I just spent the last hour bashing my head against Apple’s Activation Lock on a coworkers iPad 2. They brought it to me because it had nearly every assistive mode option turned on, and it was locked with an unknown iCloud account. I tried to get around the lock to no avail, even to return the device to factory specifications. Even the factory reset ends up crashing into the Activation Lock.

It’s heartening to know that Activation Lock took the guts out of the stolen devices market for Apple mobile devices, but in this particular case it’s creating a huge headache. There is no way for me to move forward with treating this issue because the iPad only refers to its owner by a guesstimate email address, b******@gmail.com. I don’t know what this is, and there is no way for me to figure it out. So this device is pretty much bricked, and I have no choice but to send the user directly to an Apple store with the instructions to throw the device on their mercy.

If you are going to give away or sell your Apple device, make sure you TURN OFF ACTIVATION LOCK. There is no way, not even DFU-mode or Factory Reset that can defeat the lock. There are some hacks that used to work, but Apple catches on quickly and updates their iOS to close each possible hack soon after it appears.

I don’t pitch a fight with Apple over this, it was a clear and present requirement that they met, it just makes dealing with this particular issue impossible for people like me to resolve. The best way around this issue is to secure each and every device with an iCloud account and write the iCloud username and password down in a very legible and memorable safe place! Without the iCloud account details or a trip to the Apple Store, the device is so much plastic, metal, and glass.