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How to Find Your Lost or Stolen iPhone

Mar 13, 2013 03:50 PM EDT by Daniel P. Howley, LAPTOP Staff Writer  

Losing your iPhone or having it stolen isn’t just a major annoyance, it can also result in a complete stranger gaining access to some of your most private data. That’s why Apple includes the Find My iPhone feature with every iPhone. But in order to use the function, you’ll first need to enable it on your iPhone. Knowing how to use it couldn’t hurt either. So read on to learn how to locate, lock and wipe your lost or stolen iPhone.

Enable Find My iPhone

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and select the iCloud tab.

  2. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Find My iPhone to enable the feature.

  3. Select Allow when you receive a prompt explaining that Find My iPhone has the ability to show the location of your phone on a map. 


    Find My iPhone will now be active.

Locate, Lock and Wipe your iPhone

With Find My iPhone now actived on your device, you will be able to locate, lock or wipe it using any Web browser. To do this.

  1. Navigate to www.iCloud.com, log in using the iCloud account associated with your iPhone and click the Find My iPhone icon.

  2. Click the Devices box in the top left corner of the screen and choose your lost iPhone from the list of devices. Your iPhone’s location will automatically be displayed on the map along with a box giving you basic information about your phone.

  3. To pinpoint your iPhone’s location, click the Play Sound button in the information box. A loud alarm will go off on your phone, allowing you to quickly track it. Tap the OK button on your iPhone to silence the alarm.

  4. To lock your lost iPhone, click the Lost Mode button and enter the password you want to use to unlock the phone when you locate it again.

  5. To Wipe your iPhone, click the Erase iPhone button.  To confirm the command, tap Erase. This is a worst-case scenario option that will clear all of your apps and personal data from your phone, so only use it if it’s completely necessary. 
 


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Comments (4 Responses) 

4 Responses to “How to Find Your Lost or Stolen iPhone”

  1. Chase Says:
    March 31st, 2013 at 6:22 pm

    IT DIDENT WORK! THEY MIGHTEVE THREW IT IN THE WATER!!!

  2. Bradley Says:
    April 8th, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    It only works if your iPhone is powered on.

    The most common thing with a stolen iPhone, is the person powers it off. Bam, gone and unable to be tracked.

    Launch DFU/Recovery mode, format, and now you will never get it back.

    Sorry, but Apple should prevent iPhone shutdown when iOS is switched into lost mode, and try to be as power efficient as possible by closing all apps and focusing on being located.

  3. John Says:
    April 17th, 2013 at 7:57 am

    I agree with Bradley. Somebody took both of my iPhones out of my backpack at school and they turned both of them off immediately. Apple should also make a setting where you can turn it off only if you are on the home screen, on the lock screen. With the lost mode you can put a passcode on it(if its not one already) and find it fairly quickly, unless they smash it with a hammer.

  4. zakkie Says:
    May 11th, 2013 at 7:12 am

    http://www.icloud.com can’t be accessed from smartphone :( so I have to travel 5 km to get laptop :( and the phone was off, will it work to erase data and apps when the phone turn on later?

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