Turn off Activation Lock in Apple Business Essentials
In Apple Business Essentials, you can turn off organization-linked and user-linked Activation Lock for an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or Apple Vision Pro that your organization owns.
Device state support for turning off Activation Lock
The following device states determine whether you can turn off Activation Lock.
Important: The device must have been added to Apple Business Essentials before Activation Lock was enabled and not been released; however, it doesn’t need to be assigned to a mobile device management (MDM) solution server.
Device state | User Interface | Can Activation Lock be turned off in Apple Business Essentials? | Can Activation Lock be turned off in MDM? |
|---|---|---|---|
User-based Activation Lock turned on. | Activation Lock On (User) | Yes For Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, see note below. | No |
Organization-based Activation Lock turned on. | Activation Lock On (Organization) | Yes For Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, see note below. | Yes |
Managed Lost Mode turned on by MDM. | Activation Lock On (Organization) | Yes | Yes |
Managed Lost Mode turned on by Apple Business Essentials. | Activation Lock On (Organization) | Yes | Yes |
Lost Mode turned on by user. | Activation Lock On (User) | Yes | No |
Device not configured. | Activation Lock shows as Off. | N/A | N/A |
Note: Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro devices purchased before June 2024 directly from Apple, an Apple Authorized Reseller, or an authorized cellular carrier will be added to Apple Business Essentials. If Activation Lock was already turn on, you won’t be able to turn it off in Apple Business Essentials unless the user first turns it off.
Turn off Activation Lock
In Apple Business Essentials, sign in with a user that has a role with Manage Device privileges.
Select Devices
in the sidebar, search for a device in the search field, then select the device from the list. See How to search.Under Details, confirm that Activation Lock is on.
It was turned on by an MDM server linked to Apple Business Essentials or by the user.
Select the More button
, then select Turn Off Activation Lock.Carefully read the dialog, check the box “I understand that this cannot be undone,” then select Confirm.
Note: The device may still indicate that Activation Lock is on when you either use Erase All Content and Settings or use Apple Configurator to erase the device, but you can still set up the device without authenticating as the previous user.