Unlocking iPhone without iCloud password

izabela186 wrote:

Can someone please help me? I received an iPhone from a friend, but it’s locked with the message: iPhone locked to owner. I don’t know where she got it and she doesn’t remember her username and password. Where to write and how do I get this phone unlocked? Thanks

Nope, NOBODY can help you, including Apple. Without the actual credentials used to set up the phone, the phone is totally ueless to you. Apple won't help you because you aren't the buyer who has the original purchase receipt, which shows the iPhone serial number on it. It seems highly unlikely "your friend" has not clue what her username is (it's always your email address) or account password. It's more likely you have a stolen phone.

Give the phone back to "your friend." There's nothing you can do with it at all.

Everybody so far appears to have casually dismissed the possibility that your friend still has the original receipt (or maybe you were given it?) from Apple for the sale of the device. If the receipt is still around, you can ask Apple to unlock the device. See the second option in How to remove Activation Lock - Apple Support

Give it back to your "friend" or recycle it. It's useless. There is no way to bypass the activation lock.

izabela186 wrote:

Thanks a lot!

Activation Lock is an anti-theft device – and a second-hand iPhone in Lost Mode is pretty much indistinguishable from a lost or stolen iPhone.

To the best of my knowledge, even an iPhone that is still associated with a previous owner will not put itself into Lost Mode. Try to reset a phone that is still associated with an Apple Account, and you won't be permitted to do so unless you know the credentials for that account – but if you're seeing a "Locked to Owner" screen, that says that the owner took the trouble to mark it as Lost.

Which strongly suggests that the phone was lost – or stolen. Apple will not remove Activation Lock as it would be a betrayal of the registered owner's interest in protecting their property. If it was your phone that had been lost or stolen, and you had marked it as Lost, and some person wanted Apple to remove Activation Lock to let them make your phone their own - would you want Apple to ignore your wishes and do their bidding?

Without the login credentials for the person to whom the phone is locked, there is nothing you can do. Recycle it responsibly.

You say that you don't know where your friend got this phone. If she got it second-hand, you and she may want to review: The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a Used iPad/iPhone – Apple Community .

Limnos wrote:

I did a search for 10 minutes and saw nothing about an iPhone declaring itself to be in Lost Mode.

Yup – and the OP said (emphasis mine):

"I received an iPhone from a friend, but it’s locked with the message: iPhone locked to owner."

I could be mistaken, but I believe that the "Locked to Owner" screen is the hallmark of an iPhone that has been marked as Lost, and that has learned about it.

Servant of Cats wrote:

Limnos wrote:

I did a search for 10 minutes and saw nothing about an iPhone declaring itself to be in Lost Mode.

Yup – and the OP said (emphasis mine):

"I received an iPhone from a friend, but it’s locked with the message: iPhone locked to owner."

I could be mistaken, but I believe that the "Locked to Owner" screen is the hallmark of an iPhone that has been marked as Lost, and that has learned about it.

Ah, in that case Apple won't unlock it even if a person has the receipt.

I did a search for 10 minutes and saw nothing about an iPhone declaring itself to be in Lost Mode. The only mention of a message is an optional one the owner of a lost device can leave to be displayed if the phone is turned on. The owner can tell if they have set it by looking up their device in Find My.