What is "iCloud Lock" for an iPhone 5?

Little-Acorn · Nov 10, 2015

What is "iCloud Lock"?

Seems to have something to do with having a magic number to enter on your iPhone 5 (maybe other models?) to activate or re-activate it.

Is it a safety feature? An anti-theft device?

I've seen some used iPhone 5 phones on sale for low prices, that the seller says they are "iCloud locked". Can an iPhone hacker get around this condition or remove it?

Are these phones stolen?

Inquiring minds want to know!

J. A. · Nov 10, 2015

When an iPhone is "iCloud locked", this usually means, that the previous owner's iCloud ID is still connected to the device. This also means that nobody will be able to use it, because it's not possible to get past the activation screen, where you have to enter the iCloud ID's password. There's no way around this activation lock, although some scam sites promise that it's possible. The only one who can help unlocking an iPhone locked by iCloud, is the former owner.
Every iPhone that's able to use iOS 7 and later can use this feature, so it's not an iPhone 5-only feature.
Here's information from Apple:
iCloud: Activation Lock

An iPhone where you simply have to enter a passcode, is not locked by iCloud, and there's a way to activate it.

Little-Acorn · Nov 12, 2015

Thank you, J.A., very good info! This helps me a lot.

KevinJS · Nov 12, 2015

Not necessarily stolen, although part of the intention behind the system is to make them useless to a thief. It might be that someone has set it up and forgotten their AppleID password.

It does mean that if you buy a used iDevice, you can be pretty sure that it is NOT stolen, if you are able to restore it.

J. A. · Nov 12, 2015

@Little-Acorn
You're welcome.

Little-Acorn · Nov 13, 2015

KevinJS said:
Not necessarily stolen, although part of the intention behind the system is to make them useless to a thief. It might be that someone has set it up and forgotten their AppleID password.

It does mean that if you buy a used iDevice, you can be pretty sure that it is NOT stolen, if you are able to restore it.

Hmmm.

If I buy a used iPhone 5 that is genuinely not stolen, and the previous owner moves to Mozambique and vanishes, and I get "iCloud Lock" and can't contact him for the AppleID password, how do I restore it?

scifan57 · Nov 13, 2015

Little-Acorn said:
Hmmm.

If I buy a used iPhone 5 that is genuinely not stolen, and the previous owner moves to Mozambique and vanishes, and I get "iCloud Lock" and can't contact him for the AppleID password, how do I restore it?

You can't. There's no way to bypass iCloud Activation Lock to restore the iPhone. Without the Apple ID and password of the original owner, all you'd have is an expensive paperweight.

rachelruey · Jan 25, 2016

@Little-Acorn
me too, i bought an used i4s with id lock. tried to contact the owner and he just keep ignore and block my call[emoji35]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

scifan57 · Jan 25, 2016

rachelruey said:
@Little-Acorn
me too, i bought an used i4s with id lock. tried to contact the owner and he just keep ignore and block my call[emoji35]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you bought the iPhone from eBay, there's the possibility of an item not received dispute if you do it within 45 days of the end of the listing. If you paid with a credit card and/or the eBay dispute process is not a possibility you can do a charge back with your credit card company.