How can I contact the owner of a lost iPhone who has a password lock?

I want to return their phone, but can't access their contacts, etc.

Solution 1:

1) Find the phone number, then find the owner

I think the iPhone is locked but not the SIM card. If this is the case, pop the SIM card out. Put it in another phone. Find the number. Now, use the web to do a reverse lookup, find them, find their email or alternate phone, and call them.

2) Find someone who knows the owner

When you set the password, by default the "Voice Dial" is still active. Try holding down the home button for 4 seconds. Even when locked, you might be able to say "Call so-and-so". Try some random names. If someone picks up, explain the situation. They will probably have an alternate means of contacting the owner.

3) Turn the phone on and see if there are recent callers - then use any of these names to try voice calling as in 2 above.

Solution 2:

By strange coincidence, this exact thing happened to me, so I have the answer:

Wait until the owner's mother calls. Answer the phone, explain the situation, upon which she will send her husband to collect the phone from your office.* Shake the father's hand, hand over the phone, and make a funny apple joke (he asked me if I had kids, to-whit I responded, no, but I have an iPhone, so I understand! -- fan boys rejoice).

*As it turns out, the owner was a 15 year old boy.

Solution 3:

Take it to the Apple store and see if they can sort it out. I would imagine that they have DB of serial numbers and customers even if they didn't sign up with Applecare or MobileMe.

Solution 4:

Just ask Siri 'what is my name' and it will bring up the contact details for the owner of the phone.

You can also use Siri to post to Facebook, send emails and just abut anything else.

To be fair, upon closer inspection, this seems like a huge gap in the security of an iPhone where you're data isn't actually secure, even when locked. Love it!

Obviously only works if the owner has set their phone to utilise Siri when locked. But I think most people do.

Solution 5:

If there is a lost and found at the location you found the phone put it there, or turn it over to the police. That is where the person who lost it should be looking for it.

Attempting to break the PIN is just not a good idea, even if you have good intentions. They chose to keep some information confidential (for whatever reason), at the expense of making the phone harder to return if it is lost.