Returning Lost iPhones to Owners or Getting Them Recycled

As eWaste coordinator for a local non-profit, I always prefer taking Apple products to our local Apple store for recycling because of Apple's commitment to responsible recycling of their products.

A few days ago, a volunteer at the non-profit turned in an iPhone XS Max they found while cycling in the Salinas Valley. I took it to the Apple store in San Mateo, CA, thinking they could look up the serial number and return the phone to its owner. But I was told that Apple keeps serial number records for only 90 days. Since this phone was more than 90 days old Apple couldn't help. And because the Activation Lock on the working phone showed it wasn't my phone, Apple wouldn't accept the phone for recycling. This same cyclist had also given me an iPhone SE2 that looked like it had been run over by a car. Apple had no problem accepting that phone from me for recycling.

As I found out after leaving the Apple store disappointed, there are three situations for a found iPhone:

1) The battery has died since being lost, so the phone has shut down.

2) The battery has not died since being lost, and the phone is still on.

3) The owner has applied a label with their name and a contact number. (This is what I do to make it real easy for anyone finding my phone to contact me and return my phone.)

If the iPhone battery has not yet died and the phone is still on, there are several articles on the internet to walk you through the steps of trying to identify the owner for purposes of returning the phone to them, by accessing emergency medical info (if entered), asking Siri who owns the phone, etc. Here is one such article: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/found-lost-or-stolen-iphone/

An iPhone whose battery has died by the time it is found will not permit any of the actions described above. Instead, when a charger is plugged in, the iPhone will begin to reactivate itself and will show the "Hello" screen. The only info you can get out of such a phone is by tapping the "i" at the bottom of the screen. That will reveal the MEID, SN, IMEI, and ICCID and regulatory info.

You can then try to search the numbers on GSMA's site https://stolenphonechecker.org/spc/ to see if an iPhone with these numbers has been reported lost or stolen.

Additionally, if the iPhone screen shows a message that says that the iPhone has been reported lost or stolen, Apple says to call the insurance carrier that has reported it to Apple: Return a lost, locked iPhone - Apple Support. The article does not specifically say so, but it appears this only works for phones that have been reported lost or stolen to the owner's insurance company, who in turn has reported it to Apple.

If the phone has not been reported lost or stolen, Apple says to turn the found phone in to law enforcement. The only way that will get the phone back to the owner is (1) the agency accepts found property (not all agencies do) and (2) the owner has reported the loss or theft to the agency including a serial number, hopefully by following the steps in this article: If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen - Apple Support , or (3) the owner reports the phone lost or stolen after you turn it in, and the agency does another serial number check on the phone to catch the new report before eventual destruction of the phone as abandoned property, months or years later.

While it is possible for law enforcement to get a court order to have Apple do a deep dive into its sales records and provide the owner's information, no agency I can think of will take the time to do so. So if they owner never reports their phone lost or stolen, the police will eventually destroy it since it can't be sold at auction like other abandoned property at sites like https://www.propertyroom.com.

Regarding my found iPhone XS Max, I wonder if waiting for the battery to die again so it no longer shows an Activation Lock on the screen will allow an Apple store accept it for recycling? Or is running it over with a car, like the iPhone SE2, the only way Apple will accept it into their recycling program.