble. If you have that, you might be able to get them to help you out in getting her account reset.
I thought I set it up as a child device, but maybe I need to double-check that.