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iPhone SE (2016) Activation locks are stupid
- Thread starter Andy_2341
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Similar with the other SE1 I bought for about $30. It works great with a new battery in it now. It was just a bad battery on it, so I was able to check it.
Activation locks can be problematic as follows: I don't know the number of people who either forget to lock their devices (iPhones, and so on), or just aren't aware of that option. If a friend dies (for example) leaving his "locked" iPhone to you on his will or something like that, it would be extremely difficult for you to receive the gift.
My oldest son who passed away last year had kissed iPhone locked, and even after providing Apple with my son's death certificate plus I being the authorized person taking care of his property, it took several weeks for Apple to delete his account.
The only way I could have had Apple agree to retrieve my son's photos and videos would have been with a court order, plus the documents I had already presented to Apple, but removing the Activation Lock was not possible. I ended up deleting my son's account and activation lock, but didn't have the will, time, nor patience to go to court. During difficult times like this one is so overwhelmed that it is nearly impossible for one argue with Apple. And yes, I understand that one can have a Legacy Account for one to allow family members to receive one's iPhone. But a lot of us may not be aware of legacy accounts and things like that, or just be involved or prepared for a sudden death.
So please be careful if you place an Activation Lock on your iPhone, because if something happens to you all of the sudden and your family members-who may receive your phone as a gift-won't be able to remove the Activation Lock. I don't even know that Apple can "unlock" an Activation Lock, but assume that once you can provide all the legal documents necessary, Apple can delete (but not unlock) the account.
The bottomline is as follows: Apple is not "doing you favor" by allowing you to place an Activation Lock on your phone. All Apple is doing is handing you a lock with a key, and keeping itself free from litigation (keeping out of your business). So you can whine, scream, and jump until you turn green, but the blame is on you.
My oldest son who passed away last year had kissed iPhone locked, and even after providing Apple with my son's death certificate plus I being the authorized person taking care of his property, it took several weeks for Apple to delete his account.
The only way I could have had Apple agree to retrieve my son's photos and videos would have been with a court order, plus the documents I had already presented to Apple, but removing the Activation Lock was not possible. I ended up deleting my son's account and activation lock, but didn't have the will, time, nor patience to go to court. During difficult times like this one is so overwhelmed that it is nearly impossible for one argue with Apple. And yes, I understand that one can have a Legacy Account for one to allow family members to receive one's iPhone. But a lot of us may not be aware of legacy accounts and things like that, or just be involved or prepared for a sudden death.
So please be careful if you place an Activation Lock on your iPhone, because if something happens to you all of the sudden and your family members-who may receive your phone as a gift-won't be able to remove the Activation Lock. I don't even know that Apple can "unlock" an Activation Lock, but assume that once you can provide all the legal documents necessary, Apple can delete (but not unlock) the account.
The bottomline is as follows: Apple is not "doing you favor" by allowing you to place an Activation Lock on your phone. All Apple is doing is handing you a lock with a key, and keeping itself free from litigation (keeping out of your business). So you can whine, scream, and jump until you turn green, but the blame is on you.
I'm very sorry to hear about the passing of your son. My deepest condolences.Activation locks can be problematic as follows: I don't know the number of people who either forget to lock their devices (iPhones, and so on), or just aren't aware of that option. If a friend dies (for example) leaving his "locked" iPhone to you on his will or something like that, it would be extremely difficult for you to receive the gift.
My oldest son who passed away last year had kissed iPhone locked, and even after providing Apple with my son's death certificate plus I being the authorized person taking care of his property, it took several weeks for Apple to delete his account.
The only way I could have had Apple agree to retrieve my son's photos and videos would have been with a court order, plus the documents I had already presented to Apple, but removing the Activation Lock was not possible. I ended up deleting my son's account and activation lock, but didn't have the will, time, nor patience to go to court. During difficult times like this one is so overwhelmed that it is nearly impossible for one argue with Apple. And yes, I understand that one can have a Legacy Account for one to allow family members to receive one's iPhone. But a lot of us may not be aware of legacy accounts and things like that, or just be involved or prepared for a sudden death.
So please be careful if you place an Activation Lock on your iPhone, because if something happens to you all of the sudden and your family members-who may receive your phone as a gift-won't be able to remove the Activation Lock. I don't even know that Apple can "unlock" an Activation Lock, but assume that once you can provide all the legal documents necessary, Apple can delete (but not unlock) the account.
The bottomline is as follows: Apple is not "doing you favor" by allowing you to place an Activation Lock on your phone. All Apple is doing is handing you a lock with a key, and keeping itself free from litigation (keeping out of your business). So you can whine, scream, and jump until you turn green, but the blame is on you.
One way to avoid the pitfalls of activation lock is to share your iPhone pass code with a trusted person. When a friend suddenly passed away last year, he had written down his iPhone passcode and kept it in a desk drawer. So we were able to unlock his phone without worrying about activation lock. And we eventually wiped his phone and passed it on to his sister for her to use, after making sure we saved all his photos and other information we wanted to keep.
So again, the key is to share your device passcode, or figure out a way for your family/friends to find the passcode.
Again, my condolences, and thank you for sharing your experiences so others can take precautions to avoid it.
Your thoughts are much appreciated. Thank you.
That's exactly what one should do (share the phone's passcode). I could be wrong, but isn't a device's Activation Lock something different than an account password?
My son left security passcodes for other things in his house in his desk drawer. His best friend knew about it, and told me where to find them, except for the iPhone's passcode. By the way, the iPhone 13 he was using was a present to him form my wife and I. My son's nearly new and unused M2 MBP was given to our younger son . We passed down to our granddaughter once Apple had deleted our son's account.
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There's activation lock, account password, and device passcode, and they are all different. I don't feel qualified to explain the intricacies of all of them, but the thing is, if you know a device passcode, that is, the passcode you enter to unlock your iPhone or other device, then once you have an unlocked iPhone, you can access activation lock and the iCloud account associated with that phone, and probably a lot of other info that are stored or can be accessed through that phone.
It was unfortunate your son didn't realize his iPhone passcode was an important info for people to have in case something happened to him. Especially since he thought to make other security codes available just in case. The iPhone passcode really is kind of the master key to most of our digital life. Again, I hope this conversation helps more people realize that.
I'm glad to hear you were able to pass down your son's devices in the family. We also have some of our friend's equipments. Having them around helps to feel close to him.
Thank you for clarifying. My son did have a lock on his iPhone, and while I could have accessed his account using his MBP, I didn't feel it was ethical for me to do so, and proceeded to reset the MacBook to factory settings. It was later, and after I had submitted the documents to Apple, that I found out that he had locked his iPhone to the account. Once Apple deleted his account I had to contact AT&T for them to release the iPhone.
It was good that your friend left the passcode in his desk. For family and friends to cope with the news of his passing it probably took a great deal of hurt and suffering. It was that way for us in our family, too.
Thanks again, and as you wrote, "hopefully others can learn from my and others' experiences."
Huh? It was an example of mechanisms in place for when an exceptional situation occurs
