Hey everyone, I'm in a bit of a bind here. I want to sell or gift my old iPhone 13 Max Pro that I bought about a year ago, but I can't unlock it. I wiped all the data, yet it still says 'locked to owner' and shows an email address I don't recognize. I've contacted Apple support multiple times—five cases to be exact—but they keep denying my requests, saying I need to prove that I'm the original owner. I've given them my original receipt, emails that confirm my order, and even followed their instructions about documenting the serial number and IMEI. Unfortunately, I'm hitting a wall. I've also tried to remove the phone from my Apple account settings, but that didn't work either. Help me out if you have any ideas or if I missed something! Also, just to clarify, it's a refurbished phone purchased from a reseller.
2 Answers
It sounds like the main issue is that the phone might be linked to a previous owner. If you bought it refurbished, it could still be tied to their Apple ID. Apple typically needs the original owner to unlock it, so if you can't get that confirmation, you're kind of stuck. I recommend reaching out to the reseller to see if they can help you with unlocking it or provide any additional proof of ownership.
Unfortunately, Apple is pretty strict about those activation locks. The best course is to show your proof of purchase, but if that's not working, you can't do much except keep pushing Apple. It might be frustrating, but don't give up!
Yeah, I've heard similar stories. Sometimes resellers have policies in place to prove ownership, so it might be worthwhile to check what support they offer for situations like this.