My phone got stolen. I didn't have a sim card in it at the time, but I have a feeling someone put their own card into it. Does this mean I can't track it anymore? The phone was located once and it's been offline for 4 months now.
Is there a way to track it with IMEI number?
iPhone 4S
Yes, they probably powered it off. With the device off and not connected to the internet would perfectly explain why you cannot send an iMessage to your device, since it is not connected. Remember what I said about connection to the internet on both sides for an iMessage to be successful. Since your device did not have a SIM, it was probably still connected to the wi-fi wherever you were, that is why you still saw it. Once it disconnected from that, you were unable to track it. Either way, you are not going to track the device, it is gone. Just don't remove it from your iCloud account and that will prevent the thief from restoring it,. and let it go. If by some strange quirk of fate they put a SIM in it, you will get an email if the device connects.
Yes, they probably powered it off. With the device off and not connected to the internet would perfectly explain why you cannot send an iMessage to your device, since it is not connected. Remember what I said about connection to the internet on both sides for an iMessage to be successful. Since your device did not have a SIM, it was probably still connected to the wi-fi wherever you were, that is why you still saw it. Once it disconnected from that, you were unable to track it. Either way, you are not going to track the device, it is gone. Just don't remove it from your iCloud account and that will prevent the thief from restoring it,. and let it go. If by some strange quirk of fate they put a SIM in it, you will get an email if the device connects.
When you restore a phone, it wipes all data from the device and resets it to factory. However, with the newer iOS, before the device can be activated, it also requires the owner's Apple ID and passcode. If you had Find My iPhone activated, it will not allow the restore until Find My iPhone is turned off, and that requires the Apple ID and passcode as well. More than likely the attempt to restore has rendered the device inoperable, and that, in combination with being powered off, and the SIM being removed is why it is showing off line. Like I said in my first post, with no SIM in the device, it cannot connect to the internet, so it cannot be located on Find My iPhone, so it shows offline.
Because you are on a computer attempting to access Find My iPhone. You receive the error on the computer. If the phone was not working, it would just show offline in iCloud, but your iCloud is not loading correctly. Try accessing it from another computer.
I had a passcode on it, and I had Find my Iphone activated.
The thing that makes me think that the thief put a sim card in it is because whenever I log into iCloud it goes straight to Find my Iphone without me even clicking it. And then it does this:
After a while it goes back to the regular compass
I really don't understand the problem here.
That is very true. But the thing is, when my computer first located it, it tracked it to a middle of the street so i couldn't go and get it. I would think they would need a computer or another device to log into itunes, and they would probably need to go into a building to do that, so I would have been able to track it during that whole time. So i don't think they tried to restore it, maybe they just turned it off.
But that wouldn't explain why my imessage isnt going through... hm..
Google has been tracking Android users even with location services turned off
Company confirms it receives mobile phone mast tracking data even with sim removed and privacy features active,
The only way to track the device is with Find My iPhone. The only way to track the device is if it is powered on, Find My iPhone was activated prior to the loss, and it has an active internet connection. If it has been showing off line for all this time, I would imagine they attempted to restore the phone and may have found they could not. Did you have the latest iOS on the device? Did you have a passcode on the device?
You cannot track the device with the IMEI number.
What do mean by ¨restore¨? What does someone have to do to restore and wipe it?
If it is wiped, could that be why it has been offline?
How do thieves try to restore an iphone? Like what do people have to click/press/etc to try to restore it? Is the find my iphone lock on the ios 7 too? or just ios 8
Activation Lock is in iOS 7 as well. They would restore the phone the same way that you would. You can read through this to understand how you restore a device. Use iTunes to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings - Apple Support
An iMessage would not be delivered if either party does not have an active internet connection. Since you said your device did not have a SIM installed, then iMessage would not be activated.
I understand now.
Would you mind helping me w/ another issue I had? You seem very knowledgeable.
I tried to text my stolen iphone from my friend's iphone and it says ¨message not delivered¨. what could this mean? I thought the message cant be delivered only if my friend's phone doesn't have internet, but she did have internet.
Let me make sure that I understand you correctly. You are asking why your stolen iPhone is not receiving an iMessage? It is more than likely not active, that is why. As I said earlier, for iMessage to work properly, both the sender and the receiver have to have an active internet connection to work, either cellular or Wi-Fi. The thief may have also tried to restore the device which would cause it to be wiped, and if so, then it would receive nothing, and you would get the Not Delivered message.
If you set the device to notify you in Find My iPhone, then it would notify you via email if they attempt to activate the phone. At this time yes, it is probably of no use to them except maybe parts, but that would not prevent them from selling it to someone that doesn't know better. Given the time frame and the fact that you did not have a SIM in the phone, I would just consider it gone and move on.
The same thing that it means if you text a non-iOS device. iMessage does not work to that number. iMessage is no longer active for that number, because the device is off, no SIM, nothing. You will not be able to communicate with that device. Even if someone was to miraculously get the device to work, they would have to put their own SIM in there, which is not your number, so it would not receive a text. You attempting to text your own device is not doing anything, and will not assist you in locating it, or anything.
If sim card is replaced/removed can you still track iPhone?
