Find My iPhone Activation Steps

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This works through triangulation—by measuring the relative signal strengths of your phone to three different cellular towers, your carrier can have a pretty good idea of where your phone is relative to all through towers. Cellular carriers have been found selling this location data to shady third-party companies , but have promised to stop. The Best Tech Newsletter Anywhere. Join , subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more.

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All the Ways Your Location Can Be Tracked on an iPhone

If you play a sound on your iPhone and still can't find it, turn on Lost Mode. If you already have a passcode to lock your device you do, right? If you don't have one set, you'll have to create one. You'll also be asked to enter a phone number and a message that will be displayed on the lock screen asking whoever has your device to get it back to you.


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When enabled, Lost Mode will lock the device, prevent notifications and messages from showing up on your lock screen, and continue tracking the phone's location. The phone will still ring for incoming phone and FaceTime calls. This should help you track down the phone if it's nearby.

Or maybe you'll be lucky and the person who has the phone will answer it to help get it back to you. Any credit and debit cards added to Apple Pay , along with student IDs and transit cards stored in the Wallet app, will be disabled until you regain access to the phone and log in to your iCloud account.

Method 2: Tracking Friends and Family through your iPhone

If the phone is turned off and Lost Mode is enabled, you'll receive an alert when the phone is turned back on, including its current location. When you recover your phone, you'll need to enter your passcode, or the passcode you created when enabling Lost Mode.

Then sign in to your iCloud account to regain access to all of your Apple services like Apple Pay. If you're able to track your phone to a house or apartment building, don't confront the potential thief on your own. Call the cops and ask for their help. Sure, you want to get your phone back, but getting into a confrontation and potentially getting hurt isn't ideal.

How to Access iCloud Drive on iPhone - Best Two Ways

If you're unable to get your phone back, contact your carrier and explain that your phone has been lost or stolen. The carrier will flag your device's International Mobile Equipment Identity number and, in most cases, will prevent that number from working on the network, rendering the device useless to whoever has it. Keep in mind that if you have your service suspended you'll reduce the odds of tracking the phone unless it's connected to a known Wi-Fi network or another member of the Find My network happens to be nearby. Suspending service is something you should only do after you're sure you can't recover the phone.

If you have AppleCare Plus with Theft and Loss or pay monthly for device insurance through your carrier, start the claim process as soon as possible.


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You'll need to fill out some paperwork and pay a deductible in order to get a replacement device. To begin the process for a phone that has AppleCare Plus with Theft and Loss covered, use this website. Filing a claim will erase your iPhone and prevent anyone else from being able to use it. Should you find your phone after filing a claim, you can cancel it. But you'll need to set up your iPhone as new. After recovering your lost iPhone, take a few minutes to change these 15 settings. To do this:.

Does Find My iPhone work if the phone is dead? Yes, although you won't be able to see a real-time location. You'll be using the Find My app on the iPad to locate your iPhone. If your iPhone is dead, you'll be directed to the last place your iPhone was located before the battery died. If your iPhone is offline but not dead, then the Find My app will locate the iPhone's current position using nearby Apple devices.

Your friends and family can help you find your lost iPhone by allowing you to log into your device on their iPhone. Here's how to use someone else's Apple Device to find your lost iPhone. I imagine most people will end up looking for their lost and potentially dead iPhone on the computer.

Find your lost iPhone even if your battery is dead

If you need to track your iPhone using iCloud. When enabled, Mark As Lost will remotely lock your device and display a custom message with a phone number where you can be reached. Your Apple Pay will be disabled, as well as most notifications, although your phone will still be able to receive calls and Face Time messages with Mark As Lost enabled.

This mode turns on your location services remotely, so that you can locate your device in the Find My app. Mark As Lost requires that your iPhone still have battery power to work.