As some of you may recall, I have both an iPhone 6S and 6S plus. Well, I decided to give the 6S plus to my sister in-law. So, I did as I always had done before, backed up the phone to iCloud and then erased it. I then checked to make sure it was back at the setup screen, and then packed it up that same day and took it to the post office.
Next, wanting to have an updated 6S, I erased that phone and then went to set it up as a new device. And, surprisingly, after erasing it and starting the setup process, I was told the device was locked to my Apple ID, so I entered my information and then proceeded to try and restore the phone from my iCloud backup. But, when I entered my Apple ID and password, I got a message that verification failed. I tried this several times with that same result. So, finally, I just opted to setup the device as a new phone and skip entering an Apple ID. I then signed into iCloud and signed back out and erased the device again, before finally being able to log into iCloud and restore from my backup. Now, when my sister in-law got the iPhone 6S plus yesterday, she couldn't sign into it, as she was told activation lock was on, but on with some strange Apple ID that neither of us reccognized. She of course had no luck at the AT&T store, so I then called Apple tech support. The first time I called them, the call somehow got disconnected, so I called back after waiting about a half hour to see if they were going to try and call me. The person with whom I spoke, told me that, somehow, my phone had the activation lock with an Apple ID from China Mobile. Then, since I didn't find my proof of purchase within a couple of minutes, I was transferred to sales so they could find it and perhaps let tech support know. Sales did of course find my purchase information and transferred me back to tech support where I then went over that information with them, having found my emails by that time. But, support still wanted me to send them my proof of purchase, and I had to use their online service, as they said they couldn't just give me an email address where I could send the information. Thus, I started my long trial and error to get the information sent to them. I used their link with IE 11 to sign into my account, only to be told that my browser wasn't supported. I then tried Firefox, which was supported, but I kept getting an error message about invalid file type or something every time I tried to send them a file. Finally, I installed chrome, which was surprisingly more accessible than I thought, and I was then able to read the prompts and messages quite clearly and found out that the EML file type wasn't supported. Various other types were, so I copied the files I wanted to send into notepad, saved each of them, and sent them as TXT files. Then, per the prior support rep's request, I called back and confirmed they had received the files. They also said I should hear back within a week regarding the phone and if the activation lock could be taken off. Now, I'm going to post the article, and then the link, to an Apple support article that talks about what to do if selling or giving away the iPhone, and it does mention when using iOS 10. Bottom line, it advises to sign out of iCloud before erasing the iPhone, something I never did before, as erasing the phone had always taken care of that for me in the past. Anyway, in hopes that doing this will possibly avoid these problems for others, here is the article and then the link. What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch Use these steps to remove your personal information from a device, even if you don't have it anymore. If you still have your iOS device Before you sell or give away your device, you should remove your personal information. You shouldn't manually delete your contacts, calendars, reminders, documents, photo streams, or any other iCloud information while you're signed in to iCloud with your Apple ID. This would delete your content from the iCloud servers and any of your devices signed in to iCloud. On your device with iOS 10, make sure that you sign out of iCloud before you erase your device. Follow these steps: If you paired an Apple Watch with your iPhone, unpair your Apple Watch . Back up your iOS device . Tap Settings > iCloud. Scroll down and tap Sign Out. In iOS 7 or earlier, tap Delete Account. Tap Sign Out again, then tap Delete from My iPhone and enter your password. Go back to Settings and tap General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. If you turned on Find My iPhone, you might need to enter your Apple ID and password. If asked for your device passcode or Restrictions passcode, enter it. Then tap Erase [device)'. Contact your carrier for help transferring service to a new owner. If you aren't using a SIM card with your device, you can contact them to get help transferring service to the new owner. When you erase your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, Find My iPhone and Activation Lock is turned off. is turned off. If you no longer have your iOS device If the steps above weren't completed and you no longer have your device, use these steps: Ask the new owner to erase all content and settings using the above steps . If you're using iCloud and Find My iPhone on the device, sign in to iCloud.com or the Find My iPhone app on another device, select the device, and click Erase. After the device has been erased, click Remove from Account. If you can't follow either of the above steps, change your Apple ID password . This won't remove personal information that's stored on your old device, but it will prevent the new owner from deleting your information from iCloud. If you're switching to a non-Apple phone, deregister iMessage . If you're using Apple Pay, you can remove your credit or debit cards at iCloud.com . Choose Settings to see which devices are using Apple Pay, then click the device. Next to Apple Pay, click Remove. . Choose Settings to see which devices are using Apple Pay, then click the device. Next to Apple Pay, click Remove. Learn more Make a backup of your iOS device or restore from a backup . Get help if your iOS device is lost or stolen . Learn about Find My iPhone Activation Lock . ininWhen you tap Erase All Content and Settings, it completely erases your device, including any credit or debit cards you added for Apple Pay and any photos, contacts, music, or apps. It will also turn off iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, Game Center, and other services. Your content won't be deleted from iCloud when you erase your device. Last Modified: Oct 11, 2016 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201351 -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. 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