I have heard people have start disabling/changing IMEI numbers of cellphones? How true it can be for iphone5 seeing its features?

To change the IMEI number of a phone, you need professional equipment and a lot of knowledge. Beyond the scope of most thieves. Find My Phone only works if setup/activated & turned on, and the phone is connected to the Internet. It was never marketed as a way to locate stolen phones, only lost phones. Fact is, carriers won't even track lost/stolen phones without a court order, and carriers can see every phone on their network. About the best your carrier will do is Blacklist the phone, if they even offer Blacklisting.

More than likely, your phone was turned off, then restored in iTunes and either sold or is being used by the thief...most likely sold...thieves want money.

Well, the fact is. virtually every Mfg. of anything...cars, boats, phones, toasters, etc., have no desire to get into the business of tracking lost/stolen products. They are not the police & there is simply more downside than upside. If someone steals your car, the car Mfg. won't help you.

But, if you feel Apple can do more, tell Apple:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

I'm sorry for your loss. I feel for you as a victim myself.

If the police care about tracing the IMEI and it isn't changed it can be found. Friends of mine had their phone returned (in Italy) after 8 months. The new user wasn't the thief, but handed back the phone upon police request.

I also believe Apple could implement measures to block the phone from factory restore, block removal of location services (even keep find my iphone and hidden and active in wi-fi), etc etc etc.

I love Apple products. I first started using them in the 90's! I am, however, very hesitant to purchase a new iPhone after the theft of mine.

Perhaps if enough people pressure Apple to make changes (and no one expects Apple to seek out lost phones, or function as a crime-solver), something will be done.

I see these changes as being crucial to customer service.

i have alsi lost my iphone in delhi it was taken out from my pocket done the police compalint but concerned about what if the thief has changed its imei and it won;t be tracked

Hii Rishabh,

I too have lost my iphone 5 three months back... even m following the same procedure since 3 months .. but i guess its of no use ... Find my iphone app doesnt help us out in any way. Police have been telling me that your phone is still not switched on.. i dont think so because than its no point in stealing the phone for the theif..

i just have one request to make to apple .. that switching off the device is very easy and it can be done even if the phone is under a passcode lock.... please give some kind of lock that your device cannot be turned off untill you enter a passcode... so that atleast v have some hopes of getting it back through find my iphone app...

Recently i saw that the IMEI no of the phone also gets changed...if thats the case than i dont think so i have any chance to find it ... its a real loss for me .. i love apple products but because of this reason i am very hesitant to buy them again..

If possible please help me out ...

Sincere request to you Apple..!!!

hi Rishabh... brother even i lost my 5 few days back..
had some nice contacts with Delhi Police and they have surely put it on trace.
am also trying with some policemen on personal levels if something is possible.

lost it 15 days back..i am to ask if any of your efforts work..?

or all went in vain..??

Hello rishab

Bro itz a bit late i guess but i hope you would have got ur iphone back meanwhile about all that discussion relating FIND MY IPHONE i wanna make you all clear that this is one powerful tweak deployed by apple in ios7 and above in addition to this the scenario is very sophisticated nd u dont even need cops cyber crime cells police in india or any political relation here u juss need INTERNET

i owns a soft+hard repairing shop completely for iphones and while conducting unlocking and jailbreaking i discover several stolen devices and **** dese thief's dey bring such mint conditioned phones dat i feel a peanut in my pocket inplace of my iphone 4s.

But if u implemented security features or in other words if your FIND MY IPHONE app was switched on then no matter what u can take pictures from your rear camera or back one anytime even if it is switched off sooner or later its gonna be wireless it juss needs internet that it and here you go you can not even accquire its location even generate sounds through it by accessing you icloud account from www.icloud.com

I am telling you there is no way to bypass the activation screen of an iphone in stolen condition

Two days back even i lost my iphone5s.. find my phone is useless as phone was screen locked (they might have already flashed it by now to unlock it).

I have high hopes of getting it back by IMEI number..Please let me know if any of you got your phone back using IMEI number or even IMEI number can be easily changed?

I would like to point out that 99.9 % of the time a user misplaces there phone or leaves it laying somewhere. which is not considered stealing if you happen to come across a phone that was lost. I have tried to no success to find out how to get a phone back to the customer and the response I received was very shocking. I was told by the apple support team that they cant give out or contact the owner of a lost phone. so with that in mind what is a person suppose to do if they have no way of returning or even finding out who the phone belongs to.

my idea is to make the phone have a if lost and found info screen that can be activated by the owner so that they can be contacted if there phone is found. but that is not going to happen because the makers of the phones will lose money if you did not lose your phone in the first place. think about it.

so before you call someone a theft make sure you know what your talking about. I personally either resell lost phones oversea or use them for parts which is all you can do.

so before you go blaming anyone you need to blame yourself for not taking better care not to leave your phone behind.

Hi,

I would like to make a request that if someone finds a lost iphone (or any valuable belonging of someone else) and is kind enough to try returning it to the owner, but don't know how, they can always hand it over to the local police lost and found.

This is what they should do - hand it over to a lost and found - not make money out of someone else's unfortunate situation.

Thanks.