My phone was recently stolen. When I go to find my iPhone it just says offline. Obviously when something is stolen, it will probably be shut off. Is there no way to track where it was last on? My buddy has an app from the android store that tracks where his phone has been, and I'm a clumsy person, am I just better off making the change?
iPhone 5s, iOS 7.1.1
Nilla-Thunder wrote:
My phone was recently stolen. When I go to find my iPhone it just says offline. Obviously when something is stolen, it will probably be shut off. Is there no way to track where it was last on?
Yes.
Using iCloud, set it to Lost Mode.
-> http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2700
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2698
How reliable that "last known" is I can't say. If the iPhone was turned off, or otherwise didn't "check in" to the Find My iPhone service, then there wouldn't be a location. Other factors may similar cause it not to show anything. It's an aid, not a 100% reliable tracking system (there is no such thing possible).
Regards.
The purpose is to assist you in locating a lost or misplaced phone. If you had Find my iPhone activated on it, you can at least feel better in that the phone is absolutely useless to whoever stole it. It's a brick.
Whether you want to switch to something else or not is up to you. I fail to see how being clumsy relates to having your phone stolen or the ability to track it.
Find My Phone has to have the iPhone turned on and connected to the Internet to function. Since you show iOS 7.1.1 that also invokes the Activation Lock which renders the iPhone usless to a thief...that cannot be bypassed.
Report the theft to the police, the carrier in case they offer blacklisting, change all passwords associated with accounts on the iPhone.
Look, Find My Phone is easy to defeat, & just about every crook out there knows how to immediately defeat it.
But, Apple never designed or marketed Find My Phone as a theft prevention or help system. It's strictly a way to help recover "lost" phones, nothing more. Big difference between "lost", & "stolen".
Another "but", iOS now has Activation Lock. Makes stolen phones useless. We'll see if that slows down the thieves. Time will tell.
The last known location is displayed for 24 hours. If it's been longer than that and the iPhone is turned off, has had the SIM removed, or has been restored, then it will appear as "offline" with no location returned. You can set Find My iPhone to "“Notify me when found” to get an email when it comes online, but most likely it never will. Most thieves know at least to restore it or pull the SIM, though many haven't caught on to Activation Lock which prevents the iPhone from being used (presuming you had a screenlock passcode set) or will find some sucker to buy it anyway.
Regards.
Nilla-Thunder wrote:
Chris, I have done all of that. It just says "offline," not where it was last on.
Because it has not been online since you enabled Lost Mode.
When it goes online, it will get tracked and you will be able to see where it was and when.
Nilla-Thunder wrote:
Thanks for your help. Apple just lost another long time customer.
Excellent!
Good luck!
And don't forget to first enable the option for google to track everywhere you go with your device.
My point being that you have to first enable it before it will do anything. Isn't that what you were compalingin about uin this thread?
I have nothing to hide in life,
Irrelevant.
I bet you won't post your phone number, bank account & PIN, CC numbers, etc.
Well I thought by using find my iPhone I was enabling such a thing. I'm not dumb enough to use my phone for mobile banking, making online purchases, etc. Now your just sounding ridiculous. I hope you don't actually work for Apple. There's a reason the iPhone (at its current decline) won't exist in about 5 years.
That's not true. I was under the impression it tracked your phone, I'll take full blame for that. Due to my own ignorance, I didn't know it only found its current location while connected to the internet.
Nilla-Thunder wrote:
That's not true. I was under the impression it tracked your phone, I'll take full blame for that. Due to my own ignorance, I didn't know it only found its current location while connected to the internet.
Um, Android phones also need to be connected to the internet to have their location tracked.
Tracker: a device that follows and records the movements of someone or something.
When android is activated it keeps a record of its previous whereabouts until the phone is no longer connected.
Find my iPhone: by definition not a tracker, it doesn't record and log it's previous locations. It's a finder, it can only show your phones precise location.
As in, I would like to see where my phone was last before it was shut off, destroyed, etc. I understand I can't track any phones current location without internet, but a log of its last known whereabouts. Does that make sense?
No, because the history of where it has been will show where you had it before it was stolen. When they steal the phone they will pull the SIM and turn the phone off. You will be able to get that location which is probably the last place you remember having it, i.e. if it was in your car when it was stolen you will see the location of your car. With the Android app you will also see where it was when you were driving, that it was at your house when you got up, etc. I'm not sure how this helps recover your phone.
You should have been able to see the last known position of your iPhone using Find My iPhone if it was set up, I'm not sure why you were not able to. But again that last location will be where the thief stole it.
What is the purpose of find my iPhone?
