iCloud Activation Lock Removal by IMEI
If an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch you own is sitting on the “Activation Lock” screen asking for somebody else’s Apple Account, start here. Put the IMEI or serial in and we will read the record before anyone talks about money.
PhoneDecoded works for the device owner. We hold no commercial relationship with Apple Inc., act on nobody’s behalf but yours, and claim no endorsement from anyone. Apple, iPhone, iPad, iCloud and Find My are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
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Check your device's iCloud status
Enter your IMEI or serial number for an instant, no-obligation quote.
Find your IMEI in Settings → General → About, or dial *#06#.
iCloud Check Result
Can iCloud Activation Lock be removed?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on what Apple’s activation record says about that serial. The lock is held on Apple’s servers rather than on the handset, so nothing you do to the phone itself will shift it. The cheapest and fastest route is always the person whose Apple Account is attached: they can release it in under a minute from icloud.com/find. Where that person is gone or unreachable, a removal request can be raised against the IMEI — but only after the record has been read, and not on a device someone has reported lost or stolen.
Read the record
You give us 15 digits. We query the activation record for that serial and report what it says — locked or clear, and whether anyone has flagged it.
Decide with the answer in hand
A locked record that is otherwise clean can go forward to a removal request. A flagged one stops until you can show the purchase receipt and ID in your own name.
Set the device up as yours
When a removal completes, the handset is wiped and unclaimed. Put it on Wi-Fi, walk through setup, sign in with your own Apple Account.
Why wiping the phone changes nothing
Switching on Find My writes a pairing on Apple’s activation servers between that device’s serial number and one Apple Account. From then on the handset cannot finish the setup assistant on its own — it asks the server for permission, and the server answers with the email address of the account that holds it.
That is why every hardware-side remedy fails. A DFU restore, a new SIM, a replacement screen, a swapped battery, even a new logic board keeps the same serial and gets the same answer. The only thing that changes the outcome is the record changing.
Three parties can change it: the account holder, Apple itself when shown an original purchase receipt, and a removal request raised against the IMEI. We do the third, and we will tell you to try the first before you spend anything with us — it is free, instant, and it works every time the previous owner is willing to help.
Where these devices usually come from
Two stages, two amounts
The figure below is the first stage — reading the activation record for your serial and telling you where you stand. It is not the price of a removal. If the record permits a removal request, the amount for that stage is quoted to you before you agree to it.
Any supported model · you get the answer either way
Ask the previous owner to release the device first. That costs nothing and makes this page unnecessary.
Four ways an Activation Lock gets cleared
Only the first three change Apple’s record. The fourth does not, which is the whole reason it stops working after an update.
| Route | Changes Apple’s record | Survives a restore | Needs the old account holder | Needs a computer | Free |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The account holder removes it from icloud.com/find | |||||
| Apple clears it against an original purchase receipt | |||||
| IMEI removal request (what we do) This page | ~ | ||||
| Jailbreak and “bypass” tooling | ~ |
The tilde on our row is honest: whether a removal request can be raised at all depends on what the record says, which is why we read it first. The tilde on the bottom row is because most “free” bypass tools sell you a licence once you are committed.
Models with an Activation Lock record
Anything running iOS 7 or later carries one. Apple silicon and T2 Macs use a separate scheme that only Apple can release, so they are not listed.
iPhone
Read more →- iPhone 6 – 6s Plus
- iPhone SE (1st, 2nd, 3rd gen)
- iPhone 7 – 8 Plus
- iPhone X, XS, XS Max, XR
- iPhone 11 – 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 – 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 – 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14 – 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 – 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16 – 16 Pro Max
iPad
Read more →- iPad (1st–10th gen)
- iPad Air (1st–5th gen)
- iPad mini (1st–6th gen)
- iPad Pro 9.7-inch
- iPad Pro 10.5-inch
- iPad Pro 11-inch (1st–4th gen)
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st–6th gen)
Apple Watch
Read more →- Apple Watch Series 1–9
- Apple Watch SE (1st & 2nd gen)
- Apple Watch Ultra
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
iPod Touch
- iPod Touch (6th generation)
- iPod Touch (7th generation)
What to do before you order
The seller is still replying to messages
Then do not order anything yet. Send them one sentence: “open icloud.com/find, pick the device, tap Remove from Account.” It takes them thirty seconds, costs neither of you anything, and clears the record properly. If they stall or block you, that in itself tells you something — a marketplace refund may be a better outcome than a removal request.
Check the record first →The account holder has died
Apple has a Digital Legacy process and a formal request route for estates, and if you hold a death certificate and a will that names you, that path clears the device outright and at no cost. It is slower and needs paperwork. Our route needs no documents and less waiting, and it is the sensible option when the paperwork does not exist or the estate is long closed.
Check the record first →The handsets came from a company disposal
Check the setup screen wording first. “Activation Lock” with an email address is a personal Apple Account and is what this page addresses. “Remote Management” or a screen naming the organisation is MDM enrolment — an entirely different system that only the enrolling company can release, and nothing we do touches it. Getting this wrong is the commonest wasted order we see.
Check the record first →It is your own device and your own old account
Try Apple Account recovery at iforgot.apple.com before anything else, even if you are sure the email is dead — recovery can work from the phone number on the account alone. If recovery genuinely has no route left, the IMEI request is what remains. Dig out the original receipt while you are at it; it makes every conversation easier.
Check the record first →More detail: the “locked to owner” screen explained · when the Apple Account itself is locked.
A record change, not a patch
If the removal completes, the pairing on Apple’s side is gone. A restore or an iOS update has nothing left to restore the lock from.
We hold 15 digits, not your device
An IMEI and an email address is the whole of what we need. We do not connect to the handset, read anything on it, or ask for any Apple Account password — and you should refuse anyone who does.
Five things this service cannot do
Written down deliberately. Every one of these has been somebody’s wasted order somewhere.
Clear a handset reported lost or stolen
If the record shows the device flagged, we stop and ask for the original purchase receipt and photo identification in your name. Without both, that is where it ends. A device somebody else has reported is not ours to release, and clearing Activation Lock would not lift a carrier blacklist regardless.
Get past Remote Management or MDM
A supervised device shows a different screen naming an organisation. Only the organisation that enrolled it can release it, through their own management console. No IMEI request reaches that system.
Recover anything the previous owner had on it
A removal leaves you an empty device. Their photos, messages, app purchases and iCloud storage stay with their Apple Account, as they should.
Promise you an outcome in advance
Anyone quoting you a guaranteed removal before reading the record is guessing. We read it first and tell you what it says, including when the answer is unwelcome.
Escalate anything inside Apple on your behalf
We are an independent third party with no Apple relationship, no case access and no support queue. Where Apple is the right route — a receipt in your name, an estate claim, a repair — we will say so rather than take an order.