The Find My iPhone App in the App Store will help you track down your lost or stolen iPhone even if it's already missing.
Have you lost your iPhone or are you worried it was stolen?
For most cell phone owners unless you were proactive and installed tracking software on the phone prior to it going MIA, you were pretty much SOL (apparently, it’s use as many acronyms as possible day – LOL – okay, I’m done, promise).
However, since you have an iPhone, you’re different and there is a solution available to you to track a stolen iPhone. Apple just added the “Find My iPhone” App to the App Store.
So let’s talk about how it works and what it costs.
The “Find my iPhone” App is an app you install from another iOS device – a friend’s iPhone, your iPad or even an iPod Touch will do the trick (since obviously, you don’t have your iPhone to install it on).
Or if you have Mac OS X Lion on your computer, you can use this feature too – it won’t work with older version of OS X though.
If you’re without friends and don’t have any other iOS devices, go visit Starbucks or any upscale bar – you’ll find plenty of iPhones and iPads there and maybe you can beg and plead them to let you use their phone to find yours. Heck, these days you probably could just go to McDonalds and find someone.
***Update*** This feature is now integrated into all iOS 5 devices. In other words, if you have an up to date iPhone (or iPad), this feature is already installed on your iPhone.
It used to require a MobileMe membership, but as long as you use iCloud, you’re all set and don’t have to pay for anything – the app is free.
Once the app is installed, you can remotely login to you phone, track it to find out where it is, lock it down so no personal data can be accessed, and should it become clear you’re not likely to get it back, remotely wipe all the data. To be able to remotely wipe data is a big deal as far as I’m concerned since I have a ton of personal information on my phone and you probably do too.
It can also play a sound at full volume even if you’re ringer is set to silent. That’s tremendously helpful if you’ve simply misplaced your iPhone in your house or apt and just need it to make noise so you can find it. They need to make an app like this for my car keys too 
So there you have it, if you’ve lost your iPhone and don’t have any tracking software already installed, there’s still hope. Just install Find My iPhone and start tracking.
If the phone has been turned off, you can have it email you in the event someone turns it back on. (The software obviously can’t be installed on a phone that is dead or has been turned off). And lastly this app won’t work if the SIM card has been removed. A sophisticated thief will do this, but many times they don’t because they don’t know how.
Good Luck and Happy Finding!
Related posts:
what if the sim card is removed
If you dont have your phone set up to moblie me can you still track your phone?
do I (the person that lost my phone) need to have a mobileme membership or does my friend (the person providing the iphone to install this app) need to have a mobileme membership? or both? thanks!!
you need to have the mobileme membership
Can you just explain more thoroughly-my sister lost her iPhone, and she never had MobileMe. I have an iPhone so I can download the software on my computer, and install a new MobileMe account, but will that help her in any way? Or was she required to have the MobileMe account before losing the iPhone?
Thanks,
Adiel
Can you please explain a little more thoroughly… how does it know to track my lost iPhone, not the borrowed one that I’ve logged in on??? Thanks so much for your help!
i lost my iphone can i find it or what a thief can do to make it hard
I lost my phone in Jan 4th (what a way to kickstart new years). anyways i didnt have any fancy apps installed. your post gave me a lil hope ( i still hope i’ll find my phone) but the post was a little vague. could you please please explain it further in a layman’s term. thank you
what if the lost iphone4 is switch off how can we track it?
Lost iphone 4 wiith 4.2 software but did not activate mobleme on the phone. I activated the mobilme account but when I log on its says no devises set up. Can you activate a devise without having the devise? I have an Ipad but I am looking for my phone not ipad? Thanks
If it’s off, there’s no way to track it. Sorry.
iphone 4 stolen.
cellular data turned off.
but wifi turned on.
don’t know if thief turned the phone off.
it probably removed the sim card.
no mobile me or other tracking app installed.
can i do something through my mac book computer which is synchronized with my stolen iphone 4?
please help.
Hello
I lost my Iphone 3GS 2 days ago. But I did not installa any security application on it.So It is impossible to find it,or..?
You can try using MobileMe – if the phone is still on, that might be able to help you find it.
Hello, I found a Iphone g4 , is not install the Mobile me aplication and also does not have Itunes account register.
I want to know if can be finding by serial number in some aplication the apple?
In case that not i would like to register in Itunes and install the aplication. will be possible to make if is not register in any system? because i dont know is i need some special code that was in the inicial manual o documents.
Thank you
I ain’t that smart but I don’t understand y u need these apps to track a iPhone. They have a gps on them and if u have location services on it works of a satellite no different to a navigation system or epirb n u can get pin pointed. They can find out where your Phone is without all this shit but guessing the wouldn’t make as much money. Am I wrong. I want my funkn phone back.
so you dont have to set up a mobile me account beefore you lose it? you can set it up after and it will work? and if the phones dead…???????????
my apple i phone 4 is lost on 13 june 2011. please give me suggestion to find it.
Does this apply to the iPod 4?
No, neither the iPod Nano, Classic, or Shuffle have a built in GPS chip so tracking them wouldn’t be possible. This will work on all version of the iPod Touch, however.
3 jan 2010 08.15 pm
iphone 4 stolen.
cellular data turned off.
but wifi turned on.
don’t know if thief turned the phone off.
it probably removed the sim card.
no mobile me or other tracking app installed.
can i do something through my mac book computer which is synchronized with my stolen iphone 4?
please help.
Once the SIM card is removed, there’s not much you can do. Sorry.
hi ,yesterday my i phone 4s stolen early !!
How can i fine back the phone??
You’ll need to enable the Find My iPhone app in iCloud – here’s Apple’s official page with instructions on how it works and how to set it up. http://www.apple.com/iphone/built-in-apps/find-my-iphone.html
It will know to track your iPhone because you’ll login to your Apple account with your Apple ID – i.e. you’ll use the information you use when you login to iTunes. Since your phone is registered to your iTunes account, it knows to track the phone associated with that account and not your friends. Does that make sense?
HOW CAN FIND MY IPHONE 4 without any application like find my iphone or mobile me.??
My Phone was stolen and the phone had a lock on it but If they completely restore the phone and wipe it clean will I still be able to track it?
Just lost my phone yesterday.. cant find it, its been turn off i dont know how, it might be turn off because of the cold wheather maybe fell in the snow but i cant find it. i have icloud and find my iphone but every time i track it, it says location not aviable, please how to i track the last location it was or how to i track it if its turn off??
I lost my iphone 4, I have sprint, is it still possible to track if they have airplane mode on or turned off? I havn’t canceled my plan yet
Can i locate my iphone 3gs using the above procedure or not. plz let me know..
Okay I have an iPhone 4s and an iPod touch 4g. I cannot find my iPhone anywhere!! I tried to track it on my iPod but it only locates my iPod!!!! What do I do?!?! I used the same apple ID!
Yes, as long as you’ve upgraded to iOS 5 it’ll work as I’ve described above.
If it’s in airplane mode or turned off, you won’t be able to track it – sorry.