I found an iPhone 4 in a store, handed it in and after two months it wasn't claimed so I was given it. After purchasing a charger i found out it is password protected and I obviously have no access to the original computer it is synced to. Is there any way that I can restore it to factory settings for my own use? I have no idea what version of iOS is installed on the phone and I have access to a pc and mac to do it. Also out of pure stupidity i left it with a friend of mine to unlock. He simply tried entering loads of passcodes to break into it to restore it in the settings and now it needs to be connected to itunes... When I do it says its passcode locked and needs to be unlocked to use... HELP! I'm not very clued up on this sort of thing at all so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks all

Originally Posted by a.jay

I found an iPhone 4 in a store, handed it in and after two months it wasn't claimed so I was given it. After purchasing a charger i found out it is password protected and I obviously have no access to the original computer it is synced to. Is there any way that I can restore it to factory settings for my own use? I have no idea what version of iOS is installed on the phone and I have access to a pc and mac to do it. Also out of pure stupidity i left it with a friend of mine to unlock. He simply tried entering loads of passcodes to break into it to restore it in the settings and now it needs to be connected to itunes... When I do it says its passcode locked and needs to be unlocked to use... HELP! I'm not very clued up on this sort of thing at all so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks all

Do you require unofficial unlock? In your country they could easily have IMEI blacklisted this device when it was reported lost. Especially if it was on a contract and the owner claimed a replacement on insurance. That might make it impossible to use as anything more than an iPod touch (ie phone/sms functionality disabled)

Get TinyUmbrella - force the device into recovery mode http://www.hackint0sh.org/f137/54082.htm
Find what iOS version and baseband are currently loaded.
Try and save SHSH blobs.

Then report your success back here, we can give you some more advice then.

1. Get your phone and hook it up to iTunes.
2. Once connected, right-click on the device in the list and select 'Backup'. You might also want to do the rest while you're there too for safety such as 'Sync' and 'Transfer purchases'.
3. Restore the iPhone either through iTunes (hit the 'Restore' button when the device is connected) or on the handset by going to 'Settings' > 'General' > 'Reset' > 'Erase All Content and Settings').
4. When finished, you'll be asked to restore from backup or set up as a new phone. Pick the second option (backup) and select the backup. It should be the one from Step 2 (note the date/time).

It will only delete everything from the iPhone, not your iTunes library/backups there. Sync and backup first before you do anything.

mikeedward is incorrect. You should *NEVER* EVER do an 'erase all content and settings' on a jailbroken phone. This will leave the phone in a completely unusable state where it must be restored. At this very second, this won't cause any problems because Apple is still signing iOS 6.1 and 6.1.1, and both can be jailbroken by evasi0n, however, all it will take is Apple to release iOS 6.2 or 6.1.2 and you will have completely screwed yourself by erasing.

In short, NEVER do an erase all content and settings if you are jailbroken, it is almost never a good solution to the problem being encountered and for some reason people can't resist the urge to hit the dang button. I can't stress enough, the only time that an erase all content and settings would help would be when you couldn't do it because the phone wasn't booting anyways.

Last but not least, NONE of that will work anyways, because the phone will NOT restore in iTunes if it is passcode locked and not in DFU mode, and you can only erase all content and settings if you can unlock the phone and access the home screen. Your only option would be to put the phone into DFU mode and restore iOS if you did not know the passcode.

Originally Posted by mikeedward

1. Get your phone and hook it up to iTunes.
2. Once connected, right-click on the device in the list and select 'Backup'. You might also want to do the rest while you're there too for safety such as 'Sync' and 'Transfer purchases'.
3. Restore the iPhone either through iTunes (hit the 'Restore' button when the device is connected) or on the handset by going to 'Settings' > 'General' > 'Reset' > 'Erase All Content and Settings').
4. When finished, you'll be asked to restore from backup or set up as a new phone. Pick the second option (backup) and select the backup. It should be the one from Step 2 (note the date/time).

It will only delete everything from the iPhone, not your iTunes library/backups there. Sync and backup first before you do anything.

I would sign up to iCloud if you haven't and then use the over the air backup to backup your iPhone

Originally Posted by tylcr

I would sign up to iCloud if you haven't and then use the over the air backup to backup your iPhone

I don't think people are even reading the question anymore. OP has a phone that is locked with a passcode that cannot be unlocked and they are trying to gain access. There's no way to get to iCloud with the phone locked.

Closing thread.