A man whose late mother left him an iPad in her will has ditched his iPhone in favour of a Sony device after the iPhone maker refused to unlock it for him.
Josh Grant, from London, and his brother Patrick, were unable to unlock the iPad after their mother failed to tell them her unique Apple ID password.
When the brothers attempted to restore the settings on the device, Apple demanded a death certificate, a copy of the will and finally a court order.
Josh Grant told CBR: "I am still a fan of Apple and own lots of their devices, a Mac, iPhone and iPad, but it has made me think more about them as a company.
"My brother on the other hand has completely been put off by the whole affair. He is left with an unusable iPad and bitter taste in his mouth… As his phone contract expires this month he has decided to ditch his iPhone in favour of a Sony."
Apple was unavailable for comment, but it told the BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours that its security devices, which include a measure called Activation Lock, acted as a deterrent to theft.
Under its terms and conditions, Apple also states: "Any rights to your Apple ID or content within your account terminate upon your death."
Grant said: "I understand why caution should be exercised around issues of data security and commend Apple for the measures they have taken to deter theft but, in this situation, I feel some discretion and compassion could have been used.
"If you can freeze a bank account and other assets with just I.D and a copy of death certificate why do Apple need a court order?"
He added: "I hope that Apple will sit-up and listen to the situation. There must be hundreds of other people going through this so I’d like them to take the Activation Lock off the iPad and return it to a usable device.
"The more media interest this gathers the better chance we have. I am certainly not paying a solicitor hundreds of pounds to make a perfectly usable iPad work, when you could buy a new one for the same amount."
