I wish there was a remote wipe option for the iPhone...

[synagence]

Do what i did when i got my ipod touch (mobileme sync'd) ... change your mobileme password....

The device won't sync anymore if the password is wrong ... this is basically what apple told me to do when i asked them

 

[renewed]

No one is going to steal it while I'm using it.

The point is that after I finish touching my phone, it's pretty much always at least 15 minutes before there's an opportunity for it to go missing.

For example, I may leave my phone at my desk when I go up to get lunch sometimes. Why did I do that? Because I forgot it was on my desk. Why did I forget? Because it's been more than 15 minutes since I touched it.

That's just one example, but they pretty much all work the same:
<15 minutes since touched - My phone is safely in my sight
>15 minutes since touched - It might be possible to steal my phone

I never use my phone, set it down, and walk away on purpose.

Can't argue with the fact that in many situations, the iPhone would be stolen long after the pass code set in, as you explained.

However, I also know that it only takes a second for something to be picked up (i.e., you set it down to talk to a girl at the bar and before you know it your distraction and maybe slight drunkenness has led to your iPhone disappearing into the crowd).

The point being made is that for ultimate protection (as ultimate as the iPhone can feasible provide), the iPhone auto-locking is the best solution.

 

[TheSpaz]

Do what i did when i got my ipod touch (mobileme sync'd) ... change your mobileme password....

The device won't sync anymore if the password is wrong ... this is basically what apple told me to do when i asked them

That won't work. The contacts and previous mail will still be on your device... they just won't be able to download NEW content. Changing the password won't help much for protecting what's already there.

 

[Applejuiced]

Lol
Terrorizing the iphone lovers i see

you weren't supposed to really try it! was just trying to spread a little fear to the populous...

 

[megapopular]

That won't work. The contacts and previous mail will still be on your device... they just won't be able to download NEW content. Changing the password won't help much for protecting what's already there.

Changing info from MobileMe.com pc should change the contacts on the fly, right?

 

[TheSpaz]

Changing info from MobileMe.com pc should change the contacts on the fly, right?

Yeah... if you change contacts... they will change, but they won't do anything if you change your password first. Changing the password won't do anything useful if someone finds your iPhone with MobileMe on it.

 

[t0mat0]

There was a picture a week or so back showing that there might be a remote wipe option through mobileme by people looking at OS 3.0
Likely to get improved. Couldn't a normal person use the business remote administration app if they set it up beforehand?

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Yeah... if you change contacts... they will change, but they won't do anything if you change your password first. Changing the password won't do anything useful if someone finds your iPhone with MobileMe on it.

If you wipe your contacts and calendars and delete any sensitive emails from your MobileMe web mail, it will remove all that info from the iPhone. After a period of time, you could then change the MM password and it would disable the iPhone's ability to getting any of the new info.

A hassle, but it would work. It will likely all be moot in a couple of months anyway, though.

 

[Primejimbo]

I agree... I'm paying $99 a year... I should be able to remote wipe if I want to. I guess I could just delete all of my emails and contacts... hmm... I might also like that 15 minute passcode lock. I was using that for a little bit... I can't remember why I took it off.

I have mine st up for every 4 hours, and if the phone shuts off you still need the passcode to look at it. I may change it now, but 15 mins seems too little.
Now I use gmail on my phone. If my phone was stolen and I changed the passcode for my email from a computer they shouldn't be able to look at my email, right?

 

[renewed]

I have mine st up for every 4 hours, and if the phone shuts off you still need the passcode to look at it. I may change it now, but 15 mins seems too little.
Now I use gmail on my phone. If my phone was stolen and I changed the passcode for my email from a computer they shouldn't be able to look at my email, right?

They can view the emails that have already been loaded onto the iPhone.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

The can view the emails that have already been loaded onto the iPhone.

With Gmail, it seems that if you clear your inbox (archive everything) and then remove IMAP access for all the folders you have other than your inbox (assuming, of course, you are using IMAP rather than POP email), you will effectively wipe the iPhone of all your Gmail content.

 

[LSUtigers03]

A jailbroken iphone can lock individual apps.

 

[trainguy77]

Blackberry can be remotely wiped and disabled....

<ducks>

Wirelessly posted (iPod touch 32GB: Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11a Safari/525.20)

The iPhone does support remote wipe - the ability to kick it off from MobileMe is what is missing. I tested it out once (we run kerio mailserver via exchange activesync) and it's very impressive: within seconds of kicking it off on the server, the phone restarted into it's wipe mode.

After it had finished the phone was completely wiped of any and all data

Yeah the feature exists just like with the blackberries. But its only for iPhones connected to exchange with activesync. However they could add these to mobileme very easily.