There are two situations in which your iPhone might be locked to the owner:

  • You brought a second-hand iPhone and found it locked to the previous owner.
  • You're trying to find the forgotten passcode by following Apple's directions but receive an "iPhone locked to owner" screen after too many incorrect passcode attempts.

After that, you'll receive the "iPhone Locked To Owner" screen, meaning that you can't access your device unless you enter the Apple ID password used during set-up. While what to do if you don't know the iCloud password?

Whether you remember it or not, here are some feasible solutions to bypass the activation lock without iCloud information.

iPad locked to owner

Solution 1. Find the Previous Owner of iCloud Locked iPhone

If this is not your iPhone, you can contact the previous owner of your iCloud-locked iPhone and ask him to provide the password to unlock the device. If you don't know how to contact or find the previous owner of your device, here are some suggestions.

  • Contact the people who sold the iPhone to you and ask them to contact the previous owner.
  • Try to contact the previous owner via social media.
  • Take your device to the nearest Police station and ask the police to help you.

That would be best if you could find the previous owner, while if you can't find him/her, you have to use some iPhone unlocking services or tools to bypass your activation lock, as those introduced in this guide.

Solution 2. Bypass iPhone Locked to Owner via an iPhone Unlocker

If you can't reach out to the previous owner, you'll have to use some iPhone unlocking programs to solve this problem. Here we mainly want to introduce this professional iPhone unlocker - EaseUS MobiUnlock, a fast iOS unlocking tool that can help users remove various locks of passcodes like screen passcode, Apple ID, iCloud ID, and more.

Here are some features and services you can expect from this program.

  • Unlock various iPhone screen locks, including 4-/6- digital
  • Get into a locked iPhone or iPad without a password
  • Decrypt encrypted iTunes backup
  • View all passwords saved on your device

To unlock iCloud locked iPhone:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS MobiUnlock on your computer and connect your iPhone or iPad to the PC. Click "Bypass Activation Lock." Check out the "Term of Use" and click "I Agree" to proceed if you agree with all content.

Remove Activation Lock - Step 1

Step 2. Click "Start" to move to the next step - jailbreack your iPhone or iPad. Click "Jailbreak Tutorial" to see how to jailbreak your Apple device. If you already jailbroke your device, click "Jailbreak Completed" to proceed.

Remove Activation Lock - Step 2

Step 3. Click "Bypass Now," and EaseUS MobiUnlock will start removing Activation Lock from your iPhone or iPad.Remove Activation Lock - Step 3

Step 4. Wait for the process to complete. After the process, click "OK" to confirm, and you can set up your iPhone or iPad without obstacles. 

Remove Activation Lock - Step 4

You can use this feature to unlock iPad without Apple ID as well. 

Solution 3. Other Solutions to Bypass iCloud Activation Lock

Apart from a third-party solution, you can also bypass the iCloud activation lock by configuring DNS. That is to connect your device to some third-party domain name servers rather than an Apple server and unlock your device.

This method only works on some old iOS versions like iOS 10 and earlier. Moreover, there is no guarantee that this method will 100% work. If you want to give such a solution a try, navigate our previous guide on bypassing the activation lock. In this guide, we have not only introduced the DNS way but also another way - using IMEI to unlock your iPhone. Which way to choose depends on your specific situation.

Confirm DNS

Solution 4. Ask for the Help of Apple Support

If none of these solutions introduced above can't help you out. In that case, you can submit a removal request to Apple along with the original purchase documentation and prepare some request support for unlocking your device.

The Bottom Line

That's our guide on bypassing "iPhone locked to the owner." We hope you've successfully gotten into your iCloud-locked device with the solutions introduced in this guide. If you have any questions about our guide, don't hesitate to contact us.

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Updated by Myra

Myra joined EaseUS in 2017. As a big fan of Apple products, she mainly focuses on iOS data transfer and iOS troubleshooting tips. Meanwhile, she is expanding her knowledge and skills in other fields like data recovery and disk management. Myra is open-minded and likes both extensive and intensive reading. Other than reading and writing, she is also fond of mobile games and K-pop stars.

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Written by Sofia Albert

Sofia has been involved with tech ever since she joined the EaseUS editor team in March 2011 and now she is a senior website editor. She is good at solving various iPhone and Android issues, such as iPhone or Android data transfer & recovery. Rich experience in software companies helps her create a lot of popular articles.

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