Find my iphone wifi

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Level 1

8 points

Find my iphone wifi

My iPhone 6s Plus was stolen recently. I went to Find My iPhone and set it's status to lost mode, however they turned it on then back off before I set it to lost mode, and have not turned it back on yet. The current status in iCloud is lost mode pending. I've waited several days, and am ready to get the cellular signal transferred to another phone. I know that Find My iPhone works with cellular and wifi. If I turn off the cellular, will Find My iPhone work if it sees any wifi network, or only a known or open wifi network?

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 9.2

Posted on Feb 12, 2016 9:01 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 12, 2016 9:04 AM in response to Cspenser

If the phone gets connected to any Wifi, the Lost Mode command will be executed.

I'm not sure if you can do this with a pending request out there already, but you might want to consider setting up the Erase command. You won't be able to track the device once the Erase is executed, but it will erase all of your personal data, and will also keep your Activation Lock intact, so the thieves will not be able to use it.

Sorry about your phone 😟

GB

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Answer 2

Cspenser Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 12, 2016 11:31 AM in response to gail from maine

Thank you for the reply.

Just to clarify a little further, will the phone have to actually connect to wifi? For example, if they turn the phone on and all of the available wifi networks are password protected, will it still send/receive anything from Apple? I had heard that Apple uses some sort of network technology involving wifi systems that allow Apple location services to continue updating at some level on wifi only devices, like iPads without having to fully connect to the networks. So does it matter if the device only sees the network, but doesn't go through authentication to connect?

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Answer 3

Feb 12, 2016 2:53 PM in response to Cspenser

I believe it actually must be connected to the Wifi network in order for anything to happen. Here is Apple's definition of "Online", where they use the specific word "connected":

iCloud: online

Here is the "Use Lost Mode" support article that has additional information about how it works. The paragraph just above the "Track your Phone in Lost Mode" section may be what you are thinking of?

If you put your iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, or iPhone 6S Plus in Lost Mode and you have credit and debit cards in Wallet for Apple Pay, Find My iPhone attempts to suspend your cards immediately, even if your iPhone is offline. To resume using your suspended credit and debit cards, turn off Lost Mode, then sign back in to iCloud. For more information about Wallet, see the Apple Support article Use Wallet on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Here is a link to that support article FYI:

iCloud: Use Lost Mode

Cheers,

GB

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