Reset your iPhone Without Apple ID Password

Most of the time when you need to reset your iPhone you will need to have an Apple ID password before you can erase the data, which will allow you to gain access and then be able to reset to factory settings. However, let’s look at some options to recover the password in case you don’t know it.

Why Your iPhone Is Asking for a Password

Every time you want to erase your iPhone using the settings, you must follow a series of steps, enter Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase all content and settings, when you reach this last part you will be asked an Apple ID password, this is for the purpose of turning off Find My, and Activation Lock.

But what is Activation Lock? This is a security measure put in place to prevent a stolen iPhone from being reactivated without the prior owner’s consent. Thus, using your Apple ID password during the reset process removes the device from your account, and disables the Find My service, which tracks lost devices, allowing when disabled and removed, a new owner can activate the iPhone.

Find My

You access the Apple ID section, and then you can turn off the Find My option, also there you can find a brief description about it that says “Enables your iPhone and other supported accessories to be shown on the map.”

In this way, you will need to remove the Activation Lock from the iPhone before you can use it. You can do it with the password, the previous owner of the iPhone can remove the device from their account, and in case you can’t do it in this way you can send an Activation Lock support request, where you prove to Apple that you are the new one iPhone owner.

Forgot Your Apple ID Password? 

You can reset your Apple ID password before erasing it. Solving a password problem should be a simple job, especially if you are the owner of the iPhone, and for example you forgot your Apple ID password, for this you can recover it using iforgot.apple.com. 

After you’ve reset your ID password, Apple may request that you change it to a new password, so you can either have a password you know, or you can also record the password securely with a password manager. Once you have changed the password, you can go in and when you try to reset your iPhone you can use it and then turn off Find My and Activation Lock.

Erase Your iPhone Without a Password on Mac or Windows

There are other options you can try using a Mac or Windows PC, however these options will not remove Activation Lock. To achieve this, it is important to use the recovery mode, which is a protection that allows you to update or restore the iPhone firmware in case any problem occurs at any time.

After this process you will not be able to use your iPhone unless you enter the password associated with the Apple ID that the iPhone was locked to, even if you have already erased your iPhone using recovery mode. And then once you have already rebooted the device you will have to activate it by entering the correct password.

Activation Lock Enabled? Contact the Previous Owner

It is important that you contact the previous owner of the iPhone, if you bought or received an iPhone from another person who was the previous owner, and Activation Lock is still active, you need this person to remove the device from the account, then you can access and use the iPhone without any problem.

In order for the previous owner of the iPhone to remove the device from the account, they need to sign in with Apple ID credentials at iCloud.com/find, after which they need to select the iPhone, the one they need to deactivate, from the dropdown menu “All devices” and then select the “Remove from account” option.