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Find my iPhone doesn't work

After having my first iPhone stolen, I decided to try the app "Find my iphone" on my friend's loaner iPhone 3GS to see how and if it really works.


When I turned it on, I ensured that these were all setup:


- Location Services: ON

- Find My iPhone: ON

- Cellular Data: ON (3 Bars Service at the time)

- WiFi: ON and connected to the router

- Internet utilizing apps: ON and in use


Doing all this, I went to iCloud.com and decided to locate the phone, and test out the Find my iPhone feature. After 5 attempts to locate and 1 attempt to send the phone a message, it still came up as "No Location" and then "Offline".


I was browsing the internet on iPhone's Safari App, while these "finding attempts" were going on. What a miserable fail.


Now I'm wondering if whoever stole my iPhone 4S is actually browsing the internet and having a wonderful time while I sit here miserable, thinking that this feature actually provided a service that I could use to find my phone. Appears to me, through my experience, that this is a total fluke.


My sister's Droid actually has a phone finding app that works. It was very disappointing to hear that her non-Apple product topped the abilities of my iPhone 4S. As much as it hurts, I actually decided that I will switch to that new Samsung sIII in the following week. I feel like I got jipped by my favorite company 😟

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1, iPhone 3GS test also

Posted on Sep 4, 2012 12:35 AM

Reply
47 replies

Feb 21, 2013 12:32 AM in response to karup.meyyappan

I had the same problem, location services on, find my iphone on in location services, was connected to internet and maps also resolved my location. I am on iOS 6 with iPhone 4.


I noticed that in location services I had some apps set to Off. Twitter and Facebook being two of those. I decided to turn them on and when I did my phone was immediately found by the Find My iPhone app on iCloud.com. Maybe this has to do with the integration of these apps in iOS 6?

Aug 7, 2015 11:49 AM in response to karup.meyyappan

Well, here it is August 2015 and iPhones are still having the same problem. I have tried everything and cannot locate my hubby's phone when he is gone. Period. He had a heart attack 2 months ago and it was working then. Very scary. Why does not Apple have some regular bug updates to clear these know problems? Thank you Apple for dealing with these issues.

Jan 13, 2016 3:18 PM in response to karup.meyyappan

This is another failed program from Apple. Instead of just one switch, Apple has IBM'd up the process, giving so many possible switches that it's impossible to know yourself how to turn this feature on so it actually works! There are four places that could possibly be the issue, that I've found. In iCloud settings there is the "master" find my iphone switch at the bottom. In Privacy settings there is a Location Services switch that can be on or off. Then if you scroll down below the apps that can be on or off in location services there is System Services. Within System Services, there are two switches that could affect the process. One is the second Find my iPhone switch, which doesn't seem to affect the position of the iCloud switch. Then lower is the Share my Location switch. It is not apparent here if this switch affects the process or if this is only for friends to see where you are. Finally, if you restore your iPhone via iTunes, you turn off this feature and I haven't found out how to get it back again. Apple is having some serious problems. Get back to basics. Simple is better.

Jan 29, 2016 8:49 PM in response to Julian Wright

Julian,


As a long-time Apple customer who just arrived here with the same problem described by karup.meyyappan, I am troubled by your reply, which seems unnecessarily angry. Since the user did make a legitimate inquiry, I think it would have been better if you had ignored the Samsung reference and just answered the question. I would like to respectfully request that you edit your reply to eliminate the angry tone.


Thank you.


Ralph

Jan 29, 2016 9:37 PM in response to J Bertram

Find My Phone is either enabled or disabled in one place.


Settings > iCloud > Find my Phone.


All those other settings you list are for other purposes and do not affect FMIP. You are listing other purposes for Location Services, not FMIP.


You can turn location series OFF, but if you do and FMIP is on, you should see a notice that LOST MODE will turn location services back on if used.


When you restore your phone via iTunes, nothing on the phone is ON. When you run the setup assistant after restoring your phone, by signing in to iCloud, you are enabling FMIP. This is the default since iOS 8.

Find my iPhone doesn't work

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