Activation lock on deceased person's iphone

Sorry, for your loss.

mrhm100 wrote:

After my mother died I wanted to restore her nearly new iphone and pass it onto a member of the family. I did not have her password for her apple account so filled in the form and submitted all the documents to have her account closed down through apple support.

Sorry, but this kind of confusing. You cannot have an account closed if you don't have access to it. You need to have full access to the account before you can request its deletion by Apple. This is also the point at which with full acess and its password you can remove it from the device or remove Activation Lock so you can re-use the device.

This took about 2 months to complete but I am still unable to restore the phone because the activation lock is on through 'find my phone'. I cannot change the password or do anything as the account ID is no longer recognised - it's been deleted by apple.

If it has actually been deleted by Apple completely before it was removed from the device, then there is notihng else to be done. Apple's documentation for Apple Account deletion strongly warns that not removing it from the device before requesting its deletion, would render the device or devices still logged into it unusable.

How to delete your Apple Account - Apple Support

• Make sure that you sign out of all your devices to avoid issues with apps that use your Apple Account or iCloud. After your account is deleted, you can’t sign out of iCloud or turn off Find My iPhone Activation Lock on your devices. If you forget to sign out, you might not be able to use your device when your account is deleted.

This of course only applies if you were to request deletion outside of the Legacy Contact process.

The support page states 'After your Legacy Contact request or account deletion request1.  is completed, Activation Lock is automatically removed.' But it wasn't...

If you did go through the legacy contact rerquest process, then activation lock is removed automatically, but the screen on the device remains until you restart or restore the device through a computer as directed to do by the support document in question.

click here ➜ Request access to a deceased family member’s Apple Account - Apple Support

Restoring the decvice will reset everything and if Activation Lock was removed from Apple's side, the screen should not re-appear and you should be able to set the iPhone up again.

click here ➜ Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings using a computer - Apple Support

My only suggestion is can the device connect to the Internet to know that the lock has been removed?

P.S. To me it sounds like you have already read and are fully aware of Request access to a deceased family member’s Apple Account - Apple Support You have also already contacted Apple. Try contacting them again and hopefully you will get a different person.

Thank you all for your kind replies and help. Yes indeed, it was just what Phil0124 suggested - I have now connected the phone in recovery mode and it is restoring. I hadn't fully understood the need to restart it in recovery for the lock to be removed. Big thanks for taking the time to explain it to me, all best.

Welcome and thank you for reaching out. 🤗

Apple requires a court order or Letters Testamentary for access to a deceased person’s devices.

As executor, you should contact Apple Support with the death certificate and legal documents to request access.

For more information, learn how to → request access to a deceased family member’s Apple Account.

Good luck! 👋🏼😉

Smiliñ 😎 Brian | Community Volunteer

Hello~ I agree with *Limnos* Also please accept my condolences for the loss of your mother. Take care.

~Katana-San~

You're welcome, glad it worked out.