How can I install "Find my iPhone" on an old iPad 3?

Question

How can I install "Find my iPhone" on an old iPad 3?

I've recently gotten a new iPad, but my old iPad 3 is still working fine. So I've done a complete wipe on it and I've given it to a friend who has little interest in computing: she just wants to email and get on the internet. My friend will have to undergo surgery next week and will take the iPad 3 with her to the hospital -- she'll be in the hospital for a week or two. Before she went, I wanted to install 'Find my iPhone' on the iPad 3 in case it goes walkabout in the hospital.

However, when I tried to install it, AppStore insisted I upgrade to iOS 8, which I don't think the iPad 3 can pull off. I once upgraded to to iOS 5 or 6 and regretted that real soon -- the iPad 3 just doesn't have the processor speed to handle all that advanced stuff. It's doing fine on iOS 4 and I want to keep it that way. Is there some way to make AppStore install the old 'Find my iPhone'? I still have some backups of the iPad 3 pre-wipe -- could I extract 'Find my iPhone' from there and put it back on the iPad 3 without doing a full restore? Is there some other way we can keep track of the iPad 3 without updating?

iPad, iOS 4.3.3

Posted on Feb 6, 2015 5:48 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,330 points

Feb 6, 2015 6:06 AM in response to EliseVanLooij

If you have iOS 4.3 on it then it's not an iPad 3 (they were initially launched with iOS 5.1 installed on them), it's either a first gen iPad (if it doesn't have cameras), or a 2nd gen : Identify your iPad model - Apple Support.

The Find My iPhone app is used to try and locate other devices from it, it won't help you locate that iPad if it's lost. To be able to potentially locate and track that iPad you need Settings > iCloud > Find My iPad 'on' on it, but iCloud only became available with iOS 5 (so you won't have the setting on iOS 4.3). You will need to update the iPad (you can only update a device to the highest iOS version that it supports i.e. 5.1.1 for the first gen iPad, 8.1.3 for other iPads) if you want to be able to enable it

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Answer 2

JimHdk

Level 7

28,898 points

Feb 6, 2015 5:52 AM in response to EliseVanLooij

You don't need the Find My iPhone App installed What you need to do is to turn ON Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone.

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Answer 3

SergZak

Level 6

10,744 points

Feb 6, 2015 6:13 AM in response to EliseVanLooij

You only need to install the Find My iPhone/Find My iPad app on the device used to do the "finding". Simply enable Find My iPad under Settings/iCloud/Find My iPad on the device you wish to setup to "find". If the setting is not in the iCloud Settings, then the iOS is too early to support it.

EDIT: King_Penguin clarifies this below.

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Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Feb 6, 2015 6:14 AM in response to EliseVanLooij

In addition to what King_Penguin wrote, if it does have iOS 4.3.3 on it, it can simply be restored to remove it from FindMyiPhone and it will no longer be tracked.

iOS 7 brought the Activation Lock which requires the users AppleID & Password to disable FindMyiPhone and restore the iPad.

So you should update to the latest iOS if you want to possibly find it in case of loss/theft.

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Answer 5

luuklp

Level 3

806 points

Feb 6, 2015 5:50 AM in response to EliseVanLooij

You can use Find My iPhone on all devices that run iOS 5 and newer. For more information, visit https://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my-iphone.html.

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