Stolen iPhone and Apple ID

[DONW999]

HI All,

My 2 year old iPhone5 16gb black was stolen last night. Minutes after, I activated iCloud find my iPhone feature on my Mac, and it said my phone was offline. Few hours after, someone reactivated my phone and deleted it from iCloud. I know this because I received Apple ID email and all sorts of prompt on my Mac saying my ID was invalid.(A sound was played, the phone was located, and it is deleted from iCloud) Lucky but not fast enough, I reseted my ID's password, but my phone is gone from Find My iPhone list.

So, the question is, how easy it is to crack someone's Apple ID, and if it isn't very difficult, what different does it make to have the lock phone feature or not?

I thought of DFU mode, isn't it true, one don't have to start the phone to enter DFU or recovery mode?(not sure the differences), and reset the phone? So is it possible to lock these features, so to render the phone a true brick? (Open for corrections.)

The underline up there, the email says the location will be availible for 24 hours, but when I go to iCloud, it's just gone, what happened there? Will I be able to track the last known position?

Also, does anyone know how to restore iphone5 backups back to iphone4? I have the backup file, but don't know how to put them back into the old iPhone4.

Apple, you can't tell me and us"Just dont lose your phone or buy extended Apple care", that's not fair.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.1.2

 

[I7guy]

HI All,

My 2 year old iPhone5 16gb black was stolen last night. Minutes after, I activated iCloud find my iPhone feature on my Mac, and it said my phone was offline. Few hours after, someone reactivated my phone and deleted it from iCloud. I know this because I received Apple ID email and all sorts of prompt on my Mac saying my ID was invalid.(A sound was played, the phone was located, and it is deleted from iCloud) Lucky but not fast enough, I reseted my ID's password, but my phone is gone from Find My iPhone list.

So, the question is, how easy it is to crack someone's Apple ID, and if it isn't very difficult, what different does it make to have the lock phone feature or not?

I thought of DFU mode, isn't it true, one don't have to start the phone to enter DFU or recovery mode?(not sure the differences), and reset the phone? So is it possible to lock these features, so to render the phone a true brick? (Open for corrections.)

The underline up there, the email says the location will be availible for 24 hours, but when I go to iCloud, it's just gone, what happened there? Will I be able to track the last known position?

Also, does anyone know how to restore iphone5 backups back to iphone4? I have the backup file, but don't know how to put them back into the old iPhone4.

Apple, you can't tell me and us"Just dont lose your phone or buy extended Apple care", that's not fair.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.1.2

Sorry to hear. Was your phone password protected? Did you have two factor authentication turned on?

Could your password have been guessed?

Can't you iTunes to restore your phone.

 

[jahall05]

HI All,

My 2 year old iPhone5 16gb black was stolen last night. Minutes after, I activated iCloud find my iPhone feature on my Mac, and it said my phone was offline. Few hours after, someone reactivated my phone and deleted it from iCloud. I know this because I received Apple ID email and all sorts of prompt on my Mac saying my ID was invalid.(A sound was played, the phone was located, and it is deleted from iCloud) Lucky but not fast enough, I reseted my ID's password, but my phone is gone from Find My iPhone list.

So, the question is, how easy it is to crack someone's Apple ID, and if it isn't very difficult, what different does it make to have the lock phone feature or not?

I thought of DFU mode, isn't it true, one don't have to start the phone to enter DFU or recovery mode?(not sure the differences), and reset the phone? So is it possible to lock these features, so to render the phone a true brick? (Open for corrections.)

The underline up there, the email says the location will be availible for 24 hours, but when I go to iCloud, it's just gone, what happened there? Will I be able to track the last known position?

Also, does anyone know how to restore iphone5 backups back to iphone4? I have the backup file, but don't know how to put them back into the old iPhone4.

Apple, you can't tell me and us"Just dont lose your phone or buy extended Apple care", that's not fair.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.1.2

It is not *easy* to hack an Apple ID...in fact it is almost impossible...like the poster above said: did you have two factor turned on? Was your password strong? If you can answer yes to both of these then there is no way it was hacked. Does someone know your password?

Also, DFU mode will reset the phone and load new firmware on it, but it will still require your apple ID and password to activate the phone...otherwise it will be stuck at the screen asking for the Apple ID and password and will be a paperweight until those are provided.

As for getting the phone back, you are pretty much out of luck if Find My iPhone isn't tracking the phone anymore

Next time...immediately activate iCloud and Find My iPhone on the phone from day one. Do not wait.

 

[DONW999]

Thank you for the help and ideas.

I7guy, jahall05

Thank you for the kind reply. Unfortunately, it was an old phone and I was kind tired of punching keys everytime I turn on the phone, so I didn't set lock screen passkey. Guess it is my own fault.

As you suggested, I will indeed keep the passkey operational this time around.

The first time I lost a phone in my 31years, just my luck.

Have you ever heard of tracking the phone with ICCID with IMEI? Does it work?

The idea is that every restored phone activation with a SIM card will register with Apple server, and that data somehow can be retrieved, and since the ICCID is linked with phone number, it is possible to find out who the new owner is.

I bought a service and waiting on the result. It will only give me a new ICCID for the "new" owner's phone number, fingers crossed it will yield some result worth pursuing.

I also called Apple support, though they can only tell me that Apple ID was indeed modified last night after it was lost, and they will note the IMEI on the case file. If by any chance, the "new owner" calls in for a service of some sort, Apple will be able to alert me the case.

In any case, thanks for the kind words and ideas provided.

 

[I7guy]

To make it harder to hack into your phone: I suggesting setting a location and account restriction along with a complex password.

also set up two factor authentication on your Apple id.

 

[Eitel]

So your phone was not locked. My guessing is that you also had your iCloud email configured on the phone. If this was the case, they didn't had to guess your iCloud password. It was as easy as clicking "I forgot my password" and requesting a new one.

That's why using a password on the phone and 2-factor authentication for you iCloud account is so important.

 

[Applejuiced]

Take it as a lesson learned op.