Lost in the iCloud

Background

I’ve been using Rita’s aging iPhone4 since she died in Germany last September with no issues whatsoever until about a month ago when the phone started incessantly giving me the following popup screen (about every five seconds):

 While it appears that Cancel is an option, I can assure you that Apple is relentless in attempting to force their iCloud service login on this device.

If my wife were alive today and had decided that she wanted to use her phone without logging into iCloud by pressing the cancel option, it wouldn’t matter because every five seconds that popup screen reappears NO MATTER what!

To top it off, I’m pretty sure my wife never even set up an iCloud account to begin with because she was so leery of online storage in general but that’s not something I can prove at this stage of the game.

Here’s The Kicker!

I’m not locked out of the phone itself.  I can do whatever I want to on the phone as long as I do it between the five second window of time before the dam popup comes bouncing back up, so this isn’t even an issue of protecting the data on the phone itself!  

According to Apple, there’s no ‘opting out’ of their iCloud regime on this phone now without actually signing back in under my wife’s purported iCloud account and manually turning it off, which is something I can’t do without the passwords I don’t have.  But there’s absolutely no sense in making my life miserable on the device since I already have total access to this phone for five seconds at a time anyway, a fact which doesn’t seem to register with the idiots I’m dealing with at every level of customer care I’ve managed to reach out to at Apple !! 

Monopolistic Bullshit Exemplified

From all indications, this runaround is nothing more than a illegal power play by Apple to force people onto their iCloud service!  Prima facie.  Where are the lawyers for Google when I need them?  Can you spell restraint of trade?

Since I don’t have the passwords to ANY of my departed wife’s accounts, there’s apparently nothing that can be done, and mind you, outside the constant nag and aggravation of having to cancel it every five seconds the phone apps are all totally available to me.  I’d already changed the lock code on the phone to mine long ago so it isn’t even an issue of getting into the phone itself!!!  This is solely an iCloud issue that Apple is incessant about enforcing.  I guess they’re hopeful the constant aggravation will force me to buy a new iPhone, but I can assure them that isn’t about to happen anytime soon and if the problem presented in this blogpost isn’t addressed to my satisfaction I’ll be switching off Apple to Google in the same manner as I did from Microsoft to Apple over a decade ago.

Sorry Apple.  I do not have the purchase info.  I do not have the answers to her security questions.  I do not have the password to her email account to reset anything.  All I have is the phone itself, the happy memories of our twenty five year marriage and her German death certificate.  Apple has a plethora of purchase info on the both of us.  Let’s see if they can put one and one together and do the right thing.

For the record I’m OK with NOT wiping the phone or canceling her Apple ID.  I just want the dam iCloud to quit nagging the hell out of me so I can continue to use the device as it was intended to be used when she originally purchased it and as it was working until they decided to cram their iCloud service login down my throat about a month ago.

Here’s the full text of Apple’s legal mumbo jumbo that they emailed me:

If you are attempting to delete an AppleID account, we will require the following documents to move forward.

• The death certificate

• An official document that names the requestor as executor of the decedent’s estate

Apple cannot accept Last Will and Testaments or Power of Attorney as the official document. The required document is often called the Letters of Testamentary or Letters of Administration but can vary from state to state. If you have any questions about this document or what would qualify, please contact a legal representative or your county clerk’s office.

If you are attempting to transfer control of the Apple ID account, a court order is required. It must specify that:
• The decedent was the user of all accounts associated with the Apple ID
• The caller is the administrator of decedent’s estate
• In their role as administrator, the caller is the “agent” of the decedent, and their authorization constitutes “lawful consent” as those terms are used in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
• The court orders Apple to assist in the recovery of decedent’s data from their accounts

If you are attempting to wipe the iPhone of the Apple ID account, a proof of purchase is required. It must specify:

• The Date of Purchase and the Serial Number for the device in question
• Provide the AppleID on the device

Once you have obtained all required documentation, please contact me. I will respond back within one business day with a link to upload the documents. Please do not email these items to me directly.

Enjoy.