How to unlock your device and allow it to be reused

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Turn off Find My on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch

Find My can help you recover a lost or stolen device. If you’re preparing to sell, trade in or give away your iPhone, make sure you’ve turned off Find My iPhone.

How to turn off Find My iPhone on your iPhone

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap [your name] > Find My.
  3. Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to turn it off.*
  4. Enter your Apple ID password. Forgotten your password
  5. Tap Turn Off. 

If you no longer have access to your iPhone, you can remove a device from Find My iPhone on iCloud.com

* On an iPad or iPod touch, tap “Find My iPad” or “Find My iPod touch”. 

What happens when you turn off Find My iPhone

If you need to locate a lost or stolen device, Find My can help you get it back. You can see the device’s location on a map, play a sound to help you find it and more. Find My also includes Activation Lock, a feature that’s designed to prevent anyone else from using your iPhone. Find out more about how Activation Lock works

When you turn off Find My iPhone, you will lose these capabilities, which can make it harder to recover your iPhone. 

If you want to sell, give away or trade in your iPhone, or you need to send it in for a service, you will need to turn off Find My iPhone. 

Learn more about Find My

Turn off Activation Lock on a device

If you forgot to turn off Find My before you sold or gave away your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or Apple Watch, you can turn off Activation Lock using Find My iPhone on iCloud.com.

If you still have the device, see the Apple Support article Activation Lock for iPhone, iPad and iPod touchActivation Lock for Mac, or About Activation Lock on your Apple Watch.

  1. In Find My iPhone on iCloud.com, click All Devices, then select the device you want to erase.If you do not see All Devices, it is because you have already selected a device. Click the name of the current device in the centre of the toolbar to access the Devices list, then select a new device.
  2. Erase the device.Because the device is not lost, do not enter a phone number or message.If the device is offline, the remote erase begins the next time it is online. You receive an email when the device is erased.
  3. When the device is erased, click Remove from Account.The Remove from Account button.All your content is erased and someone else can now activate the device.