Did I somehow bypass iCloud Apple ID activation lock?

[APX7000]

Will try to keep this as short and concise..

Background:
This is a work iPhone 8 issued to me by my work in 2018. We switched from Sprint to Verizon in early 2018, all brand new phones for everyone. My old work cell phone was an android. Got new iPhone 8 factory sealed, was told to remove the sim from our old cell phones and put it into the new cell phones and wait 10 mins for it to sync. All contacts and other things synced, I didn’t have to do a thing. Perfect, except for one thing…..
I needed to download a work specific app (StreetSmarts) to keep track of our hours worked. Couldn’t download the app because I didn’t have the Apple ID password. Went to H.R. and she said to leave my work iPhone with her so she could install StreetSmarts and log into the app. I get the iPhone 8 back in 10 mins with app installed. They would not give anyone the Apple ID password.

Fast forward to March 2020 (Covid Pandemic):
Laid off due to Covid
July 2020 I call work and ask work what I should do with their iPhone. They said they were switching cell providers and recycle the iPhone 8. Work deleted my cellular account and “No Service”. I asked for the Apple ID password, which they said NOPE!!!
So I tried to change the Apple ID password, but got locked out because of too many attempts. I gave up and threw the iPhone in the junk pile.

January 2021:
Tried again, no luck

February 2022:
Tried again, but forgot my 6 digit passcode and locked myself out of the iPhone for a few days. Arghh!

Put the iPhone into DFU mode and hooked it to iTunes, and prompted to Upgrade Firmware and Recover.

Once the firmware upgraded, it went into somewhat a loop. The iPhone said “trying to recover data” and failed 3 times before I hit cancel.

After pressing cancel, it came up with the Hello Screen and to press the home button to proceed. The home button did nothing. I’m stuck now

DFU the iPhone again and let it flash the same 15.3.1 firmware into it using iTunes. Recovery failed again. Pressed cancel. Now the home button worked and allowed me to proceed like a brand new iPhone. Great.

I entered my own personal Apple ID into the iPhone 8 and it worked!

Took a recent encrypted backup from my IPhone 8+ and loaded it into the iPhone 8 without any issues using iTunes. Put my AT&T SIM into the Verizon iPhone and it worked perfectly.

So being curious, I called Verizon and asked if this iPhone 8 was stolen or deactivated. They said it’s clear and account paid in full.

In conclusion:
How was I able to take a Verizon iPhone that was Activation Apple ID locked and use my own Apple ID?

 

[carolineM]

Your Company must have signed out of their iCloud account on the phone remotely.

 

[APX7000]

Your Company must have signed out of their iCloud account on the phone remotely.

That’s possible because the upgraded phones we all got must have been Enterprise accounts, but…

I called friend who still is employed there, and he said they haven’t switched providers in the last 3+ years and nothing has changed to anyones work cell phones. He still doesn’t have his work Apple ID password.

So they didn’t switch cell providers…

Just for giggles, I just called my old work place and asked them again to either give me the password or have them sign out of my Apple ID account.

The “G” rated version of their reply: Go Pound Sand, and take the iPhone and put it where the sun don’t shine. Yikes!!!

 

[APX7000]

Update:

I did NOT bypass iCloud Apple ID password…

When I went to H.R. to get the app installed to the brand new iPhone, she entered the Apple ID password and all was good.

What I did hours later, was to enter 4 finger prints to the iPhone 8. So I was able to download free apps and unlock the iPhone with fingerprint.

Because this workplace was so toxic, I disabled “find my” using my fingerprint. When you disable “find my”, you get the following:

“With Find My disabled, this device can no longer be located, placed in Lost Mode, or remotely erased using icloud.com/find or the Find My app.

In addition, your Apple ID and password will no longer be required for someone to erase, reactivate, and use your iPhone.”

So because I disabled “Find My”, if the iPhone was lost or stolen, anyone could DFU it and have no problems activating the iPhone with any Apple ID.

Case closed!