Later, I found about a paid third-party desktop application as mentioned in this guide, and it did remove the activation lock from my iPhone 7 Plus. They claimed that you will be able to use all the services including the call, message and cellular data function, and that made me little suspicious. I didn’t use them because they looked too seedy. I found many online services claiming to unlock any iOS device for as low as $19.

We contacted the seller and he asked us to pay INR 12,000 (about USD 160) which we denied to pay for obvious reasons. His happiness vanished as soon as I told him that he cannot use the device as it has the activation lock set by the previous owner. He showed me the phone and asked me to create a new Apple ID so that he can start using the device. My father bought a used iPhone 7 Plus from OLX (it is an Indian classified site similar to Craigslist) at a throw away price. They first jailbreak your iPhone and then unlock it. But if you are using an older iPhone (iPhone 5s to iPhone X), then there are some paid third-party paid applications that can help you remove the icloud activation lock. It is next to impossible to remove activation lock from the latest iPhones such as iPhone 12, iPhone 11, etc. The moral of the story is to return it if its not yours.Įdit: It is possible to unlock an Activation Locked device with a GSX account as stated by someone in another answer, but most people who claim to have one are either scammers, or extremely overpriced to the point that its cheaper to buy a new device (or both). The owner rewarded me $200 for returning it. I called that number and returned the phone. I once bought an Activation Locked iPhone X on eBay for parts and once I turned it on it had a phone number to call.

Also, please remember to not do this with stolen devices, try to get it back to the owner first. Sim cards/cellular/SMS/phone calls don’t work with any of these bypasses along with iMessage and many other small things. You can also bypass any iPhone 5s to X on iOS 13.3+ with a paid bypass for $15 that I’ve tested on 2 iPhone X and it works but its Tethered so if the device dies or reboots, you’ll have to bypass it again. Any iPhone 5s to X can be bypassed untethered on iOS 12.3 to 13.2.3 with the checkra1n jailbreak. In other words, if you reset or update the device, it will become locked again. It is definitely possible to bypass iCloud Activation Lock but it isn’t possible to fully “unlock” it.

Apple unlock server access