iPhone Unlock in Case of Death?

Did you ever get a helpful response? It would be nice if apple could give an override password code for these instances. I'm sure if they were in the same situation, they would want the same thing. I would have no problem sending the death certificate, if that's what it takes. I mean, come on, let's try using common sense, I know that's a lost art, but try!

Sorry, no. You'll need a Court Order before Apple will do so. But, with the proper Court Order, they can & will.

Unfortunately, Apple has no way to unlock the phone. Apple does not know the PIN lock code; it is saved in the phone only. If the phone has been synced with iTunes on a computer you can connect the phone to that computer, back it up, then use the Restore iPhone button. This will remove the lock code. If you try this and it tells you to enter the lock code then the phone has not been synced since the code was added or changed. Your option then is to restore the phone as a New phone. This will wipe out any information on the phone, but the phone will then be useable if you can also override Activation Lock, which requires knowing the phone owner's Apple ID and password, or enough information to reset the password by going to https://appleid.apple.com.

Interesting; I thought they had no way to do it.

They rountinely do this for Federal Agencies & Police Depts., who can't get past passcodes. But, will only do so with a proper Court Order. About a two ~ three week wait.

Apple does not have any of your passwords or pin codes.

This is to protect their user's privacy.

In the case of an Apple ID they can reset the password.

If you go through a probate court and have proof of death, they can reset the Apple ID password for you.

They can not reset the pin code or give you access to the device.

Thanks

groberts1980 wrote:

Okay, thank you for the response. Looks like we're in the age where you can't easily take a recently deceased family member's phone and use the contact list to start calling people to let them know...

Yes and no. Most users sync their iPhone contacts with an app on their computer (Windows or Mac Address Book, MS Outlook), with Google's gmail, with Yahoo mail, with a corporate account, or with their iCloud account, as described in the manual and encouraged during the initial setup. The contacts are also included in the iPhone's backup, if it was ever backed up to a computer. So if the owner did any of these things then the contacts will be available from other sources.

There are many apps for computers that can extract the information from the iTunes backup of the iPhone on the computer. So you have a lot of options to try.

iPhone passcode is designed to protect the data on the phone. If there were an easy way around the passcode...there is not...there really wouldn't be much point in having a passcode to begin with.

Even Federal Agencies, with the right equipment & software, can't get past iPhone passcodes.

You can also get the free app for the Mac iScavenge, which can read the contents of the iPhone backup if the iPhone was not synced with Address Book.