As soon as I realized my phone was missing, I put it in Lost Most and requested my mobile service provider to block my SIM to avoid its misuse. However, today I saw it lying under my sofa. So, my question is, I found my lost iPhone how to unlock it?
I searched the Internet and to my surprise, the solution was pretty simple. I also found some alternate remedies that I could use if the first, most straightforward process fails to work.
If you are in the same situation as I was, the following sections will teach you how to unlock a lost iPhone once you got it back.
Solution 1: Directly Enter Your Passcode for Screen Lock
Because Apple locks your iPhone with the passcode you specify for the screen lock, you just need to swipe up the screen and enter the correct code to unlock the iPhone and immediately take it out from Lost Mode. The data on your iPhone will not be affected and is the same as what it was before being lost.
The reason for this is, once you get to your iPhone’s Home screen, Apple assumes that you are the righteous owner of the device and removes all its restrictions so you can gain unrestricted access to it.
Although the process to unlock the device and get to the Home screen is identical to what you usually do, you may get baffled by the message the locked screen displays when it is in Lock Mode. At this point, you are suggested not to panic and use the regular method where you swipe up to see the virtual keypad and enter the passcode normally.
Solution 2: Disable ‘Lost Mode’ On iCloud
If one of your friends, relatives, or colleagues found your iPhone, you can unlock it remotely by disabling ‘Lock Mode’ from your iCloud account. You can learn how to unlock lost mode in iPhone via the web interface by following the step-by-step instructions given below:
- On your Windows or Mac computer, launch your favorite Internet browser.
- Go to www.icloud.com.
- Type your Apple ID and password when the page prompts.
- Press Enter to sign in to your account.
- From the main page, click Find iPhone.
- Enter your account’s password again if the portal prompts for that.
- Click Sign In.
- From the top of the next page, click All Devices.
- Click your iPhone from the list that drops down.
- On the Control Box that appears on the next screen, click Lost Mode.
- On the next screen, click Stop Lost Mode.
- Click Done from the top-right corner of the Control Box.
- Click Stop Lost Mode on the confirmation box to bring your iPhone out of lost mode.
Solution 3: If You Forgot the Screen Passcode
If your iPhone is found after a long time since it was lost, you may forget your passcode, although this situation is extremely rare. In this case, you cannot unlock the iPhone without losing the data on the device.
If you forgot the passcode for the screen lock but still remember the Apple ID, you can put your iPhone into recovery mode and use iTunes to restore your iPhone.
If you forgot the passcode for the screen lock and the old Apple ID, you may use iTunes to restore your device. However, you will be locked by the iCloud Activation Lock when your iPhone restarts.
In this case, you will have to use a third-party tool to unlock your device, for example, AnyUnlock developed by iMobie. It can bypass the iCloud activation lock when you forgot the password of your Apple ID. Remember that not all devices can be unlocked using this tool. You can check the limitations here.
AnyUnlock is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers. To learn how to unlock a lost iPhone if you can’t remember the screen lock passcode and Apple ID, you can follow the instructions given below:
- Download and install iMobie AnyUnlock. Launch the program.
- Click Bypass iCloud Activation Lock from the main interface.
- Use the Lightning Cable to connect your iPhone to the computer.
- Wait while AnyUnlock detects your device.
- Click Start Now on the screen that appears next.
- On the next window, check the I have read and agreed to Terms of Use box.
- Click Jailbreak Now.
- Click Next on the Please Jailbreak Your Device screen.
- On the next window, click Bypass Now.
- Wait while AnyUnlock bypasses iCloud Activation Lock.
- Click Done on the completion page.
As a powerful unlock tool, iMobie AnyUnlock also has some other features:
- Unlock Screen Passcode. When you forgot the passcode for the screen lock of your iDevice.
- Bypass Mobile Device Manage (MDM). Useful when you can’t access your iPhone because it is being supervised and controlled by the organization you work or used to work with.
- Unlock Apple ID. When your iPhone is linked with your Apple ID but you can’t recall it.
- Remove SIM Lock. To get past the SIM lock barrier.
- Turn Off ‘Find My iPhone’. When ‘Find My iPhone’ is preventing you from performing a factory reset because you can’t remember your Apple ID.
- Remove iTunes Backup Encryption. When you enabled the encryption of your iPhone backup but don’t want to encrypt iTunes backup anymore.
- Unlock Screen Time Passcode. When you cannot disable the Screen Time passcode to use your iPhone without time restrictions.
- iTunes Backup Password Recovery. When you forgot the password for an encrypted iPhone backup created via iTunes.
Conclusion
To summarize, if you found your lost iPhone back, it’s easy to unlock it as long as you remember your screen lock passcode. The problem will arise if you forget both, in which case you must rely on a third-party tool that can unlock the device but you may have limited access to iPhone’s features. In my case, when I got my phone back and conducted an online search for ‘I found my lost iPhone how do I unlock it, I came to know about the solutions that I shared above to help anyone else who is in the same situation.
