Can anyone help me bypass the passcode on an Iphone 6S Plus?

[HMWise08]

About a month ago I found an Iphone 6S Plus on an airplane and turned it into security.

Airport policy is to hold the item for 4 weeks and if not claimed it is returned to the airline which found the it.

My supervisor contacted me and told me there was unclaimed property waiting for me in our offices.

I went and spoke with the airport "lost items" department and TSA and both told me nobody returned to claim the phone. I asked if they had tried to contact anyone from the carrier and they said, "no."

I have an Iphone 6 myself so I used my charger to charge the 6S Plus and once it turned on there was a message asking whoever found the phone to call ###-###-####. At the bottom of the screen there was a green "CALL" button. I tired this number several times and nobody every answered, and there was no option to leave a voicemail message either.

It is passcode protected and I cannot find any way to reach any of the contacts that might be in the phone.

I then took it to Verizon (thats what the carrier was listed in the upper corner) and they removed the SIM card and looked up the IMEI number. This particular phone was not listed on lost or stolen list of Verizon phones? I asked if the associate could look up the owner and I could contact them to mail it to them and he said he couldn't give me their name or information. Also that I was not permitted to leave the "property" with them.

Its been a month since I found the phone on the airplane. Im assuming at this point the owner has replaced the phone. I have AT&T as a carrier, if I wanted to try and use the 6S Plus for myself. How do I bypass the passcode screen and restore the phone to original settings?

 

[Ledsteplin]

You can't. You could maybe restore it by putting it in DFU mode and connecting to iTunes. But afterwards, you would need the Apple ID and password to set it up. No way around that. So it's nothing more to you than a paperweight. Keep trying the number.

Summon Siri on it and ask for owner information. Siri may show their contact card, which may include email.

 

[anon(9602380)]

Welcome to iMore. Even if you get past the code, you will need the Apple ID and password for that phone to reset it. It is a paperweight. Does not matter that it was not reported stolen or lost.

 

[dejanh]

There is a possibility that "Find my iPhone" may be disabled. I would suggest writing down that number that you see on the screen, maybe try the Siri trick above to perhaps get a bit more information, but beyond that you may not be able to use the phone for much else. What color is it? I may be interested to buy it for parts.

 

[Arnold Copeland]

You should change the value of the sound settings on your device.

 

[Rob Phillips]

You should change the value of the sound settings on your device.

Changing the volume settings won't bypass an iPhone's passcode. The only option is to restore through iTunes and sign into whatever AppleID is linked to that device.

 

[H3aTeRzz]

Paper weight, I'm afraid!

 

[AustinIllini]

Considering the FBI is struggling with a similar issue, you're SOL.

Maybe write the NSA.

 

[H3aTeRzz]

About a month ago I found an Iphone 6S Plus on an airplane and turned it into security.

Airport policy is to hold the item for 4 weeks and if not claimed it is returned to the airline which found the it.

My supervisor contacted me and told me there was unclaimed property waiting for me in our offices.

I went and spoke with the airport "lost items" department and TSA and both told me nobody returned to claim the phone. I asked if they had tried to contact anyone from the carrier and they said, "no."

I have an Iphone 6 myself so I used my charger to charge the 6S Plus and once it turned on there was a message asking whoever found the phone to call ###-###-####. At the bottom of the screen there was a green "CALL" button. I tired this number several times and nobody every answered, and there was no option to leave a voicemail message either.

It is passcode protected and I cannot find any way to reach any of the contacts that might be in the phone.

I then took it to Verizon (thats what the carrier was listed in the upper corner) and they removed the SIM card and looked up the IMEI number. This particular phone was not listed on lost or stolen list of Verizon phones? I asked if the associate could look up the owner and I could contact them to mail it to them and he said he couldn't give me their name or information. Also that I was not permitted to leave the "property" with them.

Its been a month since I found the phone on the airplane. Im assuming at this point the owner has replaced the phone. I have AT&T as a carrier, if I wanted to try and use the 6S Plus for myself. How do I bypass the passcode screen and restore the phone to original settings?

Try texting the number they provided....they may not answer because they're not familiar with number...and, forgot to set up VM on that line. Text it.

 

[jlgraham]

Looks like everyone else has made good suggestions. The only other one I can think of is try to use Siri (if they haven't locked that down) to call some generic name, like "mom", "fianc?", "dad", etc and see if you can get a hold of one of their relatives.

Also pay attention to the notifications that come in, if they show up on the lock screen. Maybe one of them will have the person's email address or some other information that could be helpful. They probably moved their number to their new device, but maybe haven't logged out of their email, social media, etc.

Question for everyone: Do you think the owner reported it lost to Apple? If they had Apple Care, is it still valid? I'm only mentioning this since you already went to great lengths to return it to the rightful owner, but maybe you should just smash it to the point the screen doesn't work (so they don't know it's a found phone) and then take it to the Apple store and see if you can pay the deductible and get a "replacement". I have no idea if/how this would work so take it with a grain of salt.

If you don't want to sell to someone reputable for parts, I'd take it to the Apple store so they can recycle it properly.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Looks like everyone else has made good suggestions. The only other one I can think of is try to use Siri (if they haven't locked that down) to call some generic name, like "mom", "fianc?", "dad", etc and see if you can get a hold of one of their relatives.

Also pay attention to the notifications that come in, if they show up on the lock screen. Maybe one of them will have the person's email address or some other information that could be helpful. They probably moved their number to their new device, but maybe haven't logged out of their email, social media, etc.

Question for everyone: Do you think the owner reported it lost to Apple? If they had Apple Care, is it still valid? I'm only mentioning this since you already went to great lengths to return it to the rightful owner, but maybe you should just smash it to the point the screen doesn't work (so they don't know it's a found phone) and then take it to the Apple store and see if you can pay the deductible and get a "replacement". I have no idea if/how this would work so take it with a grain of salt.

If you don't want to sell to someone reputable for parts, I'd take it to the Apple store so they can recycle it properly.

Actually, Apple says NOT to bring them lost phones. They say take it to the police.

 

[SwitchBeach]

Question for everyone: Do you think the owner reported it lost to Apple? If they had Apple Care, is it still valid? I'm only mentioning this since you already went to great lengths to return it to the rightful owner, but maybe you should just smash it to the point the screen doesn't work (so they don't know it's a found phone) and then take it to the Apple store and see if you can pay the deductible and get a "replacement". I have no idea if/how this would work so take it with a grain of salt.

Despite any "great lengths" this would still be fraud.

It wouldn't work anyway.

 

[jlgraham]

Actually, Apple says NOT to bring them lost phones. They say take it to the police.

Thanks for the info. May be worth a shot turning it in, but in this case I don't know that the police would be able to do much more than the OP has already, if I were in their shoes I'd probably just take it somewhere to be properly recycled.

 

[mrluky60]

The same thing happened to my wife's iPhone and I found a sight on line and it showed me how to do it. She forgot he pass code and apple I'd. We got it to work. Look for how to clear phone with forgotten pass code.

 

[mrluky60]

It wiped the phone clean.

 

[Ledsteplin]

It wiped the phone clean.

Yes, it will. But there's no other way. None.

 

[BalrogWing]

I can understand why Verizon can't give you the owner's information but why couldn't they contact the owner themselves and let them know that their phone was found and could be mailed to them or something?