My brothers iPhone 7+ got stolen today off his desk while at work. He is in sales and has lots of customers in and out of his office - one of them must of saw it sitting there and swiped it off his desk. They immediately shut the phone off so find my iPhone isn't an option. He ordered the phone thru the Apple upgrade program. Anyone know how to approach this?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Stolen iPhone 7+
- Thread starter dillonm
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
File a police report, set the "Notify me if found" option in Find My iPhone, wait for the thief to turn it back on. You will get emails with the approximate location of the device, send those to the police.
Also, there's an option to send messages to the phone through Find My iPhone, offer a reward for its anonymous return or something.
EDIT: Does the workplace have security cameras in place?
Also, there's an option to send messages to the phone through Find My iPhone, offer a reward for its anonymous return or something.
EDIT: Does the workplace have security cameras in place?
Last edited:
They eventually have to turn it on
Put it in lost mode and waiIt
Hard to steal an iPhone once you've got find my phone on
They could restore it but make sure he doesn't remove the device from his iCloud account.
They won't be able to do anything with it.
They won't be able to do anything with it.
He turned lost mode on, as well as notify when turned on. He got on the phone with Apple and they suggested to set the "erase when turned on" option. When checking Find My iPhone it now says "erased at 1:48pm" so someone obviously turned it on. If it's erased is it gone forever?
It's been gone forever as soon as it left his desk.
Not much else he can do about it besides learning an expensive lesson.
In all honesty, yes. My home was burglarized last year and my Macbook Air was stolen. Gave the location of the computer to the cops, but since the thief was in an apartment complex they had no probable cause to enter any of the residences to search (obviously). At one point a cop had me use the "Play Sound" feature while he was speaking to one of the occupants of the building so he can hear the computer and then have probable cause, but once the police parked outside the thief closed the laptop so no sound played. There's more hope with a phone, though, because the GPS will give a more accurate location than the wifi triangulation on my laptop.
He already remotely erased the device.
He can't track it or play any sounds on it.
He filed a police report. I know it's gone forever, but man the things I'd do to be able to track that SOB down. He doesn't have insurance, just AppleCare+ thru the iPhone upgrade program. Is he now going to have to pay that phone off and buy a new one? Any chance Apple will supply a new one? I know that's probably a long shot
Are people really that clueless nowadays ?!? You can't do anything w/ a stolen iPhone besides make the owner distraught
The data might be gone but the phone should still be tied to his iCloud account... That means the phone should be able to get tracked on find my iPhone.
It is a long shot. But have him go into an Apple Store and explain the situation, and see what his options are. Apple is notorious for having excellent customer service and taking care of their customers. The replaced my 6s plus when I broke the screen free of charge and I didn't have apple care.
No, why would Apple supply him a new one? Apple was not the one that left the phone laying out in public for anyone to grab.
Off course he's going to have to pay that phone off.
[doublepost=1475113474][/doublepost]
He erased it. You cannot track a phone that's been remotely wiped.
Apple will not replace a lost or stolen phone. They only offer a replacement price if you show them a broken phone. Otherwise you could sell/give away a phone and ask for a replacement. Not happening.
This is the exact reason I will never understand Apple's stance on turning the phone off. If I have iCloud enabled it shouldn't be as easy as pushing or holding some buttons. Until this is remedied a smart thief is a successful thief.
Report the IMEI number to your carrier to cover all bases.
I hear you, but find my iphone is not really and anti theft or police stolen item recovery program.
It's more of a I cant remember what room I left my iphone at, let's look on the map and play a sound and try to look for it it type of thing.
I get it. I'm saying it should be and could be
I'm with you on that.
I have iGotYa that is an JB hack that disables the power button when the phone is locked to kinda help in a situation like that.
Apple should be able to have such option too in order to give people a chance to track and locate their stolen items.
But then again that could lead to questionable situations if confronting someone violent.
Tough call.
[doublepost=1475116053][/doublepost]
Not if you disable the control center when device is locked
Not if you disable the control center when device is locked
True, but the vast majority of users will have the default settings.