Lost Apple ID

[Candlelight]

This week we found a tablet (iPad Mini 2) that was used by a development team at our work five years ago. The team disbanded in 2015 and all the staff left. The tablet in question is still signed in with an Apple ID from one of these staff members. He's since moved overseas and we have no contact with him, not on Facebook, etc.

Is there anyway to remove the Apple ID without knowing the password? As the staff member left the email address associated with the Apple ID has long since been shut down. The tablet will be wiped as it'll be repurposed for an entirely different job.

Any help appreciated.

 

[chabig]

Is there anyway to remove the Apple ID without knowing the password?

There is nothing you can do unless you make contact with the person who has the AppleID. That’s the beauty of activation lock.

 

[DeltaMac]

If you can prove (to Apple's satisfaction) that you are the owner, Apple can reset an activation lock.
Good luck doing that with an abandoned "work" iPad.

 

[Candlelight]

Well, I call it a curse but yeah.

It's been five years, I doubt he'd even remember it.

Thanks.
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If you can prove (to Apple's satisfaction) that you are the owner, Apple can reset an activation lock.
Good luck doing that with an abandoned "work" iPad.

It's still loaded with their development software so it's definitely not a private tablet.

 

[DeltaMac]

But - you said that the AppleID appears to be a previous employee - which could make that a personal tablet, for purposes of the AppleID and a possible activation lock.

But then - business-owned Macs may be handled differently.
Call AppleCare - explain your situation.
Could be that Apple will offer a possible solution.

 

[Candlelight]

Just attempted to access it via the web - says the email address is not a valid apple id. BUT that's what is signed into the tablet.

It's like he deactivated the ID without signing out of all his devices. Is that possible??

 

[DeltaMac]

Lots can happen in five years with email addresses - and AppleID accounts.
(guessing here...) Maybe the employee created the AppleID for the project, (AppleID used only with that one iPad) then deactivated the AppleID when the project was completed. The employee might have turned the iPad in before deactivating the AppleID account. That would be one possible scenario, I suppose.