Locked I Phone

[Petro6golf]

I'm a Deputy and recently took a motor cycle crash where a you man died. I gave his father his cell phone but the thing is locked. Dad tried to put in the pass code too many times and it locked up. Its an Iphone 5s.

The dad seems like a really nice guy and keeps emailing me about how to get his son's phone unlocked so he can look into it to inform some of his friends.

I emailed the computer detectives but the only answer I got was that it cant be unlocked and the dept said using the cellbrite reader wont work.

Does anyone know of a way to unlock this phone? id write a warrant to apple but nothing criminal occurred and I think they would turn it down and it would be a waste of my time.

I'm trying to do dad a favor and work on this cause I would want someone to do the same for me and he obviously wouldn't email me if he didn't need help.

Any suggestions?

I posted it in the leo section as well hoping someone can help

[ke6guj]

IIRC, I had one time when we had a locked out iphone for one of the employees and we were able to hook it up to the employee computer and Itunes was able to unlock it. but IIRC, the restriction is that the employee had to have made a itunes backup of the phone before it was locked out. But since he had, we were able to unlock the phone.

but this was about 6 months ago so my memory is fuzzy on that.

ok, here is a link to more info, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1212 . just be aware that if his last backup is old, he might unlock the phone but have a basically wiped phone.

[44fred]

Wow. Really?
If you had 3 posts I'd be really suspicious. Now I'm just suspicious.
You're a Police Officer?

[HKJay]

ke6guj is right. If the guy backed up his iphone to his computer there are ways to get access. It's a lot easier if encrypted but still possible if not I believe. If he backed it up to icloud there are things that can be done too. Tell the guys dad to look for a local company that handles iphone forensics. There isn't a really easy way to do this and if he really wants it done then paying a forensics company is probably the best option.

[hermosabeach]

Plug another I phone into the computer and hit restore.

Go to craigs list

Find shops that do I phone repair on the cheap

They can usually unlock for $15

[Doheny]

Wow. Really?
If you had 3 posts I'd be really suspicious. Now I'm just suspicious.
You're a Police Officer?

Look at his post history. He's posted plenty in the LEO forum.

[Pandanin]

http://ios.wonderhowto.com/how-to/thieves-unlock-passcodes-stolen-iphones-and-protect-yourself-against-it-0139559/

Read item # 4.

[Petro6golf]

Thanks Pandanin. I contacted Apple and they told me it couldent be done and the computer forensics people told me it couldent be done.

Thread closed.

[gorn5150]

If you can get your hands on the guys computer that the iPhone was backed up on you can run a program called iExplore on it. It will give you access to all of the info that was on the phone at the time of the last backup.

There are other programs that do the same thing but I don't recall the names.

[_TomT_]

Take it to an Apple store, tell the father to show them his ID and if their last name is the same they would unlock it. I've done this before on my mom's iPhone which she thought she lost but it was just in the folds of her couch. As long as you have the same last name and/or if you are on the same ATT account then it shouldn't be a problem for Apple.

[TurboChrisB]

Yes, the only chance is too take it into the apple store...tell his father to bring a copy of the DC and see what they're willing to do.

[Kageryu]

Sorry, but the stores won't be able to do anything with it, even though I'm sure the staff would be sympathetic. TomT's experience is probably related to the activation lock, not the device / encryption unlock. Hermosabeach's suggestion of connecting a blank or recently wiped iPhone to the host computer might work if the device was routinely backed up to it via USB or WiFi. If the device was backing up to iCloud instead of the computer, then he might be able to restore from iCloud if he can determine his son's iCloud account and password (possibly the same used for iTunes purchases. If the son had a Mac connected to iCloud, and he can determine the computer password, the iCloud password may be stored and accessible in Keychain Access. Note: Resetting the password on the Mac will render Keychain Access inaccessible, by design).

If the phone was syncing with a computer over iCloud, he may at least be able to at least retrieve the remotely synced contacts (and possibly photos, if Photo Stream was enabled) from the computer. Even if he doesn't have the password for the computer, they're usually easier to get into than iOS devices, because the filesystem is not encrypted unless the user specifically chooses to do so. (iOS encrypts the filesystem by default with no action on the user's part.)

If all else fails and his only recourse is the device itself, have him contact http://www.apple.com/privacy/contact/ , as per http://www.apple.com/legal/more-reso...w-enforcement/ . It will probably get him in touch with any possibilities faster than escalating through AppleCare / executive relations would.

[Doheny]

Locked I Phone

Read post number eight you'd see that the OP is done with the matter.

/thread