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hybridblues

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2012
2
0
Hi, I recently got my iPhone 5 stolen. I highly doubt my carrier will do anything about this, but if I have the IMEI of the iphone, will I be able to track it? Also, the phone does not have Find My Phone installed on it, so it's a trouble. Much help needed, thanks!
P.S the phone has a 4-digit number lock on it.
 
Last edited:

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Feb 14, 2008
10,191
8,827
US
Not sure who your carrier is but I know AT&T doesn't offer any sort of tracking/disabling of stolen devices.

Just curious; why did you not have Find My iPhone installed? It pretty much does it for you when you're setting up the phone for the first time.
 

hybridblues

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2012
2
0
I guess I was getting a bit cocky on security about phones, seeing as the past 5 years I've never had a phone stolen from me :p.
 

JayLenochiniMac

macrumors G5
Nov 7, 2007
12,819
2,389
New Sanfrakota
Find My iPhone would have been your only hope, but I hope you used a credit card with 90-day protection against theft/loss/accidental damage when purchasing it so you can get your money back.
 

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Feb 14, 2008
10,191
8,827
US
I've been pretty lucky too but I've always had it installed (since it was released). No reason not to have one more useless icon sitting in a folder hidden away on the second page.

How did it get stolen?
 

travis.hansen

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2012
108
0
Hi, I recently got my iPhone 5 stolen. I highly doubt my carrier will do anything about this, but if I have the IMEI of the iphone, will I be able to track it? Also, the phone does not have Find My Phone installed on it, so it's a trouble. Much help needed, thanks!
P.S the phone has a 4-digit number lock on it.

Unfortunately most people willing to steal phones know that phones can't be tracked if they are turned off so they'll shut them off immediately. It is possible you had a dumb person steal it and they left it on. Do you have the find my iPhone app?
 

ritmomundo

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2011
2,021
543
Los Angeles, CA
Do you mean you don't have Find My iPhone activated (during the setup process)? Or that you don't have the FMiP app installed? Because you don't need the app to be installed to find your phone. Just go to the icloud.com website.
 

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Feb 14, 2008
10,191
8,827
US
Unfortunately most people willing to steal phones know that phones can't be tracked if they are turned off so they'll shut them off immediately. It is possible you had a dumb person steal it and they left it on. Do you have the find my iPhone app?

You quoted the answer to you question. ;)
 

Adutrumque

macrumors 65816
Mar 8, 2012
1,438
2
Sweden
Do you mean you don't have Find My iPhone activated (during the setup process)? Or that you don't have the FMiP app installed? Because you don't need the app to be installed to find your phone. Just go to the icloud.com website.

They made it a free service now?
 

braddick

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2009
3,921
1,018
Encinitas, CA
I've been pretty lucky too but I've always had it installed (since it was released). No reason not to have one more useless icon sitting in a folder hidden away on the second page.

How did it get stolen?

You don't need the app installed on your iPhone unless you wanted to use that same iPhone to track another lost iPhone.
That's all the app does.
Simply having your iCloud activated and Find My Phone on is enough.
 

henryonapple

macrumors 6502
Oct 29, 2012
406
0
Not sure who your carrier is but I know AT&T doesn't offer any sort of tracking/disabling of stolen devices.

Just curious; why did you not have Find My iPhone installed? It pretty much does it for you when you're setting up the phone for the first time.

i think they do offer disabling of stolen devices since spring of this year
 

pnoyblazed

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2008
986
403
if that person who stole it is a little tech savvy, he will put the phone into DFU mode and basically wipe the phone

good luck getting your phone back
 

braddick

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2009
3,921
1,018
Encinitas, CA
^
I wish there was a way Apple would allow us to place a four digit code lock that would prevent anyone from turning the iPhone off in any fashion.
 
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