We cannot buy a locked iPhone. Not at any price, not ever.
This is the one thing on this site that no offer can get around. Unlock it and we will buy it happily. Locked, it is worth nothing to anybody.
This is the only page here that starts by telling you we cannot buy your phone. Not "probably", and not "it depends". If a device is still signed into an Apple Account, or still enrolled in a company or school's device management, it is locked, and a locked device cannot be tested, reset or resold by anybody. Not by us, not by Apple, not by whoever is offering to "unlock" it on Facebook.
That is deliberate on Apple's part and it is the reason stolen iPhones are worth so little. Because there is no way around it, the calculator now declines a locked device at the quote step rather than giving you a number we would have to withdraw. That is not us being difficult, it is us not letting you courier in something nobody can ever buy.
The good news is that this is usually fixable and free. If the account is yours and you can get into it, unlocking takes about five minutes, and the moment it is off the phone is worth exactly what its model and condition say it is worth. Do it before you request a quote, not after the courier has been.
Every one of these has two numbers.
What it is worth working, and what it is worth faulty. Both are real, both are yours in about a minute, and both depend on the actual device rather than a best case printed on a page. That is why the number lives in the calculator and not in a table here.
Locked, and you have the password
Five minutes to fix, see below
Locked, password forgotten
Apple account recovery, then sell
Locked, screen broken
Remove it remotely from iCloud.com
Locked, previous owner's account
Only they can remove it
Locked, owner has died
Apple Digital Legacy, we can point you at it
If you are upgrading, you are not selling. You are part-paying.
There is nothing to upgrade to on this page. Get the lock removed and the phone stops being a paperweight and goes back to being worth whatever its model and condition say, which is usually a good deal more than its owner expected. Until then there is no number we can give you.
Take the payout as EpicDeals.co.za credit instead of cash and we add 12% on top. That is us paying you for not needing the money in your account today, and it costs you nothing if you were going to spend it here anyway.
The 12% is only worth taking if you were going to spend it. If you need the cash, take the cash, and we will not make the voucher hard to refuse.
What actually moves the number.
Check before you send, not after
Settings, your name at the top. If an Apple Account is shown, the phone is locked. If the phone is already erased and sitting on the Hello screen, set it up as far as the activation step: if it asks for a previous owner's Apple Account, it is still locked.
The right way to remove it
Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings. On current iOS that signs you out and releases the lock in one step. It will ask for the Apple Account password, and that request is the lock being released.
Broken screen? Do it from a browser
iCloud.com, Find Devices, pick the phone, Erase This Device, then Remove From Account. Works whether or not the phone powers on, which makes it the answer for dead and smashed phones too.
There is no bypass, and we will not buy one
There is a small industry selling Activation Lock removal. It either does not work, or it produces a phone that breaks on the next iOS update, or it is a phone that was never theirs to unlock. A bypassed device is a device we decline, every time, and so does anyone reputable. Please do not spend money on this before selling to us.
Things that do not disqualify it.
Every one of these lowers the offer. Not one of them ends it. Pick the matching condition, say what is wrong in the notes, and the price you are shown already accounts for it.
- Apple Account still signed in at Settings
- Hello screen asking for a previous owner's account
- Apple Account password forgotten
- Bought second-hand, seller never removed it
- Work or school device with a management profile
- Screen too broken to sign out on the device
- Original owner unreachable or deceased
Three ways to take the money.
Cash
Instant offer
Assessed within 1-3 working days of arriving, paid within 5 working days of your offer being confirmed.
+12%
Trade-in voucher
Take it as credit on EpicDeals.co.za instead and we add 12%. Useful if the plan was always to upgrade.
+10%
Consignment
We list it, we sell it, you get 10% more than the instant offer. Most sell within 13 days.
Trading since 2014 as Epic Deals, with 2,500+ reviews and 30 people who answer the phone. Not a stranger with a bakkie and a WhatsApp number.
iCloud locked iPhone questions.
Also selling one of these?
One minute, one number.
No account, no obligation, no salesperson phoning you at supper time.