Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,874
368
UK
I have an iPhone and iPad and iMac, daughter has an iPhone and iPad mini, son has an iPad mini.

We all share the same iTunes account for apps, but all have different iCloud accounts for backups, contact sync etc.

So my question is, I know there is a "find my iPhone" app, which shows my personal devices, but how do I track the other devices as well? If one of the kids lost/misplaced their iOS device how can I find theres using the app?

cheers
 

jmmo20

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2006
1,163
102
you can create an icloud account just for Fidn my iPhone. Just make sure all other icloud accounts have find my iphone turned off, then add the same new account to all devices and voila.. you have find my iphone under one single account for all your family devices.

I have that set up. My mother's devices, my partner's and mine. We all have separate iCloud accounts for contacts+notes+mail+everything, we all have separate itunes accounts, but we all share the same icloud account for find my i.
 

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,874
368
UK
you can create an icloud account just for Fidn my iPhone. Just make sure all other icloud accounts have find my iphone turned off, then add the same new account to all devices and voila.. you have find my iphone under one single account for all your family devices.

I have that set up. My mother's devices, my partner's and mine. We all have separate iCloud accounts for contacts+notes+mail+everything, we all have separate itunes accounts, but we all share the same icloud account for find my i.
Ah I see, I didnt realise you could have multiple iCloud accounts, and then put the same one on a numerous amount of devices. So you can have me@icloud.com for "Find My iPhone" as well as another iCloud for backup/syncing etc.

What email do you use then? a new iCloud one as a generic name? or do you have to make a new Apple ID as well? I was thinking of getting a new iCloud with "our devices@icloud.com" or something for ease of use?

Also if we dont have a passcode lock on, if someone finds it, cant they just instantly turn off "find my iPhone" setting and then we're snookered anyway?

brilliant, will do that, what a great idea thanks a lot! :)

**another point, isnt it a daft name "Find My iPhone" when it now includes iPads, iMacs etc??
 
Last edited:

jmmo20

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2006
1,163
102
Ah I see, I didnt realise you could have multiple iCloud accounts, and then put the same one on a numerous amount of devices. So you can have me@icloud.com for "Find My iPhone" as well as another iCloud for backup/syncing etc.

What email do you use then? a new iCloud one as a generic name? or do you have to make a new Apple ID as well? I was thinking of getting a new iCloud with "our devices@icloud.com" or something for ease of use?

brilliant, will do that, what a great idea thanks a lot! :)

**another point, isnt it a daft name "Find My iPhone" when it now includes iPads, iMacs etc??


You can have as many icloud as you want (AFAIK), but you can't have the same service turned on twice.

Just make up any name really.. I have several, one is my initials plus a number and hte other is my full name.

and yes, it's silly they still call it find my iphone. Some people are calling it find my i nowadays.
 

SanjeevRana

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2011
607
10
Or just use Find My Friends app and add their own ids to track their respective devices ;)
 

DefBref

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2011
421
6
Or just use Find My Friends app and add their own ids to track their respective devices ;)

Yeah much easier than the multiple ids solution to try and use find my iPhone app. Find my friends is designed for the exact use case the op describes.
 

lelisa13p

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2009
1,946
47
Atlanta, GA USA
Find My Friends may be useful as a simple location monitor but unless I'm mistaken, in order to take advantage of the ability to lock your device and/or wipe your data in the event of a theft, you need to be using Find My iPhone.
 

DefBref

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2011
421
6
Find My Friends may be useful as a simple location monitor but unless I'm mistaken, in order to take advantage of the ability to lock your device and/or wipe your data in the event of a theft, you need to be using Find My iPhone.

Logging into icloud.com (not on a ios device) allows the same control as find my iphone app.

For simple tracking of multiple ios devices with different ids find my friends is good.

If somebody does lose the device then just logon onto icloud.com with their account (not from a ios device) and you can do all the things the find my iphone app allows.
 

lelisa13p

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2009
1,946
47
Atlanta, GA USA
Logging into icloud.com (not on a ios device) allows the same control as find my iphone app.

For simple tracking of multiple ios devices with different ids find my friends is good.

If somebody does lose the device then just logon onto icloud.com with their account (not from a ios device) and you can do all the things the find my iphone app allows.

My point was that one shouldn't expect to replace Find My iPhone with Find My Friends. FMF is purely social while enabling FMiP will give you some protective features, from wherever you are able to access them. :)
 

jmmo20

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2006
1,163
102
Find my Friends doesn't work when the user is offline, or inside a building wiht no signal. i.e. it only shows you the correct location, and if there's none, it shows you nothing.

Find my iPhone shows you the last location registered, even if it's an old location.
 

thewitt

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2011
2,102
1,523
Find my Friends doesn't work when the user is offline, or inside a building wiht no signal. i.e. it only shows you the correct location, and if there's none, it shows you nothing.

Find my iPhone shows you the last location registered, even if it's an old location.

Which could be yesterday at 10:00am and in another state.....
 

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,874
368
UK
So it's got to be find my iPhone then. I've used a new iCloud ID and added it to all devices. This means from any device we can see all, is this not the best way?
 

lelisa13p

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2009
1,946
47
Atlanta, GA USA
So it's got to be find my iPhone then. I've used a new iCloud ID and added it to all devices. This means from any device we can see all, is this not the best way?

That's what I do, tracking six devices. :)

You can also install FMF just for fun. Your kids can locate their friends if they want. And you can locate your kids. ;) (I mean nothing bad by this. :) )
 

SanjeevRana

macrumors 6502a
Aug 2, 2011
607
10
Well, OP only mentioned what sounded like tracking a missing phone and i think FMF was enough for that instead of putting more redundant accounts on all the phones :cool:
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.