Unable to unlock Apple Account on second hand iPhone to pair it with Apple Watch

rizirfr wrote:

I bought iPhone 11 (100% unlocked) from Facebook market place on 25 May 2025 (this is pretty much common practice which everybody does, so I did, I believe this is not a crime!)

Buying a iPhone from an online marketplace s not a crime, but it is often an expensive mistake, as outlined in

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a Used iPad/iPhone – Apple Community

Even when online marketplace sellers are offering new phones for sale, those sellers frequently are not Apple Authorized Resellers. Which would mean, at the very least, that those new phones have no Apple warranty.

During setting up iPhone ID has been lock!! due to multiple try of password input

What type of lock are we talking about? If this is just a case of forgetting the passcode, you can reset the phone. (You will need to know the Apple ID and Apple ID password you used to set up the phone.)

If you see an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro unavailable message or Security Lockout screen - Apple Support

If this phone is locked to a previous owner, and you don't know the Apple ID and Apple ID password it wants, that would be quite a different matter.

I did not receive any response from them yet however I have submitted Apple watch is original invoice from AT&T + iPhone invoice which I bought from Facebook online market.

Apple will not remove Activation Lock unless you are the original purchaser of the iPhone, and have a receipt from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller showing your name and the phone's serial number.

A receipt for a second-hand purchase from some seller on Facebook Marketplace is not going to be acceptable. If Apple offered to remove the anti-theft mechanism Activation Lock for anyone who could hand in a "receipt" from a Facebook seller, they would be flooded with demands from thieves and fences to unlock stolen iPhones.

Dear Apple, my case is pretty straight forward and simple!

You're not speaking to Apple here, but it sounds like your case is pretty straightforward. If you are saying that the phone is Activation Locked to a previous owner, then you are telling us that you bought a used iPhone that at best was not properly prepared for resale by the previous owner, and at worst is stolen property. If you did buy a lost or stolen phone, you might not have realized that you were doing so, but it doesn't mean that Apple is suddenly going to disregard the interests of the true owner.

What did the Facebook Marketplace seller say when you contacted them? Or did they "disappear" or block you – as so many sellers of Activation-Locked iPhones do?

Is the Activation Lock for the iPhone still active and the device is liked to the previous owner?

Have a look the "Check for Activation Lock" part of the related article:

Activation Lock for iPhone and iPad - Apple Support

In that case, Apple can only disable the Activation Lock, if you have proof of ownership or purchase, as explained in this article:

Additional Support - Activation Lock

If your Apple Account has been disabled, follow this article, to start an Activation Lock support request.

If your Apple Account is locked or disabled - Apple Support

If the wrong password for your Apple Account has been put in too many times, Apple will lock your account.

Click on this blue link to start the Apple Account unlocking request:

Start an Activation Lock support request.

Also explained here:

If your Apple Account is locked or disabled - Apple Support

rizirfr wrote:

If I can easily check the IMEI# then why can't Apple trust on my request because they wanted to buy always from their stores to get huge profit on sale. I think they should banned all second hand ID owner who can't afford expensive phones.

Apple is already doing what they can to make stolen devices less valuable. That is the purpose of Activation Lock.

However this iPhone came into your possession, it is indistinguishable from a lost or stolen iPhone, if it is not actually lost or stolen.

This iPhone (and whatever Apple Account also got locked) are both bricks.

No, an IMEI can’t be used to unlock. Though an IMEI can be used to lock an iPhone, including after purchase.

No, Apple isn’t going to trust a buyer without an original receipt. Not anymore than they would trust a thief with no receipt. Or trust someone that found a lost device with no receipt. Because these three case cannot be distinguished.

The motto of most any online marketplace, or anywhere else that the seller can disappear, is Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware. You need to demand a price as low as your risk is high. And your risk here is very high. Too many second-hand sales end like this. With an expensive brick.

long story short, after creating the new ID I use said phone more then a week then my daughter wanted to download some apps, I believe while she was downloading the apps through Apple store it asked the password again and then she starts trying to put password in a wrong order and that was the point when Apple lock the ID

Maybe you can ask what happened, but whatever it was — likely more transpired here than a repeated password failure — this account and this iPhone are permanently bricked. And to be very clear, by “bricked”, I mean forever unusable, forever unavailable, and forever unrecoverable.

rizirfr wrote:

If I can easily check the IMEI# then why can't Apple trust on my request

Just because an IMEI is not on a blacklist does not prove that a phone is yours. Somebody whose phone was lost or stolen might not have thought of asking their carrier to blacklist the IMEI. Or might not have done it yet.

If "the phone isn't blacklisted" was enough to get Apple to remove Activation Locks, thieves would race to submit Activation Lock support requests as soon as they stole phones – in hopes that these requests would be accepted and processed before the real owners could get their carriers to blacklist the stolen phones. If I can think of that, I'm pretty sure that Apple employees who are paid to think about security issues can think of it.

Can you visit an Apple Store or an Authorised Apple Service Provider and see if they can help you in person, if you show them the invoice?

Apple - Find Locations

There is a special security team that activation lock request removals go to. That is why the Apple Store cannot help because they would be breaking policy and could get fired.

I know it can be frustrating, but this is a security feature that’s not going away. There’s always risks buying third-party, and unfortunately, you found out one of those risks when you broke the terms and conditions of using an Apple ID.

When it comes to Apple devices and Apple terminology locked and unlocked, can mean different things, So that’s why they’re asking clarifying questions. Based on the screenshot you shared Apple has determined you broke the terms and conditions of use and you cannot use that Apple ID again. Unfortunately, buying the device secondhand means you are not providing original proof of purchase that is required to remove an Apple ID from an Apple device. You might try contacting the person you bought the phone from to get the original receipt of purchase from them to submit. https://al-support.apple.com/#/additional-support

rizirfr wrote:

I think they should banned all second hand ID owner who can't afford expensive phones.

Apple does not have the right to ban second-hand sales of phones – and there are some sellers of second-hand phones who act in a legitimate, above-board way.

However, buying a used iPhone from someone who is not Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller carries some risk. There are many pitfalls, and even outright scams, to watch out for. Apple is not responsible for every used phone sale or every scam involving a phone, any more than a car manufacturer is responsible for every used car sale, or every scam involving a car.

I would suggest reading:

The All Too Common SAD Reality of Buying a Used iPad/iPhone – Apple Community