Guides

You bought a phone and it's locked to someone else

5 minute read · beginner

If a phone you bought asks for the previous owner's account, no setting, tool, or service will legitimately clear it. The fix is with the seller, or with whoever took your money. Treat it as a purchase problem, and act quickly, because refund windows close.

Why there is no technical answer

Activation Lock and Factory Reset Protection are designed so that possession of the phone proves nothing. That is the entire point — otherwise stealing a phone would be enough to own it.

So the account holder is the only person who can release it. Not Apple, not Google, not a repair shop, and not you.

Anything sold as an unlock service for this is one of three things: a scam, a theft-adjacent tampering service, or a temporary trick that breaks at the next update. All three leave you with a phone you cannot trust.

What to do, in order

  1. Contact the seller immediately and ask them to remove the device from their account. It takes them one minute from a browser and costs nothing.
  2. Tell them exactly what to do: sign in to their Apple Account or Google Account on any device, open the device list, and remove this phone.
  3. If they have gone quiet, open a case with the platform you bought through while you are still inside its protection window.
  4. If you paid by card or a payment service, raise it with them. 'Item not as described' covers a phone that cannot be used.
  5. Keep the listing, the messages, and the receipt. Screenshot them now, before the listing disappears.

Checking before you buy, next time

  1. Insist on seeing the phone at the setup screen or fully signed out, not just unlocked in the seller's hand.
  2. Ask for the IMEI up front and check it against your carrier's or a national IMEI status service before paying.
  3. Pay through a method with buyer protection. Cash in a car park has none.
  4. Walk away from any seller who will not let you complete setup in front of them.

If the phone turns out to be stolen

If the IMEI comes back reported lost or stolen, the phone is not yours to keep and cannot be made to work on a network.

Report it to whoever you bought it from and to the payment provider. Do not try to make it work — that is the point at which an honest buyer starts making choices that look dishonest.

Stop and get help when

  • The seller cannot or will not release the account — this is now a refund problem.
  • The IMEI is flagged lost or stolen.
  • Someone offers to remove the lock for a fee.

Official route

The marketplace's buyer protection, your card issuer or payment provider, and local police if the device is reported stolen.

Who this is for: This guide is about resolving ownership, not about bypassing it.