when you find a iPhone in a used car what you buy what can I do?

I've found a iPhone 5c in a used car what I've bought and its activation locked. What should I do.


iPhone 6s, iOS 14

Posted on Oct 12, 2023 10:40 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 12, 2023 10:49 PM

Do the honest thing.


The phone may be displaying information on how to contact the owner. If so, follow the owner's directions.


Otherwise, if you bought the car in a private sale, contact the person from whom you bought the iPhone, and return their phone to them. If you bought it from a dealer, take the phone to the dealer, tell them how and where you found it, and see if they can return the phone to its owner. Or turn it in to the Lost + Found department at a police station.


If you cannot find the owner, or someone who might be able to help return it to the owner, then recycle the phone in a responsible manner. An Activation Locked iPhone is – by design – a brick.

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 12, 2023 10:49 PM in response to kingslum242

Do the honest thing.


The phone may be displaying information on how to contact the owner. If so, follow the owner's directions.


Otherwise, if you bought the car in a private sale, contact the person from whom you bought the iPhone, and return their phone to them. If you bought it from a dealer, take the phone to the dealer, tell them how and where you found it, and see if they can return the phone to its owner. Or turn it in to the Lost + Found department at a police station.


If you cannot find the owner, or someone who might be able to help return it to the owner, then recycle the phone in a responsible manner. An Activation Locked iPhone is – by design – a brick.

Oct 12, 2023 11:11 PM in response to kingslum242

If there is no realistic way of finding the owner – or of turning it in to some place where the owner might look – then it is what it is. The phone will not be reunited with its owner. Such is life.


It will also never work for anyone ever again. We cannot help you remove the Activation Lock. Apple will not help you to remove it. The only things you can do with that iPhone are along the lines of


  • Using it as a paperweight,
  • Throwing it away, or
  • Recycling it responsibly


Oct 12, 2023 11:01 PM in response to kingslum242

I take it that by "co-part", you mean a co-partner who is also in the used car business?


Presumably your business keeps records of used car purchases it makes. If you bought the used car from another used car dealer, that business should be keeping records, too – and their records might identify the individual who sold them the car. So you might want to ask your co-part(ner) to help you find the phone's owner.

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when you find a iPhone in a used car what you buy what can I do?

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