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HelixOmnimedia

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 26, 2006
789
32
Traveling The World
Hey,

I had my iPhone stolen from the male locker room at work, contacted 02 they have blocked the IMEI number. I have also contacted the police and the hotel management know... I also have MobileMe.

NOW: The Find My iPhone has been set up with the iPhone but when I go to track it, it says there is no location available.

Is this because the IMEI is block? Is it because the iPhone has been turned off? - anyone know the inner workingsof the Find My iPhone.

I miss my iPhone, and now hate where I've just started working (started on Saturday).
 

miniConvert

macrumors 68040
Send the wipe request anyway and it'll get done if the handset is ever powered back on in its current state (and gets connectivity somehow).

Sorry to hear about the theft, mine was taken recently too. I was able to locate it, once. The police didn't care.

Oh well. White iPhone 4 as my replacement, so the moronic thieves can keep my cracked black one. Muchos hatred!
 

SeaChange

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2010
105
0
Where do you work that your phone has to be stored in a semi-public locker? Sucks though I know. I have had 2 iPhones stolen in the past.
 

Daveoc64

macrumors 601
Jan 16, 2008
4,074
92
Bristol, UK
Is this because the IMEI is block? Is it because the iPhone has been turned off? - anyone know the inner workingsof the Find My iPhone.

Both of those things.

Find My iPhone requires a data connection to work. O2 will have cancelled both your SIM and blocked your IMEI. Both of these things will stop your phone connecting to the mobile phone network to send data.

Your device could still connect to Wi-Fi networks, but it would need to be in range of one that it is able to connect to.

The more important factor is that it's switched off. It can't even try to connect to any sort of network when it's switched off!
 

seble

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2010
972
163
Hey,

I had my iPhone stolen from the male locker room at work, contacted 02 they have blocked the IMEI number. I have also contacted the police and the hotel management know... I also have MobileMe.

NOW: The Find My iPhone has been set up with the iPhone but when I go to track it, it says there is no location available.

Is this because the IMEI is block? Is it because the iPhone has been turned off? - anyone know the inner workingsof the Find My iPhone.

I miss my iPhone, and now hate where I've just started working (started on Saturday).


If your IMEI is blocked, that means it won't be able to connect to the internet, via 3g, the network or whatever, meaning Mobile me won't be able to find its location and send it to you.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
The phone needs to use data to send back its location info.
So either because the line has been deactivated and its not connected to wifi, the phone got turned off or maybe they have restored it.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,413
43,304
This is why I keep my phone on me at all times, even when working!

Some folks don't have that luxury, for instance my local bus/subway drivers are not permitted to have cell phones (too many accidents related to drivers txting)
 

mrbrown

macrumors 6502a
Mar 27, 2004
562
240
Springfield, Missouri
Is this because the IMEI is block? Is it because the iPhone has been turned off? - anyone know the inner workingsof the Find My iPhone.

Find my iPhone will not work if the phone doesn't have a data connection. If you have blocked the phone's IMEI, it obviously doesn't have cellular data. It will, however, report it's location if there's a Wi-Fi connection (blocking the IMEI doesn't brick the phone... It just keeps it from making phone calls and accessing the cellular network).
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Find my iPhone will not work if the phone doesn't have a data connection. If you have blocked the phone's IMEI, it obviously doesn't have cellular data. It will, however, report it's location if there's a Wi-Fi connection (blocking the IMEI doesn't brick the phone... It just keeps it from making phone calls and accessing the cellular network).

Yes, the last thing you want to do if you want to track down your iphone with findmyiphone is disable/suspend the account.
Let them use it to make calls or whatever so you can use mobileme to track it down. If the sim is deactivated you wont be able to get its location information.
 

cppp

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2007
4
0
just wondering, what happens if some one steals it then resets it back to factory default or restores the iphone using itunes. is it still trackable through mobileMe:confused:
 

maclaptop

macrumors 65816
Apr 8, 2011
1,453
0
Western Hemisphere
This is why I keep my phone on me at all times, even when working!
That's not fool proof either.

I'm extremely mindful of mine, its on me at all times.

Sitting in Starbucks with friends, my phone face down on the table within inches of my hand since I was expecting a call, a guy casually approached from behind me, quickly grabbed it and ran out. Disappearing in the crowd outside, none of the four of us could see where he went. I called the carrier & had the line shut down. Even though it was password protected, I got out my laptop and used MobileMe to wipe it.

It just goes to show, you can't protect your phone from being stolen by a determined thief. But you can keep your data from being compromised.
 

tigress666

macrumors 68040
Apr 14, 2010
3,288
17
Washington State
This is why I keep my phone on me at all times, even when working!

I am too paranoid of it dropping out of my pocket or getting banged up a lot to do that. We have lockers and mine is locked into my locker. And technically my company says we are not allowed to have our cellphone out on the floor.

We do have issues with thieves occasionally stealing something from our breakroom but it is always stuff that is not locked up. Then again, I work retail so the thieves probably aren't expecting your average retail worker to have much of value to try to do anything more than just search the easily gotten stuff (Plus the break room stays busy enough that people are in there a decent amount of time).
 
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