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If my iphone is stolen how can i retrieve photos from stolen device via photostream or icloud

My iphone was stolen 1 month ago. I have set up an ´erase content´ and icloud block via the find my iphone app. Will I be able to retrieve photos from taken on my stolen iphone via photostream or an icloud restore/back up some how?


Someone has contacted saying they bought my stolen iphone (in peru) and are asking that I unblock my phone. I have since recieved a new iphone via insurance but would like to now if there is a way to access my photos taken on the stolen device. Because I have a macbook that is also logged into my icloud account, will i somehow be able to access my old photos from my macbook?

Posted on Aug 14, 2014 12:40 PM

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Posted on Aug 14, 2014 12:52 PM

If you have photos from the phone that are still in Photo Stream you can turn on Photo Stream on your Mac following the instructions in iCloud: My Photo Stream FAQ That assumes that you had Photo Stream turned on and that there are photos still in it.

If you did a backup to iCloud before your lost the phone, you cannot restore that to your Mac. It will only restore to an iOS device.

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Aug 14, 2014 12:52 PM in response to prudacris

If you have photos from the phone that are still in Photo Stream you can turn on Photo Stream on your Mac following the instructions in iCloud: My Photo Stream FAQ That assumes that you had Photo Stream turned on and that there are photos still in it.

If you did a backup to iCloud before your lost the phone, you cannot restore that to your Mac. It will only restore to an iOS device.

Aug 15, 2014 1:37 PM in response to prudacris

I'm not sure what you mean by "blocked via the iCloud" -- maybe you mean "locked"?


If there was no passcode on the phone and if the person insures that the phone doesn't have internet access (via either wi-fi or cellular data) then whoever has it could access the data on the phone. The most you can do is Erase the device as described in the following link and hope that it eventually gets internet access so that it will receive the signal telling it to erase. Do NOT remove the device from your account as that would turn off the Activation Lock and allow them to use the phone. This is per the following quote from If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen

Erase your device. To prevent anyone else from accessing the data on your missing device, you can erase it remotely. When you erase your device, all of your information will be deleted from the device, and you won't be able to locate it using Find My iPhone. After you erase a device, you can't track it. If you remove the device from your account after you erase it, Activation Lock will be turned off. This allows another person to activate and use your device.

Aug 8, 2017 7:29 AM in response to mo12468

mo12468 wrote:


Hi, I also lost my iPhone. I was wondering, how did the person know to contact you? Is there something you did?


Thanks!

If you put the phone in Lost Mode you can put a message it can display a message on the lock screen. See the following from If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen - Apple Support

Turn on Lost Mode. Using Lost Mode, you can remotely lock your device with a passcode, display a custom message with your phone number on your missing device's Lock screen, and keep track of your device's location.

Aug 15, 2014 1:15 PM in response to FoxFifth

someone who allegedly bought my stolen iphone is contacting me to remove the icloud block. If I choose to remove my stolen iphone from the 'find my iphone' app. will the person who has my stolen phone have access to my pictures/content? or will it still remain blocked? also, i see there is a setting on 'find my iphone' to have all content deleted from the device when it gains access to wifi. as of now i have this feature to erase content 'on'. but can i assume my content has been erased via this setting even though the phone is still blocked via the icloud? or when will the erasing occur?

Aug 19, 2014 9:14 AM in response to prudacris

i cannot remotely erase the iPhone right now when i go to the 'find my iPhone' app. It tells me the device is offline and when it connects to wifi it will be erased. How can I remotely erase the iPhone and then remove the device from the 'fjnd my iPhone' app?? because right now, someone who was sold my stolen iPhone is emailing and asking that I remove the icloud block, but I want to make sure that my devices content is erased. As I am understanding it now, if I remove the device from 'find my iPhone' then the erase process will not take place and the person who has my phone will be able to access my device with all my content in tact. Is this true?

Aug 19, 2014 9:46 AM in response to prudacris

The erase should take place the next time the phone is on and connected to a data network (via wi-fi or cellular). There is no need for them to enter your password. More details: iCloud: Erase your device


They don't have to enter your Apple ID password for that to happen. Do NOT give them your password, now or ever. They do not need to enter anything for the erase to take place. It just needs to connect to a data network (and that may not be possible if the phone is outside of your cellular carrier's area and if it cannot connect to wi-fi).


Do NOT remove the device from your account. The quote below is from If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is lost or stolen

What if your iOS device is off or offline?

If your missing device is off or offline, you can still put it in Lost Mode, lock it, or remotely erase it. The next time your device is online, these actions will take effect. If you remove the device from your account while it's offline, any pending actions for the device will be cancelled.


There isn't anything else you can do at this point to make the phone erase -- you have done what you can do. If the phone did not have a passcode, they have likely already had access to your data if the phone is in a foreign country since it wouldn't be online (connected to wi-fi or cellular) unless they intentionally did that.

Aug 21, 2014 11:22 AM in response to FoxFifth

Thank you for your help. a few days ago I restored my new iPhone by first updating to the latest software then erasing all content and settings and restoring the phone by selecting the previous backup from iCloud. My phone was plugged in and connected to wifi. Everything seemed to be working fine with the restore. I left it overnight and the next morning all the apps were loaded. I unplugged and left my wifi zone. But a message popped up saying that I needed to be connected to wifi to continue the restoration process. At this point when going to photos I could see a 'downloading' message at the bottom like it was still uploading photos from the backup. Also, after going to my music only a few albums popped up(albums which were purchased in iTunes), but the rest of my library would list names of playlists but not have the actual songs available to play. When I went to settings-iCloud-storage and backup- and scrolled to the bottom it said the phone was in the middle of a restore. So I plugged it in, connected to wifi and left it overnight. after this, I went to storage and backup in settings to find that it was no longer in the middle of a restore, so I assumed it had finished. My photo app no longer has the 'downloading' message but bothibg has changed with the songs from my playlists in music. Is there anyway I can recover the songs i previously had? Or does the iCloud backup not include that? Also, can I assume that the restore has finished by going to settings-iCloud- storage and backup and not seeing the 'stop restore' option?

Jul 21, 2015 1:02 AM in response to prudacris

Once you are in need of recovering deleted photos from your iCloud backup files, FonePaw iPhone Data Recovery can help you in a very easy and efficient way. It empowers you to take a scan and preview your iPhone data, so that you can choose the photos that you want to recover from iCloud backup files. Besides, you can also tick other files, such as contacts, videos, messages, App data, etc. to recover them at the same time.

Guide here: How to Retrieve Photos from iCloud

If my iphone is stolen how can i retrieve photos from stolen device via photostream or icloud

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