Found iPhone 5C - help finding owner

McGrath5 · 26-03-2014 2:21pm #1

Hi Folks,

I found an iPhone 5C in the Rathfarnham area today, the battery was totally flat, so after giving it a charge, it is passcode locked, so therefore I cannot get into the phonebook to maybe call a family member to let them know I have it.

To complicate the issue, I took the sim card out and it is an AT&T sim in the phone, so no chance of it been registered to an Irish network.

I also called AT&T who will understandably not give any info out for their customer.

Any ideas here? I would like to reunite the owner with their phone, I do believe in karma and all that.

meoklmrk91 · 26-03-2014 2:26pm

Ask ATandT to contact the customer and pass along your details telling them you their phone.

Connect up to a computer with iTunes, it will usually have a name like John's iPhone.

Wait for someone to call, someone will eventually, they should have some other way to contact the owner or may even be calling in their behalf.

Contact local gardai and report you have found it just in case anyone pops in to report it lost.

brophs · 26-03-2014 2:31pm

Does Siri work when the phone is passcode locked? If so ask it "what it my name"? They might have several numbers stored or even an address.

McGrath5 · 26-03-2014 2:34pm

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Ask ATandT to contact the customer and pass along your details telling them you their phone.

Yep I called them but they seem to be very non helpful, I'll report it to the local Garda station later on.

Edit - No siri does not work, there is no way I can connect it to my wifi since it is passcode locked, there is also no local cellular service.

dave oc · 26-03-2014 2:34pm

Leave the phone on as much as possible and put the sim back in. If they are trying to track the phone with find my iPhone, theres a chance that they will be able to pick up its location or send it a message (through find my iPhone) with their details.

If you really want to go the extra mile, you could try put there sim card into an unlocked phone on the off chance they have phone numbers stored there. If they do try check for mam, dad, wife/husband etc. and maybe contact them? As I said, its a bit more effort and if they have a pin number you won't be able to do this.

brophs · 26-03-2014 2:34pm

Also if you use Siri and say "call home/mum/dad/john/etc" it should dial them even though it's passcode locked.

guil · 26-03-2014 4:34pm

Don't think Siri can work without a data connection

meoklmrk91 · 26-03-2014 5:19pm

guil wrote: »

Don't think Siri can work without a data connection

Correct.

neilmulvey · 26-03-2014 6:09pm

McGrath5 wrote: »

Hi Folks,

I found an iPhone 5C in the Rathfarnham area today, the battery was totally flat, so after giving it a charge, it is passcode locked, so therefore I cannot get into the phonebook to maybe call a family member to let them know I have it.

To complicate the issue, I took the sim card out and it is an AT&T sim in the phone, so no chance of it been registered to an Irish network.

I also called AT&T who will understandably not give any info out for their customer.

Any ideas here? I would like to reunite the owner with their phone, I do believe in karma and all that.

the imei is printed on the back cover so someone somewhere should ahve a record of the purchaser.

dodzy · 27-03-2014 7:40am

Easiest option is to contact the provider, ask them to contact the owner, and pass on your contact details. Done the same a while back. Called O2. Gave them the simcard number. They called owner. Next day the owner called me.

dublander · 27-03-2014 10:41am

Keep it or sell it, you've tried getting it back to them but if it's an American phone the chances are even slimmer.

Kimbot · 27-03-2014 10:44am

Maybe email apple and see if they can email the owner using their apple ID or something to help them out.

kensutz · 27-03-2014 11:06am

jonny24ie wrote: »

Maybe email apple and see if they can email the owner using their apple ID or something to help them out.

Nothing they can do.

Gael23 · 27-03-2014 11:08am

It looks like it belongs to an american tourist so the chances of finding the owner are slim. Is there a way of reading the SIM Card through another phone or something

Kimbot · 27-03-2014 2:13pm

kensutz wrote: »

Nothing they can do.

Well im sure they would have some record and if someone found an iphone and are willing to return it then apple should help.

AT&T should by right contact the owner of the phone tho. I found an iPhone here a couple of years ago, o2 sim in it. Rang o2 and they contacted the owner who was on a stags and lost it. They were delighted to get it back, offered a few quid reward and I told them it was fine. Even got a call back off o2 to say thanks etc.

kensutz · 27-03-2014 2:22pm

jonny24ie wrote: »

Well im sure they would have some record and if someone found an iphone and are willing to return it then apple should help.

Nope, bring it to the Gardai and get them to get in contact with Apple to help recover the phone.

xabi · 27-03-2014 2:26pm

Leave it on, someone is bound to call it at some stage.

dodzy · 27-03-2014 7:02pm

kensutz wrote: »

Nope, bring it to the Gardai and get them to get in contact with Apple to help recover the phone.

You must be jokin?

Kristopherus · 27-03-2014 7:05pm

dodzy wrote: »

You must be jokin?

dodzy · 27-03-2014 7:14pm

Kristopherus wrote: »

I'd give it to nobody bar the owner, directly. OP is making the effort. Unfortunate tourist by the look of things. ATT might prove fruitless. Much easier to reunite if it was a local network. Lost.ie would be my last port of call in the hope that owner was visiting relations who might be net savvy. Failing that, after a few weeks, flog it.

Del2005 · 27-03-2014 7:21pm

dodzy wrote: »

I'd give it to nobody bar the owner, directly. OP is making the effort. Unfortunate tourist by the look of things. ATT might prove fruitless. Much easier to reunite if it was a local network. Lost.ie would be my last port of call in the hope that owner was visiting relations who might be net savvy. Failing that, after a few weeks, flog it.

If a tourist lost their phone they'd report it to the Gardai so that they can claim their insurance. Dropping into the closest Garda station to where it was found the Gardaì should be able track it through PULSE

hfallada · 27-03-2014 7:23pm

Del2005 wrote: »

If a tourist lost their phone they'd report it to the Gardai so that they can claim their insurance. Dropping into the closest Garda station to where it was found the Gardaì should be able track it through PULSE

Then OP will be put on the pulse system. If the tourist left Ireland the changes of the garda's mailing it to them are Non existant

McGrath5 · 27-03-2014 8:45pm

So I got back in touch with AT&T, and the kind lady sent an email to the owner explaining my address, hopefully she will pick it up soon.

Nonoperational · 27-03-2014 9:01pm

Fair play to you.

Zcott · 27-03-2014 9:53pm

Good man yourself, let us know how you get on.

kensutz · 28-03-2014 12:00am

dodzy wrote: »

You must be jokin?

I wasn't, there's no way that apple would get in touch direct unless it was handed in to the Gardai. Anyway, good to see the carrier is getting in touch with the owner.

Del2005 · 28-03-2014 10:34am

hfallada wrote: »

Then OP will be put on the pulse system. If the tourist left Ireland the changes of the garda's mailing it to them are Non existant

Why would being on PULSE matter when they are there for a good reason? The OP had originally tried everything to contact the owner and where met with "The computer says No" if they don't report finding it to the Gardaí then they are as good as stealing it. The Gardaí could have contacted the owner, assuming that they knew the IMEI, to let them know that the phone had been found and how do they want to proceed.

Luckily the OP found someone in the phone company that cared and send an email to the owner.