Apparatus and method for accessing contact lists on an electronic device that is unavailable or unusable

A method for an apparatus incorporating a memory and a processor, the memory configured to store a plurality of contact lists and the processor coupled to the memory, the method comprising:

• receiving, from an unknown device, an access identifier corresponding to an inaccessible device and a group identifier associated with a group profile;
• identifying a contact list corresponding to the inaccessible device from the plurality of contact lists based on the access identifier;
• determining a plurality of contact devices each related to a different user in a group in the contact list corresponding to the group identifier;
• initiating communication with the plurality of contact devices for the different users in the group until a contact device is successfully contacted, wherein a phone number of the inaccessible device is used in place of a phone number of the unknown device when initiating communication with the plurality of contact devices;
• and
• connecting the unknown device to the contact device that is successfully contacted.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, causes a processor to:

• receive, from an unknown device, an access identifier corresponding to an inaccessible device and a group identifier associated with a group profile;
• identify a contact list corresponding to the inaccessible device from a plurality of contact lists based on the access identifier;
• determine a plurality of contact devices each related to a different user in a group in the contact list corresponding to the group identifier;
• initiate communication with the plurality of contact devices for the different users in the group until a contact device is successfully contacted, wherein a phone number of the inaccessible device is used in place of a phone number of the unknown device when initiating communication with the plurality of contact devices;
• and
• connect the unknown device to the contact device that is successfully contacted.