Found iPhone 4S

uniQ

uniQ

uniQ

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I found an iPhone 4S on my way home today. Unfortunately its got a passcode and it's in Airplane mode!

Can I drop it off at an Apple store? Or should I restore it I believe that will wipe everything then I could leave it charged to see if they call and then arrange for collection.

The last option is to drop it at a Police station except I won't be able to get to one until Wednesday.

Just wondering what I would prefer if I lost my iPhone, to get it back immediately but wiped (restore from backup?) or however long the process takes with the police for tracing owner?

UPDATE: The 4S was handed in to police on the 13th more details in Post #38
 
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Well they wont be able to call if its in airplane mode. Personally I wouldn't bother giving it to the police or the Apple Store.

Is Siri enabled from the lock screen? Ask "Who am I?"
 
I would not wipe the iPhone. They may have pictures/contacts on there that they wish to keep and have not backed it up.

I would keep it charged and hold onto it for a while. The owner or someone will probably call the phone at some point and then you can arrange to get it back to them.

If you don't hear from anyone then I suppose taking it to the police station is the next best thing to do.

Edit: Argh forgot about the airplane mode!
 
On the lock screen;
1.slide the slider to unlock
2.press emergency call
3.dial your home number (so not to call emergency services :P ) --then press call
4.a message will come up asking you to disable airplane mode-press disable.

EDIT;
if that doesn't work, the SIM may not have a lock on it - so try it in your's or a friends iPhone?
 
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kilohawk said:
On the lock screen;
1.slide the slider to unlock
2.press emergency call
3.dial your home number (so not to call emergency services :P ) --then press call
4.a message will come up asking you to disable airplane mode-press disable.
Click to expand...

Good call, its out of airplane mode :)

I'll leave it turned on otherwise if I don't here from them I'll drop it at the police station Wednesday.
 
don't mean to double post, but you might miss it if i don't :P

have you tried putting the sim in your iPhone? i see the apple sign in your sig, it makes me think you're an apple fan ;)
 
kilohawk said:
don't mean to double post, but you might miss it if i don't :P

have you tried putting the sim in your iPhone? i see the apple sign in your sig, it makes me think you're an apple fan ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah I thought about doing that but now its out of Airplane mode I don't think I want to try and snoop by putting their sim in my phone. They basically have until Wednesday to get in touch before it goes to a police station though so that should be ample time.

deadite66 said:
now it's connected to 3g can't they turn on gps via mobileme and track you down?
Click to expand...

Yeah, if they're a smart cookie they will have told iCloud to alert them by email when it picks up a signal then hopefully I'll here from them soon :)
 
most insurers require that you report the phone missing within 2 days or even 24 hours of you realising it is missing. if you've ever done this, you'd know. i would have paid someone >£100 if they offered to just give me my iPhone back when i lost it.
i think whoever lost the phone would rather you snoop than let them go through the hassle and weeks of insurance negotiation!
 
Tried calling "Home", "Mum" or "Dad" using Siri? It should be able to still make the call with the phone locked and passcoded.

Same applies for text messages or emails.
 
kilohawk said:
most insurers require that you report the phone missing within 2 days or even 24 hours of you realising it is missing. if you've ever done this, you'd know. i would have paid someone >£100 if they offered to just give me my iPhone back when i lost it.
i think whoever lost the phone would rather you snoop than let them go through the hassle and weeks of insurance negotiation!
Click to expand...

I don't feel comfortable putting there sim in my phone tbh. All they need to do now is call the phone anyway.

I'll give the police a ring later on my break to let them know as well just to cover myself then continue with the plan of handing in on Wednesday if I haven't heard from them.

I feel this is more than reasonable on my part.

Burned_Alive said:
Tried calling "Home", "Mum" or "Dad" using Siri? It should be able to still make the call with the phone locked and passcoded.

Same applies for text messages or emails.
Click to expand...

Siri is off as mentioned in an earlier post.
 
waiting for OP to post "it was 2am and the police came to my front door, they arrested me, I jsut got out on bail"

take it so the police station or drop it in the park... the owner will track the phone via gps and assume you stole it and smash your face in, or the police will come and do you for theft / theft by finding....

taken to the extreme if there are suspect pictures on the phone you could end up in prison...
 
I would personally take it to the O2 store if you wanted to be a complete good samaritan.

They can use the serial number on the phone to bring up the owners records. They may have a second line which the store can then call, they may have even phoned o2 to report it missing and provided them with an alternative number to call on.

If the owner is anything like half of my friends...they would have no idea what the find my phone feature is.
 
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