Unable to erase iPhone because I can't see screen - ideas?

[RetiredInFl]

My grand daughter broke the screen on her iPhone 5s. She got a new 6S. I want to erase the 5S and All I can see is the top 1/10th of her screen.

I know the pin. I know the login email. Trying to "guess" where the keypad is I ended up with a locked phone. Now I can see (when it boots up the "your iPhone is locked" screen strangely is visible. It says "you iPhone is disabled connect to iTunes." So I connect to iTunes and it wants me to "respond to the iPhone to allow access" so I assume so I can enter a pin or email or whatever. Problem is, I can't "find" the "OK TO TRUST" on the screen.

I'm in a catch 22 here. I have all the info but I can get to the phone through any means to erase it. I even went into recovery mode (I can see the top of the USB connector on the screen) but get the "connect to itunes" prompt from the phone and then "accept trust.". Is there any way to get around this so I can erase the phone and recover a few bucks for her selling it for parts. I don't want to sell it with her data plus the phone is locked.

Is there any way around this? If I took it to Apple Store with the PIN & email would they be able to erase it?


This is all I can see:

 

[Shirasaki]

If I were you I would just bring this phone to a local repair store and replace the screen. Or you can try to buy a screen from eBay and replace it yourself.
If, your device is not locked, you can find another phone with same screen size and same version of iOS to better guess your passcode or perform certain actions like accepting request on your iPhone.
However, to "accept request", you should first unlock your device using correct passcode. Accept request only shows on unlocked iPhone home screen, not on lock screen.

 

[AppleFan91]

Long shot but get the device connected to the internet. Whether you pop a SIM card in or somehow get it connected to wifi. Once that's done, get on a computer (NOT mobile device including iPad) go to iCloud.com -> Find my iPhone -> Erase iPhone. Then click "All Devices" At the top /center of the screen and then hit the little gray "X" that way it will remove the device from that Apple ID. The phone will now be wiped with Find my iPhone turned off.

 

[RetiredInFl]

BRILLIANT! That worked! Thank You!

Long shot but get the device connected to the internet. Whether you pop a SIM card in or somehow get it connected to wifi. Once that's done, get on a computer (NOT mobile device including iPad) go to iCloud.com -> Find my iPhone -> Erase iPhone. Then click "All Devices" At the top /center of the screen and then hit the little gray "X" that way it will remove the device from that Apple ID. The phone will now be wiped with Find my iPhone turned off.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Can you undo that and make the motherboard usable again?

 

[AppleFan91]

BRILLIANT! That worked! Thank You!

Awesome! Glad to hear

 

[Applejuiced]

Or you could just plug it to iTunes and restore it.

 

[RetiredInFl]

Or you could just plug it to iTunes and restore it.

As noted in my OP that didn't work because I had to "trust" the device and I was unable to get to that option on the phone because A) The phone was locked from too many PIN tries and B) the screen was shot and I couldn't see the screen. That was the first thing I tried but couldn't get past the "you have to trust this device to continue."

The "remote erase" from iCloud required no intervention and worked flawlessly. All done and I sold the phone "as-is parts only" for $100 and gave the $85 net $$$ to my grand-daughter to help pay for her new phone. I was even able to get it unlocked from AT&T once it was erased.

All's well that ends well!

 

[Applejuiced]

Glad it worked out.
But you don't really need to trust the device to restore an iPhone.
You can put it in recovery mode or dfu restore mode and restore using iTunes without having to trust the computer.
Just so you and others know for future reference.