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Stolen iPad -- Question about Find My iPhone app

M

msbochini

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2012
4
0
Southern CA, USA
My iPad was stolen Friday afternoon from my university and I have been trying to track it since then on the Find My iPhone app. Unfortunately, my iPad 2 is wifi only and it hasn't popped up at all (started trying to track it 20 minutes after it went missing).

While I realize that it is very unlikely I will be getting my iPad back, my question is if someone has wiped my iPad will it still show up under my devices? I'm thinking no, however since it is still showing up under my devices I don't know whether the person who stole it is an idiot or if it just stays there. Also, yes I have a passcode on it and no important information on there.

Thank you for your help.
 
If it gets wiped or restored, it's gone. You'll never see it again in Find My iPhone.
 
msbochini said:
While I realize that it is very unlikely I will be getting my iPad back, my question is if someone has wiped my iPad will it still show up under my devices? I'm thinking no, however since it is still showing up under my devices I don't know whether the person who stole it is an idiot or if it just stays there. Also, yes I have a passcode on it and no important information on there. .
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear your iPad got stolen... But no, I doubt it would show up if the thief wipes it. It's good you have find my iPhone enabled though. A lot of people don't bother or don't know and have absolutely no chance of getting their device back.

Good luck, I hope you can recover it.
 
From my understanding, I think Find My iPhone only work on the network enable device up until it get completely wipe out.

I wonder If you can ask apple to put the "red flag" on your machine's mac address/serial number so if the theft or whoever bring it back to to fix at apple store, they could get report.
 
softypolimer said:
From my understanding, I think Find My iPhone only work on the network enable device up until it get completely wipe out.

I wonder If you can ask apple to put the "red flag" on your machine's mac address/serial number so if the theft or whoever bring it back to to fix at apple store, they could get report.
Click to expand...

I doubt it Apple loves new faces whoever bring it back to Apple store.
 
It only shows up on Find My iPhone if it's currently set up and linked to your personal iCloud account. If a thief wipes it, it's not linked to your acct any more and so will not show up. So, if it is still showing up, that means it hasn't been wiped and is still linked to your iCloud acct. dumb thief! Send it messages and track it if you can!
 
Thanks everyone for your input! I hope I will be able to get it back :/

I guess that means the thief hasn't wiped my iPad so I'll just keep trying to see if it goes online to get tracked and keep sending messages. Fingers crossed! Thanks again!
 
I'd not stop until I found out who took it, especially if it were someone on campus, and once I found them I'd kick seven shades of **** out them.

I DETEST thieves.
 
OP, did you attempt to send a message to the device? If you do, you get an email saying that the message was successfully displayed (if it was). Even if the thief wiped it, there's still enough time to display that message before it's restored. Make sure you do send a message so they know where to find you if they are honest and didn't steal it.
 
PrometheusGeek said:
It only shows up on Find My iPhone if it's currently set up and linked to your personal iCloud account. If a thief wipes it, it's not linked to your acct any more and so will not show up. So, if it is still showing up, that means it hasn't been wiped and is still linked to your iCloud acct. dumb thief! Send it messages and track it if you can!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is true. I had to delete an iPhone from my device listing manually after I moved to it a different iCloud account.
 
That sucks sorry to hear that. There really is nothing that you can do. I have a picture of me shooting a target on the gun range with my AK47 on the lock screen. Sometimes I think it deters people.
 
miamialley said:
OP, did you attempt to send a message to the device? If you do, you get an email saying that the message was successfully displayed (if it was). Even if the thief wiped it, there's still enough time to display that message before it's restored. Make sure you do send a message so they know where to find you if they are honest and didn't steal it.
Click to expand...

Yes I've sent several messages, starting about 20 minutes after I realized it was gone. The weird thing is that whoever it was who took it either turned it off or high tailed it off campus because it hasn't been connected to wifi at all. I haven't received a single message saying that the messages I've sent have been received, the iPad been located, or that my locks have been activated. It's really strange, that's why I didn't know if the device has been wiped whether I would have to remove it from my devices manually or if that was something that happened automatically.

Azzin: I've been checking my photo stream but nothing has popped up from my iPad :(
 
Send a message saying reward if returned, $300 then your phone number. If there dumb enough to steal then they are probably dumb enough to think that's real. If they call about the reward, record the number and play very happy that someone has it and willing to return it. Set up a place to meet then take campus security with you. Hope you get your iPad back. Thieves suck.
 
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