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Stolen iPhone5 Recovered with FindMyIphone

convergent

convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,082
I got a call last night at 1am from my daughter that someone stole her iPhone 5 off her table while she was out with some friends. She tried to call it but it was turned off. We went on FindMyIphone and locked it, and started tracking it over about a 10 mile trip. She called the police, who came to her house and watched it, while dispatching someone to the area. The phone stopped at a gas station. The police went there and apprehended the thief, and got her iPhone back to her, safe and sound about 4am.

Ain't technology amazing!!! And of course, the responsive and wonderful police officers that got it done!
 
Agent OrangeZ

Agent OrangeZ

macrumors 68040
Mar 17, 2010
3,014
3,015
Planet Earth
iPhone Cardinal Rules

Over the years I have developed a set of cardinal rules regarding iPhones. They can be applied to any smartphone... but since myself and a lot of my friends are Apple fans... I call them my iPhone Cardinal Rules. It is very simple. Following them has caused me to never lose or misplace an iPhone.

Cardinal Rule #1.

If your iPhone isn't in your hand, it's in your pocket.

Cardinal Rule #2.

If your iPhone isn't in your pocket it's in your hand.

There are only 2 exceptions to Cardinal Rule #2.

#1 Exception:
If you are home, your iPhone can be left at your charge/sync area to charge or sync if that is consistently the same place you charge/sync. Don't constantly move your charger around your house.

#2 Exception:
If you have a docking station for your iPhone in your vehicle, you may dock it there while driving, but under no circumstances are you to leave your vehicle unless you execute Cardinal Rule #1 or #2.

I recite these rules to friends who leave their phones on the table while enjoying a meal at the restaurant. By doing this, you are just asking for a drink to spill on your phone or to just forget it when you pay your bill and leave.

Another one for guys is leaving it on the top of a urinal toilet while going to the bathroom. Why not just stick it in your pocket while you take a pee?
 
convergent

convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,082
Great rules, that my daughter now gets! She had her wallet, keys, and phone laying on the table, and she said she was an arms reach away. Her wallet had $300 cash in it. This could have been a lot worse, and she learned a lesson for only losing a nights sleep.
 
GoCubsGo

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
Was it wait staff or was it just someone random at the place she was at?
Seems like a happy ending nonetheless.
 
T

TonsOfFun420

macrumors member
May 10, 2012
52
0
Glad everything worked out in the end. But, how does track my iPhone work? You said the phone was off, but how can you track it when it is off?
 
convergent

convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,082
It was not anyone connected with the place they were at. The guy was from a different state and he was on foot when they caught him. Claimed his buddy gave him the phone and he didn't know it was stolen... and they got in an argument in the cab and he got left on the curb. The path on the map kind of fits that description, but who gives their buddy an iPhone 5?

----------
TonsOfFun420 said:
Glad everything worked out in the end. But, how does track my iPhone work? You said the phone was off, but how can you track it when it is off?
Click to expand...

We thought it was off because it went straight to voicemail when she tried to call it. Not sure exactly what state it was in. I don't know if maybe she had "Do Not Disturb" turned on, would that send calls to voicemail?

I can't believe the guy left her case on it.
 
L

Leonard1818

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2011
2,460
403
Your daughter is lucky.

My wife handed my 2 year old her 4s to keep her busy at the grocery store. I had just talked to her.

Within 15 minutes I call back and it goes straight to VM (it's off).

She calls me, frantic, from a friends phone (she bumped into her at the store) and I come up to the store.

It's gone....

Within 15 minutes of me talking to her it was lost, found, turned off -- never to be seen (by us) again.

Moral of the story: It's a horribly expensive (and to some people, very important in their day-to-day lives) device, not a toy.
 
sulpfiction

sulpfiction

macrumors 68040
Aug 16, 2011
3,075
603
Philadelphia Area
U got very lucky. When an app designed for tracking a missing phone can be disabled by shutting the phone off, something's wrong. At least have it so if u have ur device set up with a password, u can't turn it off without entering the password. You can also disable by removing the SIM card, or by simply turnibg off the function if phone isnt password protected. but that's a different story. Bottom line is more times then not, find my phone is pretty useless.

And one other "cardinal rule" would be to ALWAYS have a password set on ur device.
 
B

buddybd

macrumors 6502
Jul 28, 2011
359
0
It would be cool to have a password lock before turning off the phone actually. Some of my bastard friends turn off my phone when I'm not looking and I miss out on calls.

But yea, she got her phone back, that's all that matters!
 
convergent

convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,082
sulpfiction said:
U got very lucky.
Click to expand...

You ain't kiddding. During the half hour she and I were tracking before the police got there, I almost hit the wipe button a few times. I was worried the guy would figure things out and we'd lose the chance. If I had done that, the phone would have been gone along with her data. I highly doubted the police would even do anything at all, and unless the guy landed some place where he'd be easily found, there was nothing they could do. Say he ended up in an apartment building, they aren't going to go knocking on doors at 3am for a phone. But a lone guy standing in a parking lot 10 miles from the theft... different story.

My advice on this is to do the following:
- Make sure you know your iCloud credentials for all your Apple devices. We share an appleid, but each has their own iCloud ID... and I don't know them off the top of my head.
- Always have a password on the device.
- Never lay your iDevice on a table in a public place, or leave it even for an instant anywhere other than in your own home.
- If it turns out to be missing, I think acting quick is really key in having a chance of recovery. You can set it to "lost" and that lets you set a password if one wasn't already set. Then start tracking if it is active. The longer period of time that goes by, I think the changes are slim at finding it.
- Call the police for help.
 
C

cuti

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2010
39
9
convergent said:
I got a call last night at 1am from my daughter that someone stole her iPhone 5 off her table while she was out with some friends. She tried to call it but it was turned off. We went on FindMyIphone and locked it, and started tracking it over about a 10 mile trip. She called the police, who came to her house and watched it, while dispatching someone to the area. The phone stopped at a gas station. The police went there and apprehended the thief, and got her iPhone back to her, safe and sound about 4am.

Ain't technology amazing!!! And of course, the responsive and wonderful police officers that got it done!
Click to expand...

I can not buy this story, it has too many holes in it "daughter called father 1am in the morning because of loosing Iphone, phone was off and find myiphone still worked, cop came to her house and dispatching some other cop to the site for a stolen IPHONE ? " , is it a paid story by Apple or what ?
 
j.dstasio

j.dstasio

macrumors 6502
Jun 9, 2009
333
10
South Jersey
I'm glad your story had a happy ending. You are very luck in that the police were willing & able to work with you. In this area cell phones are stolen/ lost so much that I can't imagine any police office taking the time to track one down on the spot. That's great to hear that it worked out for you and your daughter.
 
B

Baggio

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2012
442
1
The police wouldn't follow FindMyiPhone when my wife's iPhone 4S was stolen last summer. :mad:
 
M

medulla

macrumors 6502
Jun 15, 2012
267
80
cuti said:
I can not buy this story, it has too many holes in it "daughter called father 1am in the morning because of loosing Iphone, phone was off and find myiphone still worked, cop came to her house and dispatching some other cop to the site for a stolen IPHONE ? " , is it a paid story by Apple or what ?
Click to expand...

He's been a member here since about 2008, I doubt its a paid story by Apple.. Besides, they'd just take out an epic commercial to back their software up if they wanted to advertise it..
 
C

cuti

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2010
39
9
MNATHANI said:
He's been a member here since about 2008, I doubt its a paid story by Apple.. Besides, they'd just take out an epic commercial to back their software up if they wanted to advertise it..
Click to expand...

Unless the thief pointed the gun and rob the Iphone, cops would had strong case to follow, but here his daughter lost her iphone, and cops had no reason to pursuit, what if that person at the gas station said "Well, I found the Iphone and on my way to return it to Police station" . Again, I can not not not to buy this story, it smells fishy and scam
 
A

abz1981

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
cuti said:
I can not buy this story, it has too many holes in it "daughter called father 1am in the morning because of loosing Iphone, phone was off and find myiphone still worked, cop came to her house and dispatching some other cop to the site for a stolen IPHONE ? " , is it a paid story by Apple or what ?
Click to expand...

Why do people like you have to be so cynical. Are you a troll?
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
Baggio said:
The police wouldn't follow FindMyiPhone when my wife's iPhone 4S was stolen last summer. :mad:
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Technology is wonderful but it doesn't work for everybody.

A national, if not worldwide database of stolen phones (and enforced) then everybody knows it's no use to steal a phone. But of course NOOOOOoooooo.
 
A

abz1981

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
cuti said:
Dont you have a right or brain to raise suspicious on stuffs you read on internet?
Click to expand...

Yes you do have the right. However what makes you question if the OP is telling the truth or not telling the truth. Is it because something recently happened in your life that you realised Santa aint really real after all these years and the fact that you believed he was real and to find out the truth makes you think twice about what everyone ever says?
 
C

cuti

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2010
39
9
abz1981 said:
Yes you do have the right. However what makes you question if the OP is telling the truth or not telling the truth. Is it because something recently happened in your life that you realised Santa aint really real after all these years and the fact that you believed he was real and to find out the truth makes you think twice about what everyone ever says?
Click to expand...

stay with the facts, dont assuming or speculating your life or my life (it is called side talked or noises), all I have the right to say "I can not buy this story, it has too many holes in the story" simple as is, you have the right to believe, I never try to stop you...
 
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A

AFDoc

Suspended
Jun 29, 2012
2,864
629
Colorado Springs USA for now
abz1981 said:
Why do people like you have to be so cynical. Are you a troll?
Click to expand...

I typically find these stories hard to believe even the ones in the "mainstream" media.

-How would the police know who had the phone. Did they stop every person at the gas station and check them? (or house, or apartment or what ever the location is for a particular similar story) Police can't enter pockets or force someone to empty their pockets unless they are under arrest. They can only pat a person down if they simply want to ensure their safety during a face to face. (if they do then that's their get out of jail free card). I didn't read all of OP's posts but I didn't see anything in the first post that said he played "sound" you can do when you're on FMi.
-I have family members with different agencies around the country and I have asked if they would "track" someones phone and they simply laughed. Maybe this police force has nothing better to do but I know in Miami, Orlando, Denver, I was told they don't have time or resources for such things.
-Why suspect a person stole the phone? Just because someone has something doesn't mean they stole it. I have picked up items and later found their owner to return said item.
-Police would have no reason to suspect this person stole the phone. I guess the could arrest them for being in posession of the phone but any $2 lawyer would get a person off on that. "Officer, I found this on the bus and was going to try and find the owner in the morning.... No I never heard it ring as it was in my (pocket, backpack, briefcase) and I was wearing headphones." Unless there is a "He grabbed it out of my hand while kicking my butt" story to go along with the "stolen" phone, I'm not sure an arrest would go very far.

I'm not saying OP is lying I simply stating these are the questions I ask myself with EVERY one of these stories. Want to call me cynical? I have no problem with that.

Glad it worked out for OP and his daughter.
 
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