Aunty is locked out of her ipad

[HappydaysArehere]

Can any kind person help? My Aunty is 88 years old and lives miles away in Yorkshire. She rang me to ask if I could help. Her nearest apple shop is a train and bus ride away which is not easy for her. She was reading a book on her iPad and it came up with a disabled sign. I looked up on the Internet and saw that if you hold the on/off button and home key together for a couple of minutes an apple sign appears etc. She did this and sure enough Apple sign appeared but asked her for a 4 digit password. She has never had one these which I presume is what I have whenever I open my iPad and I tap 4 nos. she never set this up. I suggested 1234 but that didn't work. Has anyone any idea what she can do? If so she would be so grateful as she is dreading the travelling to the apple shop which is her only option. I gave her the apple support no and they made her an appt but she is meanwhile desperate to sort it out beforehand. Her family are all a good distance away.

[PlanBwastaken]

Try four zeros?

[AnchorDownDeepBreath]

What do you mean a disabled sign?

[SoupDragon]

From the apple support page it seems you have to erase the iPad. Which seems kind of drastic.

Is it her own Apple ID? I would be concerned that someone has locked it via find my iPhone which means they just know the password to the Apple ID.

[SoupDragon]

must know the password.

[HappydaysArehere]

Thank you for replying. First Planb I will ask her to try four zeros. As far as I can gather the iPad went blank except for a disabled sign. Soup dragon, it is her own iPad. She has had it for a couple of years. It was set up by her daughter who now lives miles away but another relative visited her a year ago and went into Sheffield with her to try to sort it out and get her an ID. She has a password but not the four nos it appears to require. She has never used numbers when she opens her iPad. I will telephone her with the Zero idea. She said she would try anything to save the journey. Thank you all so much. Just thought Soupdragon. She has an iPhone so I wonder if there are. Numbers relating to that!

[Thingvellir]

If she has an iPhone she may have used the same code for both?

If it is disabled there is a chance the Apple ID has been hacked so needs sorted. Can she change her Apple ID password using her iPhone?

Finally, if there is an issue with the account or if it has been locked remotely by find my iPhone, it's likely that she has received an email about it which may shed light on the issue - can she access the email account she used for the Apple ID from her iPhone?

[Artistic]

Can she call Apple support & sort it out over the phone? If she had set up a password they may not be able to much.

[SoupDragon]

the Apple ID being hacked was my worry. I've had iPads/phones/iPods for years and never had one just disable itself.

[CodyKing]

This happened to a friend - only solution is to wire it up to a laptop - and wipe - it may take several attempts (and hours) to sort!

Does she have any teens living nearby?

[HappydaysArehere]

Thank you everyone. The family are away for another week...I asked her if she had a password for her phone and she says she tried that. She has a laptop but says she cannot work it. It is a worry. I only hope she hasn't been hacked as she said today that her son had put her bank details on it recently so that she could buy things "from iCloud". I am sure she means iTunes. She said things had been going wrong since then which I thought sounded really odd. I am hoping she gets to the Apple shop and someone can help her. It was Apple support who made the appt. meanwhile thank you all so much.