Unlock mobile phone

judithray6

I have my sons iPhone. He passed away last year. I want his phone unlocked so I can use my SIM card in his. Apple store will not unlock it without proof of purchase which I do not have. Can anyone help?

elsien

Is this because it’s locked to a particular network or because you haven’t got the passcode to get into it?

Newcad

Sorry, but Apple are correct.

Whilst I understand, and you have my sympathy if this is your deceased son's phone, without any proof of that then nobody ethical will help you unlock it.

(For all anyone knows without proof of ownership then this may even be a stolen phone, so nobody ethical will help without such proof).

cerebus

judithray6 said:

I have my sons iPhone. He passed away last year. I want his phone unlocked so I can use my SIM card in his. Apple store will not unlock it without proof of purchase which I do not have. Can anyone help?

No   no one can help you , apples security is very strict to precisely make it not worth stealing iphones as they are just bricks without the login details.

If this is truly your deceased sons phone then I sympathise,  if it is not then shame on you 

TELLIT01

Presumably there will be evidence somewhere of the phone number being assigned to him.  Won't they accept that along with death certificate and probate letter if probate was required?

tempus_fugit

TELLIT01 said:

Presumably there will be evidence somewhere of the phone number being assigned to him.  Won't they accept that along with death certificate and probate letter if probate was required?

That might give the OP the right to own the device but does not necessarily give them the right to the personal information on the phone, which access to phone would subsequently give them. This whole area is a minefield, and you generally need a court order to access someone else's device. There is the option to set up legacy contacts which is a way of designating people to whom you are willing to release your information to up death. Without that there's little chance of getting into the phone without knowing the password.

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

Presumably there will be evidence somewhere of the phone number being assigned to him.  Won't they accept that along with death certificate and probate letter if probate was required?

It's not just a question of the phone number but the account and device... son could have been using a stolen phone for all anyone knows. 

Secondly there is the matter of the son's privacy... unusually the OP doesn't want to access it to see their photo collection etc for family memories but more pragmatically wants a better phone for themselves. Some people's photo collections may not be what their relatives expect and its not Apple's role to decide if your family should get to see what you were looking at late at night or not. 

No help to the OP but Apple do now allow you to set up a "legacy" contact who will be able to get access to the iCloud account on request on your death if you wish to to make the process easier. 

cerebus

Or much more simply let a loved one know your passwords or stick them in your will if you don't want them to be known when you're alive 

PHK

First of all I'm sorry for your loss and that the tone of some of the answers has been a little unpleasant. 

Apple's process is that on production of a death certificate and proof of ownership (not necessarily a receipt) they will remotely erase the phone and remove the accounts from it. You'll then be able to set it up like a new phone. 

If you want the information on the phone then that would need a court order and some information is encrypted so can't be provided at all. 

For anyone else reading this, if you have a phone then please setup either a legacy contact (for an iPhone) or nominate someone using Google Inactive account manager ( for an Android). These allow a person you nominate to access your information, you control exactly what, should you pass away or not log in for six months. It saves all the upset when someone passes away.

Abbafan1972

Can someone explain how you set up a legacy contact and what it involves please? 

Tassie_Devil

Abbafan1972 said:

Can someone explain how you set up a legacy contact and what it involves please? 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102631