How can I contact the owner of a lost iPhone that’s locked with Activation Lock?

How do I contact the owner of a lost+found iPhone with activation lock?

I found my phone 15 months ago. I found it under a pothole near a cigarette butt while I was walking home from work at night. I tried to turn it on but it got wet due to rain. I tried to turn it on but it was dead. Instead of just throwing it back, I decided to take it out and charge it to see if it would work. When I got back a few days later, I removed the SIM card tray and left it for another 2 days. I tried restarting it from time to time but to no avail. Finally, I found it recently among my unused stuff and it turned on, but I had lost the SIM card.


However, the start screen now says that the phone is locked: "The owner of the iPhone is locked. The owner of this iPhone can see the location of the phone at 's••••@icloud.com, with the email address s•••••@icloud.com. Otherwise, there is no emergency contact information on the start screen.


So: Is there any way for me to find out the contact information of the original owner, so I can send the phone back to them or (if they don't want it anymore) ask them to remove the phone from iCloud Activation Lock? Otherwise, the phone is useless to them and I don't need it.


If I can't find their email address, is there any way for the owner to reveal their contact information so they can contact me if they want to? It also says that the original owner can see the location of their charged phone in the Find My app, but that doesn't mean the original owner can't find it. still doesn't know my contact information.


Is there any solution to this problem? What should I do if the real owner of this phone doesn't come forward? It's too expensive and too expensive to throw away. If the real owner doesn't come forward, can Apple help me?




[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: How to solve the problem of lost phone

iPhone XS, iOS 18

Posted on Jun 12, 2025 6:36 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 12, 2025 6:39 AM

Apple doesn't get involved in lost or stolen phones. It's great you'd like to reunite this phone with its rightful owner, but there is no way for you to find them.


You should have turned the phone over to the authorities when you found it, but you still can do that. Please do so.


Thanks for wanting to do the right thing.

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3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 12, 2025 6:39 AM in response to enhkbayar192

Apple doesn't get involved in lost or stolen phones. It's great you'd like to reunite this phone with its rightful owner, but there is no way for you to find them.


You should have turned the phone over to the authorities when you found it, but you still can do that. Please do so.


Thanks for wanting to do the right thing.

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How can I contact the owner of a lost iPhone that’s locked with Activation Lock?

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