The short of it...

[GeneL]

…Mavis was given an iPhone 5 by her son-in-law. He has a good size company and had just upgraded his employees to various new 6 models, so he generously offered my S/O one of the last generation phones he had replaced.

When I went through the process of activating the phone on my Verizon account it needed a password to proceed when it became active. I called Verizon and found that even though the phone was active and could receive calls, there seemed no way for them to get past the need of the password,

When I was able to reach the SIL, he said that he had reset the phone to the original state and didn't expect me to need the previous password. He wasn't sure which of his employees had the phone, so it may be difficult to solve this dilemma by getting the original password. Not impossible, probably, but...

The Verizon rep referred me to Apple, so I'll have to call them tomorrow. I just don't want this to be another situation like the one that the FBI is going through with Apple!

Have any of you encountered a similar situation and, if so, how did you work it out?

As always, thanks for your input.

[RgrF]

Take the phone to a Verizon store, they should be able to sort it out for you. Then quit Verizon and go to a T-Mobile or someone else who won't end up charging you for bells and whistles you don't need.

[Speedy]

The owner must sign out of Find My iPhone and should erase the phone:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201351

http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/25/how-to-saf...-trade-in/

[bazookaman]

That pesky Apple ID.

[BernDog]

Contact the FBI. I've heard they're working on a solution. :ROTFL:

[Paul F.]

I think Speedy nailed it...

[GuyGene]

RgrF wrote:
Take the phone to a Verizon store, they should be able to sort it out for you. Then quit Verizon and go to a T-Mobile or someone else who won't end up charging you for bells and whistles you don't need.

:agree:

[jdc]

GuyGene wrote:
[quote=RgrF]
Take the phone to a Verizon store, they should be able to sort it out for you.

:agree:
Nope. What Speedy said. Its locked. No getting in w/o password.

Try too many passwords and its bricked for life. Sell for parts.

[rgG]

While Mavis's son's heart was in the right place, this is his fault and he should fix it.
All the phones that were being turned in should have had "find my iPhone" disabled the very first thing.
Chances are, this isn't the only one with this issue.

[D. Lawson]

GeneL wrote:
He wasn't sure which of his employees had the phone, so it may be difficult to solve this dilemma by getting the original password. Not impossible, probably, but...

The phone gives you a hint as to what e-mail address its iCloud account is tied to (e.g. s--------@gmail.com), so that should help him narrow down which employee it might be. As Speedy and jdc said, there is no getting past this without the password and/or getting that employee to disassociate this phone from his/her iCloud account.