Today my daughter had her iPhone 5c stolen out of her backpack on the bus home from school. Fired up find my iphone and got the location and took multiple screenshots. Called the police and when they got to my house they had me email them the screenshots of the location. When they got there they called me and had me play a sound, found the apartment the phone was in and the thief coughed it up immediately. Had the phone back in a matter of hours. Got lucky thanks to find my iphone, and the fact that my daughter had a pass code set, and was unable to disable location services or iCloud. The thief did manage to call 911 a bunch of times though...
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Find my iPhone saves the day!
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I figured it was a goner, so glad she had a passcode, if not I bet we wouldn't have had a chance to get it back. I still can't believe it worked out so easily.
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No way I was going to try to get it myself, it was in a really shady neighborhood, less that a mile from my house though.
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No way I was going to try to get it myself, it was in a really shady neighborhood, less that a mile from my house though.
Awesome, I believe that is the first time that I have heard the police get that involved. Glad it worked out so well for you. Since I assume it was a kid that took it, I hope the police gave them a good lecture.
It was another kid (13) so I didn't press charges. Kids do stupid things. Had it been an adult I would have (the officer insisted that if they were over 18 we should). I think he have them a good scare as it would have been a felony since it was over $500.
Edit: He also mentioned that they have recovered many stolen iPhones this way.
Edit: He also mentioned that they have recovered many stolen iPhones this way.
Good. Kid or Grandpa, they should get in trouble for stealing somebodies personal phone, much less, a 500 dollar device. Just...stinkin...remember..to..turn Find my iPhone of when you sell the...freakin'...iPhone! 
You say he stole it, maybe your daughter dropped it and he picked it up. Just because a person is in possession of an item doesn't mean they stole it. I'm glad you had your property returned.
Accept he admitted it. If you find an iPhone, just hand it in at the local police station. Easy.
Glad you got it back.
No where in OP's post did he say the "thief" admitted to stealing it. Did he steal it? Probably, but words are thrown around too easily and those words have consequences.
And what are the consequences for an un-named thief on an anonymous forum?
None.
People who find iPhones in backpacks should be named and shamed IMO.
When the cop got to the apartment and called me, he had me play the sound remotely. He told me as soon as I did that all the lights went out in the apartment, then the phone was turned off. Not really the actions if someone who found a phone on the ground is it?
Lol
Good thing you live far from that bad area
LOL. We live on the other side of the tracks(highway in this case) so to speak. This city is strange in that you have sketchy areas sort of dispersed in neighborhoods rather than one central area where it is bad.
Find my iPhone saves the day!
i was robbed at gunpoint for my iPhone 5. Luckily, it was jailbroken and had a tweak in it that Prevented the phone from being powered off. I still don't know why Apple hasn't made this a feature of the operating system. it seems like a no-brainer. Anyway the guy who stole it probably freaked out when he saw that he couldn't turn the phone off and threw it off the side of the freeway. The cops actually recovered it by me sending the find my phone sound to it and them searching the bushes. Astoundingly phone was completely unharmed, but it was then subject to two weeks of forensic fingerprinting which ruined the phone's screen. sigh. luckily i had insurance.
i was robbed at gunpoint for my iPhone 5. Luckily, it was jailbroken and had a tweak in it that Prevented the phone from being powered off. I still don't know why Apple hasn't made this a feature of the operating system. it seems like a no-brainer. Anyway the guy who stole it probably freaked out when he saw that he couldn't turn the phone off and threw it off the side of the freeway. The cops actually recovered it by me sending the find my phone sound to it and them searching the bushes. Astoundingly phone was completely unharmed, but it was then subject to two weeks of forensic fingerprinting which ruined the phone's screen. sigh. luckily i had insurance.
Jesus where the hell do you people live?
Also, how did it ruin the screen? They just gave it back to you ruined after finding it in perfect shape without offering to replace it?
I had my iPhone 5 stolen in October, it still has yet to be turned on as I haven't gotten an email yet from Apple alerting me it was turned on. Blah.
Did the alleged "finder" do the proper thing and turn it in?
Not to mention the numerous calls made to 911 by the alleged "finder".
The OP did say that he had the option to press charges or not, so that would indicate that the police thought it was stolen and not found.
Personally I would have pressed charges
