Q: I have found an iphone which has been locked due to being lost. I have since tracked down the legitimate owner and purchased it, however, neither of us are sure how to get it unlocked and usable again. I am in Australia and she is in Brazil.

So I work at an airport. Part of my role is cleaning aircraft. During this time, I found a phone left in a seat pocket. By the time I was able to track down the owner, she had already returned to Brazil, and locked the handset due to it being lost. I have offered to buy the handset from her in a legitimate transaction with the handsets legal owner, unfortunately, neither of us are sure how to unlock the handset so that it is usable.

I have attempted to put the phone in developer mode and restore it to its factory settings with the latest apple OS. However, the phone is now stuck on the 'swipe to set up' screen (the one that says 'hello' in multiple languages), but the touch screen is completely unresponsive. All I am able to do now is turn it on/off and put it into developer mode, nothing I have attempted has made the touch screen responsive.

Please help assist both of us in resolving this issue so the transaction can be completed.

Steve