Lost iPhone 5? Have a few questions about what to do.

iphone5kid282 · Apr 18, 2013

Okay, so I lost my iphone 5 a few days ago, but just got a new one today. Although it sucks and all, I am really more concerned about the information on the old phone and who may have access to it. The phone did have a password on it, so assuming that whoever may have found it doesn't know the password, is there anyway for them to get into my phone and look at all my personal conversations/photos and Facebook/twitter/instagram apps? I know there is a way to delete the password, but that would wipe everything off the phone, correct?

I am kind of freaking out as I dont want anyone to see certain things on my phone, but I just want the peace of mind knowing that hopefully they will never see it. I am considering the phone gone for good, as long as the person who found it wasn't able to see anything than I am happy.

Thanks guys,
a freaked out lost iphone owner

Darkstar2007 · Apr 18, 2013

They'll have to do a DFU restore to get inside a passcode locked iPhone. Which would wipe all of your data clean!

So no worries on that end. I hate to hear it was stolen in the first place. I know it's sad to lose personal data, but hopefully you had it all backed up.

iphone5kid282 · Apr 18, 2013

Yeah, I do. Its really kind of my fault, im pretty sure i dropped it somewhere or just plain forgot it. But no one has tried to return it in the past 2 days so im afraid its gone.

Luckily my new 5 came in today!

Darkstar2007 · Apr 18, 2013

iphone5kid282 said:
Yeah, I do. Its really kind of my fault, im pretty sure i dropped it somewhere or just plain forgot it. But no one has tried to return it in the past 2 days so im afraid its gone.

Luckily my new 5 came in today!

It's great you were able to obtain a replacement iPhone 5! Hopefully, this won't be another problem for you in the future!
Also, it's worth downloading "Find my iPhone". If you ever lose it again, you can log onto a computer and locate it via GPS. Worth having just in case.