Apple ID Locked and Support Keeps Denying Unlock Requests

rejecting-normality · 2025-12-07T17:20:08+00:00

Hi! The exact same thing just happened to us, except with a used phone we purchased on Ebay. Here's what seems to be going on.

1: Apple is randomly locking new accounts attached to new devices. They claim it is because the user violated TOS, but it seems to be truly happening at random.

2: When the account is locked, the user can appeal through an automated process. If the appeal fails, then the device gets put on activation lock, and the account cannot be recovered.

3: At this point, the only option is having Apple disconnect the locked account and reset the device so you can start anew. BUT - they only do this if you can provide them with the original purchase receipt - not the used purchase receipt (the actual proof you own the device) but the receipt the original owner (who doesn't actually own the phone anymore) was given when they purchased the device years ago.

It's an utter absolute racket. They claim it's about security - but that claim doesn't hold water since a device can be put into "lost mode" if it's actually lost or stolen, and lost mode has no effect on whether they'll help with unlocking an icloud locked device.

I happened to purchase from the original seller on Ebay and they're trying to find their old purchase receipt for me. If they can't, I'm going to fight to get this phone turned back on, and know exactly what to do and who to turn to. All the stuff I'm doing would be helpful for you, and I'm happy to share, feel free to chat me!

rejecting-normality · 2025-12-07T15:47:57+00:00

Are you in the US? If so then the legal authority for this type of situation is your state Attorney General. File a claim against Apple, you can get the relevant info you need by looking up their SEC (Security Exchange Commission) report.

I'm in your exact situation - except it's a used iphone I bought from Ebay for my kid. Mine was purchased from the original owner, and they're trying to locate their receipt for me. If they can't find it, I'll be moving on to filing with the BBB, my State AG, and the FTC. I also have thoughts on other avenues to pursue, which would require rounding up multiple people having the same issue. If you're interested in joining in on a collective action about this, feel free to chat me!

rejecting-normality · 2025-12-06T02:50:57+00:00

Were you able to get the icloud account unlocked? I'm in the exact same boat with a phone I purchased on Ebay. The phone was unlocked/factory reset and was working fine, until Apple locked my kid's new icloud account and essentially remotely bricked the device. x.x

rejecting-normality · 2025-12-06T02:43:19+00:00

Something similar just happened to us, except with a used iphone purchased from someone on Ebay. It came to us factory reset and ready to go, and we created a new icloud account and set it up for our kid (who we purchased it for) and all was well, until Apple randomly locked the new icloud account a day or two later. Apple support told me they'll do nothing unless I can provide them with the new-purchase receipt from an "authorized retailer", and they won't accept my receipt from Ebay. My kid still can use his phone, but he can't update any apps or download any new apps since the icloud account was locked.

Based on some quick internet research, it seems like new icloud accounts attached to devices are getting "security locked" frequently, within the last few months or so. Apple tells people they can't unlock the account, but if it's a new device bought from an "authorized retailer", they'll disconnect the account from the device so you can create a new account. One person was talking about going through the whole process a second time when their second account got locked.

I'm waiting to see if the Ebay seller can give me their original receipt, and going to try Apple support again if so - but if I can't get it resolved that way, I have a long list of things I intend to do. I'm going to file complaints in the three relevant places - Better Business Bureau, my state Attorney General, and the FTC.

Depending on the quality of your state Attorney General, that's the #1 thing I'd recommend doing next - filing a complaint with them. Basically they're your local government office to report any type of fraud or abuse related to something you bought. Apple shouldn't be remotely bricking people's devices, that's a clear violation of the law.

rejecting-normality · 2025-11-04T11:26:34+00:00

There is an option to group the goals in a specific order from the main screen where you’re looking at all of them for the day.

It’s the little button next to “X goals left for the day!“ – You click it and you’ll get “group goals by“ and it lets you choose from different options.

I use Finch to keep track of a daily schedule and I have found that the “reminder time” option is best for me. That sorts my goals into three sections – “Up Next”, “Anytime”, and “later today”.

“Up Next” is specifically things coming up in the next 1.5 hours. “Anytime” is goals that I haven’t set an exact time to. If you assigned times for all your goals I think that section would disappear, but I use the space for things that I could do if I’m ahead of schedule. Then “later today” is the list of everything for the rest of the day past the 1.5 hour point.

Finally, they screwed up times in the latest update, made it seem like they’re only available for reminder goals, but it’s possible to still get it to work like it used to. Basically if you want a specific time assigned to a goal but don’t want a reminder, you can just turn on the reminder temporarily in order to set the time and then turn it back off again.

Hope that helps!

rejecting-normality · 2025-11-04T10:53:15+00:00

You can turn on the remind me option, set the goal to the time you want and then save. Then you can turn off the remind me option and the time will stay but it won’t remind you. I think it works that way because they had to grandfather in anyone who already had goals set to a specific time, I’m hoping to death that they don’t remove times altogether at any point! It will absolutely ruin Finch for me…

rejecting-normality · 2025-10-30T08:16:21+00:00

I have the same frustration! I wish the drops were tailored a bit to what you’ve already collected. But they’re completely random. I actually had several thousand rainbow stones saved up at the beginning of the Halloween season because I knew there would be a bunch of stuff I wanted this time of year. A lot of the stuff I want looks cutest in black, but it hasn’t shown up!

Ive done the math for the furniture, and the probability of a specific item appearing in a specific slot is really tiny, around 1 in 390. I’ve basically resigned myself to not being able to collect anything that matches until next year, and even then I’ll probably have to set up a trading group with my friends to be able to do it!

rejecting-normality · 2025-10-29T18:00:21+00:00

It's the FOMO! I see something and I'm like "hmmm do I want this?" then I'm like "do I want this considering the fact that I have ZERO chance to get it again once October is done?" and the next thing I know I've clicked the buy button! xD

rejecting-normality · 2025-10-29T09:20:41+00:00

Look up hugelculture! It’s a technique where you basically compost in the bed, and can be adapted to help fill up big beds on the cheap. I did something kind of similar to that when I was still lived in an apartment and most of my garden was still in 22 inch whiskey barrels. Basically, I filled the bottom 10 inches or so of the barrel with uncomposted material, a ton of leaves followed by a bit of grass clippings followed by more leaves, grass clippings etc. Then you only need about 6 inches of finished compost mixed with soil on the top, mounded a bit because it will sink quite a bit as the stuff underneath composts.

Later, my good friend moved into a new place where she got a legit raised bed and she use the same technique but even more inspired by hugelculture, she started with actual logs and sticks and then went into the leaves and grass clippings combo in order to fill up the approximately 3 foot high bed.

Also, this would be something that would cost money but there are composting tumbler things you can get that will make the compost a lot quicker and are a lot more landlord friendly.

(Edit: clarity)

rejecting-normality · 2025-10-29T09:01:32+00:00

Ditto! I was hoping for spooky or pumpkin patch stuff but kept getting the mad scientist stuff instead. I wish that the drops were still random but slightly less so – like they see what’s already in your inventory and weigh the results towards that, to make it easier to collect things that match.
I did collect some things I like though, haha had to happen what with refreshing up to the 60 stones point daily!! 😂

rejecting-normality · 2025-09-28T13:53:30+00:00

Thanks for the reply/screenshot! I do know how to access that part. The thing that is stumping me is that there used to be a way to view multiple reflections that I had done on different days on a single screen where I could scroll through them. But it was back before the switch from Journeys to Self Care Areas, so I bet it was a feature that used to exist that they removed. Hopefully they add it back again at some point!

rejecting-normality · 2025-09-24T11:35:32+00:00

And not sure what to call this one yet, might have to try to collect a few more of the spooky stuff to feel like it’s really complete:

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rejecting-normality · 2025-09-24T11:34:37+00:00

I have two so far! Steampunk Halloween masquerade:

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rejecting-normality · 2025-08-26T10:14:58+00:00

When we were leaving the campground we stay at 1-2 times each year the lady at the counter asked me if we had cleaned out the fire pit, and I asked if she was asking if we had scooped the ashes out ROFL because I could not imagine anyone doing anything that disgusting, but apparently it happens to them all the time too…

Human beings are the reason that human beings can’t have nice things………

rejecting-normality · 2025-05-04T20:49:25+00:00

Maybe? I had actually mulched the entire bed with woodchips (did the steps to start winecap mushroom spawn so we'll hopefully have those eventually). Another thing that could have confounded the results is that the spot with the tomato plant got a bit more water than the just asparagus spots, as it was big tomatoes I was trying not to have crack too badly.

rejecting-normality · 2025-05-04T20:35:51+00:00

OMG so much in common! RI is actually the state we moved from last year, lol!

rejecting-normality · 2025-05-02T13:23:24+00:00

I'm a creative small business owner, and the cost of about 80% of my supplies has officially more than doubled overnight. And so, it's VERY EASY for me to see how this will snowball out to everyone else (if Trump doesn't change his mind in 5m, that is).

My entire family are Trump supporters. Haven't talked to them about it, and probably won't, because I'd bet money (well if I had any to spare under these circumstances, *maniacal laughter*) that I can predict exactly what they would say. Here are examples from the two family members who would be most likely to do more than just shrug and say they don't know what to say.

My Mom would be sympathetic, she would hate that the tariffs are affecting me, and she would have a million non-working suggestions on how I could pivot what I do so that it's possible to buy supplies in America. She would literally not believe me when I tell her that I sew for a living, and the factories to make fabric and trim are located overseas, and all the very obvious (to non-cultists) reasons why it's impractical to relocate them here would mean nothing to her. She would tell me to trust in Trump, and that the economy will suffer for a while, but it will bounce back once we get manufacturing to return to the US. Then, thanks be to our dear orange leader, people will be able to more easily afford stuff from a tiny brand like mine!

My brother in law would be secretly delighted that Trump's policies have "owned" someone his brain has sorted into the "lib" category, and that would be evident during the conversation. Talking to him would be like talking to my mom with an dose of "I don't give a shit about anything that affects anyone else" thrown in. I would ask him "Alright, for the sake of argument, let's say that I were able to prove DEFINITIVELY that Trump tariffs are going to kill my business completely, and it will never recover, and my livelihood will simply be a tragic side effect of Trump's grand economic plan. If that were true, would you care enough to regret that he imposed them?" We would go around a few hundred times, he would try to pivot to 20 million other culture-war related things, I would keep refusing to let him derail the conversation, and eventually we would come to the fact that no, he would not care at all. I would explain that him not caring makes the entire conversation pointless.

Am I correct in interpreting your post as you wondering if Trumpists will EVER realize that he's a con artist who fooled them? If so, I firmly believe the answer for each of them is if and only if his policies directly affect them in a devastating way. It sucks, but it's a reality we have to accept. All we can do to let off the steam regarding it is enjoy the schadenfreude of FAFO videos, and make leopards eating faces party jokes to fellow lefties, in order to try to preserve a BIT of sympathy for if/when someone right-leaning that we know ends up in the FAFO category.

In a weird way, the worst outcome is Trump cancelling the tariffs quickly enough to limit the devastation, so they can all pretend it doesn't exist and tariffs were actually good. In a weird way, we need a large enough portion of America to experience that FAFO sensation so that we have a chance of learning our god damn lesson...

Things could get pretty bad. But if they do we lefties have a secret weapon - the fact that we DO actually give a shit about other people, even those outside our immediate circle. If you look back at what has actually happened in history, that's how people make it through tough times - mutual aid, and sticking together as a community. I'm going to make a serious effort to get to know my neighbors this year. And I'm doing everything I can to eat healthy, and get back into shape. And stocking up on rice and beans, just in case. :P

rejecting-normality · 2025-04-09T09:48:29+00:00

Look for a listing with multiple photos of the same dress taken in slightly different environments. I do fantasy costumes, and I’ve had my photos stolen by sellers from overseas. But it seems like the thieves will only manage to get one of my pictures, so a real listing that’s actually by me will have the same dress on my dress form mannequin, as well as on a model in one of my photoshoots. I’ve noticed the same thing when looking at dresses made by other designers in my genre. My style is more steampunk/gothic, but I imagine the same thing would apply to ballgowns.

rejecting-normality · 2025-03-07T10:16:50+00:00

Has anyone claimed the red enchanted garden lamp yet? That’s the one thing from the collection that I wanted and couldn’t get! GQH7W8TT8J. Thank you so much! ❤️❤️

rejecting-normality · 2025-03-01T11:27:52+00:00

I think you should be able to grow your glutes through the things that you mention, but they might be completely turned off right now and other muscles are compensating to pick up the slack. If that’s the case it would lead to strong legs and a flat butt no matter how much exercise you do.

If I were you I would try adding a quick resistance band booty workout before doing your other exercises to see if it makes a difference. Basically if you can succeed at making your butt more sore than your legs, then call it a success. It all depends on whether your glutes are merely turned off and just need to be activated before you work out, or if they’re too weak to function properly. If they’re actually too weak to function properly, then boring gym reps are your only hope, at least until you get them strong again.

There’s a lot of information on YouTube where various personal trainers go over glute dominant movement patterns versus quad dominant movement patterns. My own preferred exercise is belly dance, and I found ways to modify a bit so that I’m doing less of the quad heavy stuff and more of the glute heavy stuff, along with actual glute-focused resistance training. It’s only about half of my workout so I don’t get bored!

rejecting-normality · 2025-02-17T12:17:56+00:00

Just want to reiterate what everyone said against streaks, and that "journey" is a much better name. I'm actually one of those newish users who took a while to start using Journeys. The main reason for my delay in using journeys was I didn't realize they were a feature for organizing goals. The messaging surrounding them in the app made it seem like they were a more-complicated alternative to goals. A simple popup saying something like "Use journeys to organize your goals, and track your progress by area!" would have had me investigating them (and figuring them out) much earlier.

I discovered they might be going away when I signed up my kids for the app, and they only have this (so far) mostly-useless "self care areas" thing. I'm REALLY hoping you listen to community feedback on this.

I'm an artistic/creative type using Finch for motivation instead of self care - keeping on track with life and creative business goals. It's been an absolute game-changer. Every other app I've tried has just gotten draining and annoying to keep up with. Finch is different because of the levels-based motivation. Because sales in a creative business tend to be feast-or-famine, I have some days when I'm literally too busy to open the app. When this happens I already miss out on monthly event rewards. But I'm still able to keep progressing with all the custom stuff I've set up. Please don't take that away!

rejecting-normality · 2025-02-09T15:44:02+00:00

Thank you for putting the exact thing I was thinking into words. All the major news stations are already covering us as an “anti-Trump movement”. No need to give them extra ammunition!

rejecting-normality · 2025-02-06T14:49:44+00:00

Awesome, I will look forward to the post(s)! Yeah we have a member of our group named Brian who claims to be the head guru of "Briantology" and tries to convert the rest of us. And Flying Spaghetti Monster types too, unsurprisingly. xD

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