A friends husband died unexpectedly and she wants to access information on the phone. She does not know the password for the phone. How would this be possible?
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Deceased husband's iPhone needs to be unlocked
- Thread starter brainwave89
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Thank you GGJstudios.
Since there were no backups I am still looking suggestions on how to recover information on the iPhone w/o deleting the contents of the phone.
Since there were no backups I am still looking suggestions on how to recover information on the iPhone w/o deleting the contents of the phone.
Its not possible. Sorry.
Edit:
If he had a computer with the iCloud software on it it maybe possible to log in and see contacts and other stuff. Also if he has a computer and you can log in, and he uses google chrome you can see all of his passwords.
Edit:
If he had a computer with the iCloud software on it it maybe possible to log in and see contacts and other stuff. Also if he has a computer and you can log in, and he uses google chrome you can see all of his passwords.
If you have access to his Apple ID you can restore the phone from the last iCloud backup. Restored iPhones don't have a passcode set by default.
Didn't mention the phone or IOS version. As I understand it, with older phones and IOS versions it might be possible to hack the passcode with relatively inexpensive hardware/software. With newer phones and IOS 8, it is not possible.
It's not possible for the simple reason: Scam
How does anyone know what really happened, the phone could have been found or stolen.
The person who posted has a history of posting with MacRumors, why would you assume it's a scam? At any rate, the information is on google for all to look at. Of course, it would be best, if somehow the passcode or apple id could be recovered.
xban is not saying that this particular case is a scam.
But it's not possible to open up a locked phone, no matter how convincing your story is, because as he said, scam is always a possibility.
Encryption does not care who you are or what has happened. If it's locked, it's locked, and there's no way around that. I'm sorry.
If it is an iPhone 4 or lower and the passcode is 4 digits it can easily be brute forced.
If the iPhone was synced with a computer and you have access to that computer you can make a backup with that computer even if it is lost. This backup could be restored to the iPhone (if the iPhone isn't configured to encrypt backups).
Additionally there is some hardware which also can do a brute force of the code. It works better with iOS 7 installed on the phone but there is also some iOS 8 support.
I suggest you talk to the police, maybe they will help you.
If the iPhone was synced with a computer and you have access to that computer you can make a backup with that computer even if it is lost. This backup could be restored to the iPhone (if the iPhone isn't configured to encrypt backups).
Additionally there is some hardware which also can do a brute force of the code. It works better with iOS 7 installed on the phone but there is also some iOS 8 support.
I suggest you talk to the police, maybe they will help you.
Even so, how do we know he expressly wanted his phone to be unlocked with family trawling through it?
Drag'nGT is right. If Apple somehow was able to bypass the encryption, the FBIs wouldn't have made such a fuss of it. Even if Apple was able to do so, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want anyone to know that they can indeed bypass it. Either way, that's not going to happen.
Not with iOS 8. That's why Apple made a big deal that even if authorities present them with a court order they can no longer unlock a phone.
All you need is the Apple id and password, which is unclear if the ops friend has or not. Certainly some of this would be easier if that was the case.
If the phone is already locked, it will not ask for a new passcode - it uses the existing one. If the phone does not have a passcode, it will ask you to set one as part of the "lost mode" dialogue.
Looks like this device can do it if your husband was using a 4 digit pin...
http://blog.mdsec.co.uk/2015/03/bruteforcing-ios-screenlock.html
http://blog.mdsec.co.uk/2015/03/bruteforcing-ios-screenlock.html
if my wife died the last thing i'd be trying to do is "access information" that is clearly hers and not mine
mmmmm fishy fishy
mmmmm fishy fishy
You don't know the circumstances of his passing. Perhaps he was killed by someone? And the info on the phone could help to find the perp.
Maybe there is contact info for friends that need to know of his passing, and the phone is the only place that info is located.
And many more possibilities. It doesn't mean she is snooping.
I just posted a new thread with a somewhat similar situation. In my case, I have my husband's passcode. He had mine and I had his. To the people questioning why someone would want to go through their deceased spouse's phone, I can give you a lot of reasons. When my husband passed, I used his phone to to get phone numbers of his relatives and friends to advise them of his passing. He was a flight instructor, so as his students texted him with questions and setting up lessons, I advised them that he had passed away. And then there's the memories! Photos, videos, of our life together! I needed to have those. Wait until it happens to you, then see how precious those glimpses of memories are! I also used his call log and text messages to create a timeline to turn over to my attorney working on a possible wrongful death lawsuit.
My wife and I both know our passcodes and have our thumb print as one of the fingerprints for touch id to our phones. We've always done this. I have my Google account set up so she owns it if I pass away. She knows all my passwords - I have a password protected document for her just in case I do pass (with all my passwords, bank account info, credit card info, etc...). I'm only 31 but can't be too careful. I travelled a lot this last year for business (even overseas) so figured it couldn't hurt.
https://myaccount.google.com/inactive
https://myaccount.google.com/inactive