Apple is so lame for trying to place so many limitations on what you want to do with your phone. That and they nickel and dime you for anything that they can.
Part of my job is to support and deploy cell phones to employees. Apple is a pain.
Never go into account recovery with Apple. You cannot use the device while it is in account recovery (which could take a couple of weeks according to them). If you use the device it will take it out of account recovery . You will never receive the promised email and will have to start over . Android devices are generally cheaper and easier to deal with issues.