When your iPhone was lost, the first question that came to your mind might be “can stolen iPhones be unlocked”? Although Apple offers the best security for its devices, the worries of data leakage were something you couldn’t get over.
You may still want to take some measures to minimize the risk of data theft and misuse of your lost device as much as you possibly can, and that’s what we are going to talk about in the following parts.
Can Someone Unlock My Stolen iPhone?
Yes, it is possible that a stolen iPhone can be unlocked if the thief is technically smart and understands how Apple security systems work. Assuming that your iPhone has all your personal details, and your bank account passwords, and you even use several social media apps from your phone, you must take utmost remedies and act quickly once you find that your device is lost/stolen.
According to the security measures that you may or may not have enabled on your iPhone, a couple of scenarios and the processes to minimize the damage are explained below.
- Case 1: If You Didn’t Set up a Passcode for Screen Lock or Enable Find My iPhone
- Case 2: If You Have Set up a Screen Passcode but Didn’t Enable Find My iPhone
- Case 3: If You Have Set Up a Passcode for Screen Lock and Enabled Find My iPhone
- FAQs About a Stolen iPhone
Case 1: If You Didn’t Set up a Passcode for Screen Lock or Enable Find My iPhone
Although Apple strongly recommends that you should set up a passcode for your iPhone’s screen lock, what if you didn’t do it? What’s worse, what if ‘Find My iPhone’ is turned off on your phone either?
Note: With the latest iOS installed on your iPhone, the ‘Find My iPhone’ feature is automatically enabled as soon as you sign in to your iPhone with your Apple ID.
If you didn’t set up a passcode and neither did you turn on the ‘Find My iPhone’ option, the thief will be able to access your personal data or restore it to factory settings.
A few things that you can do to reduce the destruction include:
- Inform the Police
Because this is a mandatory step that you must take to avoid the misuse of your smartphone under your name, you must do it on a priority basis. Since legal authorities have full clearance for all the IT and telecommunication segments, they can easily track down your device and catch the thief.
- Inform the Banks
The next thing that you must do is, inform all the banks about the theft and requested them to temporarily suspend the Internet and mobile banking services for your account until you get a new phone and are ready to use your profile again. Once you get access to your bank accounts, make sure to change the passwords that are not even closely related to those defined earlier.
- Reset All Social Networking Account Passwords
You must also reset/change the passwords for all your social media accounts using a different phone or a computer to prevent unauthorized people from accessing your profiles and causing a nuisance.
Once you have taken the above-mentioned precautionary measures, you can go ahead and get a new phone and a SIM card. After this, you can talk to the banks and request them to resume your Internet and mobile banking services as well.
Case 2: If You Have Set up a Screen Passcode but Didn’t Enable Find My iPhone
If this is the case, you may still want to ask if someone steals your iPhone, can they unlock it?
The answer to the question is, yes, they can. However, the chances are comparatively less. The reason behind this is that an unauthorized person can only access your iPhone if they somehow manage to guess the passcode as that is the only barrier between them and your iPhone. When this happens, they can access all your information and personal info that your device has.
Another case could be that they have made several attempts and finally fail to get your passcode. In this situation, they may use iTunes to restore your iPhone and install a clean instance of the latest firmware. This method erases all your details from the device, and the thieves can only use it as a new phone. Anyway, we recommend that you also take the precautionary measures introduced in case 1.
Case 3: If You Have Set Up a Passcode for Screen Lock and Enabled Find My iPhone
Under normal circumstances, if the screen lock is protected with a passcode and you have enabled Find My iPhone as well, it is impossible for common thieves to bypass these barriers and gain access to your iPhone, but we still recommend that you also take the precautionary measures introduced in case 1.
First of all, to protect your data, you can choose to erase all data on your iPhone remotely when you have Find My iPhone on. Even if the thief restored your iPhone via iTunes, he or she will be locked out by the iCloud activation lock. Your data will be erased and will not be leaked out. In this case, the iPhone is just like a brick and might be broken into parts and sold.
In some cases, the thief may use a third-party tool to serve to remove the iCloud activation lock. Although such programs may unlock the device, your data will be erased at the same time, so don’t need to worry about data leakage. Besides, they have certain restrictions and the phone can never become fully functional.
As mentioned before, if a thief is lucky, he or she may guess the passcode. What’s overlooked by many people is that the thief may cheat you and your family through the notifications that appear on your iPhone. Therefore you must put your iPhone in ‘Lost Mode’ as soon as you realize that it is stolen. You can learn how to put your stolen iPhone in ‘Lost Mode’ from iCloud by following the steps given below:
- Launch your favorite web browser on your computer.
- Go to iCloud and sign in using your Apple ID.
- Click Find iPhone from the main page.
- Enter your account’s password again.
- Click Sign In for verification.
- Click All Devices from the top of the page.
- Click to select your stolen iPhone from the list.
- On the control box that appears next, click Lost Mode.
- Follow the prompts from there to complete the process.
Now that you know how to put your stolen iPhone into Lock Mode, you may also wish to understand what happens when you do so. You can check the points given below for an answer.
- The control box prompts you to enter an alternate number where you can be reached. Although this is optional, you must provide a backup number so that the person who finds it and wants to give it back to you can contact you.
- The next prompt suggests you type a message for anyone who finds your phone.
- As you click Done, Apple sends a confirmation mail to your registered email ID.
- Apple automatically suspends your payment cards and other similar services immediately.
- While in Lost Mode, your iPhone doesn’t show any notifications or alerts when it receives a message or an alarm threshold time is reached.
- On your iCloud, you can view the device’s location in real-time.
FAQs About a Stolen iPhone
After getting the answer to the question, can stolen iPhones be unlocked, some other queries that may come to your mind are listed below along with their answers.
1. Can you factory reset a stolen iPhone?
Yes, you can do so by going to www.icloud.com and logging into your iCloud account. From there, you can go to Find iPhone > All Devices > iPhone and then click Erase iPhone from the Control Box on the top-left of the page. This will remotely erase all content and data on your iPhone.
2. Can Apple brick a stolen iPhone?
Yes, it can, as long as it has the correct serial number, and the higher legal authorities force it to do so.
3. Is it safe to buy a stolen iPhone?
No, it’s not. Because iPhones are usually locked with their original owners’ Apple ID, you cannot get past the initial setup process and sign in with your account. Simply put, a stolen iPhone is completely useless.
4. Can a stolen new iPhone be used?
Although the answer is similar to what it is for the ‘can stolen iPhones be unlocked’ question, in some cases, yes, it can be used as long as it has not been set up before, doesn’t have a screen lock passcode, and Find My iPhone is not turned on. However, such a device can be used only until someone finds it missing and reports the theft. Once Apple receives a missing complaint, it can lock or permanently brick the smartphone so it cannot be misused.
