Stolen iPhone 4

[mac444]

So I was at a party at my friends' place last week and left my phone there and when I went to get it back in the morning it was gone. There were only about 5 people still there when I left that night so one of them must have taken it. Obviously I don't want to accuse anybody falsely but I was wondering if there was a way I could figure out who took it and get it back.

A few of them already have iPhones so I'm thinking whoever took it has already removed the sim card and disabled location services (which I'm pretty sure means Find my iPhone won't work even if the phone is switched on - at least it's not showing up on MobileMe at the moment). I have my contacts synced to my gmail but if they restore my phone I'm assuming I won't be notified when new contacts are added. I'm just wondering if the phone has been restored and location services disabled is there ANY way for me to track the phone? Like if they do connect it to their iTunes is there some way I'll be notified? Or if they tried to enable location services after they've restored it would I still be able to track it?

Oh I should say that i stupidly did not have a passcode set up on my phone so it would be easy for them to restore.

 

[thewitt]

Initializing the phone is not effected by a passcode lock, so that would not stop the determined thief.

If you report it stolen to Apple, they can blacklist the IMEI number so it cannot be activated again, however that won't get your phone returned either.

Use Find my Phone to send the phone a message that will get displayed should they activate it before wiping it. Offer them $100 no questioned asked to return your phone and tell them Apple will disable it permanently otherwise. See if that works...

 

[Macman45]

I Think

You're going to have to get the police involved...Apple will anyway. One of your "Friends" has taken it. That sucks in itself.

 

[mac444]

Thanks thewitt but since whoever took the phone is someone I know I'm guessing it's unlikely they'll 'fess up regardless of any reward offered. I'd rather hold off on getting Apple to permanently disable the phone until I've tried all avenues to find out who took it first.

----------

You're going to have to get the police involved...Apple will anyway. One of your "Friends" has taken it. That sucks in itself.

I would say more acquaintance than friend but yeah it's definitely one of the reasons I'd like to find out who took it specifically. I was under the impression that the police couldn't get involved without any sort of proof and can't track it by GPS, and that Apple's response would be the same?

 

[Macman45]

Apple Do Their

Thanks thewitt but since whoever took the phone is someone I know I'm guessing it's unlikely they'll 'fess up regardless of any reward offered. I'd rather hold off on getting Apple to permanently disable the phone until I've tried all avenues to find out who took it first.

----------



I would say more acquaintance than friend but yeah it's definitely one of the reasons I'd like to find out who took it specifically. I was under the impression that the police couldn't get involved without any sort of proof and can't track it by GPS, and that Apple's response would be the same?

Own thing, but it's my understanding that they infer the Police anyway...Have you done so?