How to Unlock a Found iPhone OR Return, Activate, and Sell It Legally

Locating an iPhone’s owner is much easier if the phone powers on as chances are they’ll have ‘Find My iPhone’ activated on their iOS device, and for that, the battery can’t be dead. Assuming the battery was mostly full when you found it—and it probably wasn’t—you have about a day before it dies.

If you have an iPhone power cord or can borrow one, it’s a good idea to plug the phone in as soon as possible. Then, you can move on to find the owner without worrying about the battery dying.

If the phone has power, check if it’s unlocked. While far from typical, not everyone has a lock on their phone.

The owner may have activated lost mode through their ‘Find My iPhone’ settings even if they have a lock screen. It just requires either a data network or wi-fi, so take the phone someplace it should get a signal.

The owner can then choose a message to display on the lock screen. Most users put something along the lines of “Lost iPhone. Please call me at 555-5555.”

Be aware that lost mode also gives the owner access to location data for the phone (that’s the ‘Find My iPhone’ part) – they may just come to you!

If the lost mode is inactive, your next step is to check if the owner has set up a medical ID.

Apple’s medical ID system is designed to provide first responders with vital medical information associated with their Apple ID, but it could also tell you whose phone you have.

Unfortunately, not everyone fills out their medical ID. If the owner of the iPhone you found didn’t fill in their Apple ID info, move on to option three.

Outside of your Apple ID, every device has a unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number that can help a carrier find the iPhone’s owner.

The SIM card carrier’s name will be on the upper left-hand side of the lock screen display. If you can’t find the carrier’s name on the phone, you can also often look up the carrier using an IMEI lookup website.

The carrier likely won’t provide you with any private information but will help you connect with the owner of the lost or stolen iPhone.

Another reason to keep the battery charged is that Siri may still be active. If the phone powers down, Siri will be deactivated until the phone is unlocked. If Siri is active, you can have her try a few things:

However, Siri doesn’t always have this information, or worse, it may not be turned on—but don’t worry. There’s one more thing you can try.

Many iPhone users use iCloud Photos, and you don’t have to unlock the phone to take a picture.

It will be sent to the owner’s iCloud account, where they’ll hopefully see it and call you.

Finding a phone and never seeing the owner is one way to come by an iPhone flagged as lost/stolen. It’s common to buy an iPhone only to find that the seller reported it stolen (Activation lock) to get a new one.

This scenario is one reason we don’t recommend buying a phone from local classifieds or buying/selling/trade pages on social media. You can do nothing if the seller reports the phone stolen—it’s an expensive paperweight. However, you can sell that paperweight.

Before doing so, it is a good idea to call your local police department to ensure they don’t need it as evidence (they usually don’t).

If you get an iPhone from a seller and it’s flagged with an Activation lock (e.g., stolen iPhones), try contacting them first to see if they are willing to take steps to unlock the device.

If you can’t reach the owner or they aren’t willing to help, you do have some options. Activating a stolen iPhone can be challenging, but it isn’t impossible.

Note that the options below involve the use of 3rd party software and should only be used as a last resort. We don’t endorse any of these programs. They are simply listing options suggested by iMyFone.

iBypasser allows you to bypass the iPhone activation lock, activate a stolen iPhone, unlock an iCloud-locked iPhone, and sign in with a new account.

LockWiper permanently turns off numeric passcodes, face IDs, and touch IDs. It is an efficient tool that doesn’t require any specialized knowledge.

If you find an iPhone, check if the owner has activated lost mode or entered medical information. If not, try using Siri to contact someone, have the carrier check the IMEI, and take a photo of your contact info.

Once you exhaust all efforts to find the device’s owner, check with the police to see if it has been reported stolen or is needed for evidence. If all is clear with the authorities, you can sell or even unlock it and use it yourself. If you decide to sell it, you can find the best offers here on BankMyCell.