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Stolen iphone backed itself up ???

J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
My daughter in law's iPhone 6 was stolen yesterday. She has insurance (that's good!) and she will receieve the new replacement iPhone tomorrow. In the interim, per Apple's suggestion, she had Verizon turn off service to the stolen phone last night and this morning she moved the cell phone service to her old iPhone 5 so she could have a phone to use today.

She has been good about doing back ups to iCloud so my thought was to use her latest backup to restore the new phone when it arrives tomorrow. I did not want this old phone 5 to back up (old data) tonight so I had her go into settings to turn off icloud backup. I figured that the new phone tomorrow can use the latest backup from the stolen phone.. which should have been two nights ago. But ... lo and behold.. it says the last back up was 9:48 pm LAST NIGHT. She had not turned on the service to old phone until this morning. And VZN turned off the stolen phone prior to that time last night. So how did that happen? Is it possible the thief was able to plug in the phone and it backed itself up? I know she has a password on the phone, but perhaps she did not have control center access blocked on lock screen and they were able to get into the phone that way.. that's the only thing I can think of.

Is there any other way the phone would have backed itself up last night? Wouldn't it be funny if the thief used the cell phone to take a photo of himself and it shows up on her iCloud storage! (is that possible?) If they check FIND MY PHONE now, will it show the location of the backup? My son would never go off on his own looking for the phone, but perhaps the police would be intereseted. When he checked FIND MY PHONE yesterday afternoon, at first it showed its location (where she had last had it) , and the second time it showed the same location but indicated that it was no longer showing live locations, but rather the last location. (no battery left or phone turned off?)

Bottomline.. I am so happy she has insurance. Any thoughts on actions we should take before restoring the new phone appreciated. And how can the phone have a back up last night?
 
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I would have had the phone erased via the cloud. If it was not locked they have access to all of your daughters data.

Please get her to change her iCloud password and any other passwords that might have been compromised.
 
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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but a device set to iCloud backup has a feature that when the device is charging, and on a known ( not 100% about the known part ) wifi network, it will automatically back up. If I'm correct, this could help locate or get an idea where the

Edit: I would try to use that back up...... It's probably good and was created when they tried plugging it in. Then change the password for iCloud. But that's just me. Other options are start new, or try a different backup.
 
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Newtons Apple said:
I would have had the phone erased via the cloud. If it was not locked they have access to all of your daughters data.

Please get her to change her iCloud password and any other passwords that might have been compromised.
Click to expand...

My son accessed Find My Phone fairly soon after she discovered it was missing. He could not send a message or put it in lost mode. Not sure what else he tried.
I will suggest she change her passwords. She had little on the phone that could be compromising like banking info. But for sure you wouldn't want anyone having access to one's emails and texts.
 
Backs up automatically when plugged in and connected to wifi if you have that option on. I'd keep checking find my iPhone if they are having the phone on (as is evidenced by it backing up).
 
The only way to backup to iCloud is via a KNOWN wifi network. That means it has to be a wifi network that has been logged into before.

If the stolen phone was indeed backed up to iCloud after it was allegedly stolen, then it HAD to be backed up on one of the phone's saved wifi networks.

It is unlikely that a thief could guess the lockscreen PIN, especially if the phone was set to self-erase after 10 tries.
 
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now i see it said:
The only way to backup to iCloud is via a KNOWN wifi network. That means it has to be a wifi network that has been logged into before.

If the stolen phone was indeed backed up to iCloud after it was allegedly stolen, then it HAD to be backed up on one of the phone's saved wifi networks.

It is unlikely that a thief could guess the lockscreen PIN, especially if the phone was set to self-erase after 10 tries.
Click to expand...

This means this phone is currently some place she's logged into wifi before. A friends, work etc...... It won't be a public wifi as they normally need safari to get into.
 
StarkCity said:
This means this phone is currently some place she's logged into wifi before. A friends, work etc...... It won't be a public wifi as they normally need safari to get into.
Click to expand...

I'm really confused. I did think that a known network was required for backup. And she is a stay at home mom so it's highly unlikely that the phone just happened upon a known network. Had she not blocked access to the control panel from the lock screen, I assume the person who has it could swipe up, pick the calculator and then end up IN the phone without using a password. Is that right? But in doing so, would that allow the phone to back up? I'm thinking not. Perhaps she read the date of the last backup incorrectly. And it was not last night, but the night before. Which would make sense.
Either date, I think that is the backup she should use for restore, yes?
 
jayes said:
I'm really confused. I did think that a known network was required for backup. And she is a stay at home mom so it's highly unlikely that the phone just happened upon a known network. Had she not blocked access to the control panel from the lock screen, I assume the person who has it could swipe up, pick the calculator and then end up IN the phone without using a password. Is that right? But in doing so, would that allow the phone to back up? I'm thinking not. Perhaps she read the date of the last backup incorrectly. And it was not last night, but the night before. Which would make sense.
Either date, I think that is the backup she should use for restore, yes?
Click to expand...
Perhaps your home wifi reaches the neighbors house?
Or maybe the phone wasn't stolen and is sitting lost at home somewhere?
 
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jayes said:
I'm really confused. I did think that a known network was required for backup. And she is a stay at home mom so it's highly unlikely that the phone just happened upon a known network. Had she not blocked access to the control panel from the lock screen, I assume the person who has it could swipe up, pick the calculator and then end up IN the phone without using a password. Is that right? But in doing so, would that allow the phone to back up? I'm thinking not. Perhaps she read the date of the last backup incorrectly. And it was not last night, but the night before. Which would make sense.
Either date, I think that is the backup she should use for restore, yes?
Click to expand...

If the device is locked, how would one enter wifi credentials to allow it to back up? It's either been on that particular network before ( known ) or they knew the PW. No, the calculator trick doesn't bypass the actual lock on the phone. This phone was stolen by a 'friend', or left at place that it's been on wifi before and then plugged in. In the end, yes, use that backup and change the password.
 
Is your daughter-in-law a customer of Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Optimum, Time Warner Cable or Comcast? If so, and if she has ever joined one of their Wi-Fi hotspot locations, the phone would consider that a "known network," and could connect to any number of hotspots in many places in the US. (Currently they claim over 500,000 hotspots: http://www.cablewifi.com/)

In my area (eastern MA), Comcast has so many hotspots that my phone joins automatically that I have to turn off Wi-Fi on my iPhone while driving.
 
jetsam said:
Is your daughter-in-law a customer of Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Optimum, Time Warner Cable or Comcast? If so, and if she has ever joined one of their Wi-Fi hotspot locations, the phone would consider that a "known network," and could connect to any number of hotspots in many places in the US. (Currently they claim over 500,000 hotspots: http://www.cablewifi.com/)

In my area (eastern MA), Comcast has so many hotspots that my phone joins automatically that I have to turn off Wi-Fi on my iPhone while driving.
Click to expand...
Have you tried "forgetting that network"
 
HEK said:
Have you tried "forgetting that network"
Click to expand...
I don't really want to "forget that network," since I use the "xfinitywifi" and "XFINITY" hotspots on a daily basis.

It's also easier just to toggle Wi-Fi, since I can do that from the control center.
 
jetsam said:
Is your daughter-in-law a customer of Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Optimum, Time Warner Cable or Comcast? If so, and if she has ever joined one of their Wi-Fi hotspot locations, the phone would consider that a "known network," and could connect to any number of hotspots in many places in the US. (Currently they claim over 500,000 hotspots: http://www.cablewifi.com/)

In my area (eastern MA), Comcast has so many hotspots that my phone joins automatically that I have to turn off Wi-Fi on my iPhone while driving.
Click to expand...

I believe they have Comcast. Interesting possibility.

Here is one additional thought that I might not have been clear about in my OP.

The date of Last BackUp came from old phone. On the setting screen when I told her to turn off Back Up to the Cloud. It's the same Apple ID as the lost phone. So is this the date of last backup with the old phone. Or the lost phone? I assumed that it was last backup to iCloud (from either) but after thinking about it I wonder if that is where I went wrong. Bottom line. When the replacement phone arrives today and we do a restore, will the phone pick the newest backup?
 
noobinator said:
How do you connect to an unknown one if you don't have access to unlocking and getting into the phone?
Click to expand...
my mistake. i was thinking that it would automatically connect to a network that didn't have a password if they had ask to join turned off. looking under settings>wifi under "ask to join networks" i can see that i was wrong.
 
jayes said:
So is this the date of last backup with the old phone. Or the lost phone? I assumed that it was last backup to iCloud (from either) but after thinking about it I wonder if that is where I went wrong.
Click to expand...
Here's how to check: On the iPhone 5, go to Settings->iCloud->Backup (might be slightly different path if running older iOS)
Alternate method: Take the iPhone 5 and plug it into a PC or Mac. Open iTunes. Bring up the screen for the connected device (click on the little phone in the upper left). It will tell you when, if ever, that phone has been backed up whether it was iCloud or local.

My question to you is: where did you see the date? On the old phone, via iCloud.com, or iTunes?

On the discussion about whether the stolen phone can back itself up: it is possible. For example, I have AT&T, which offers free wi-fi hotspots without needing to go through a browser authentication. In other words, my phone connects automatically to these networks without asking me. Others mentioned Comcast, Cox, etc. which work the same way. If the phone is charging and within range of one of these, it will definitely try to back up. However, if the phone is on wi-fi, that would also mean that Find my iPhone would be working and you'd be able to locate it and perform all the actions that the app provides. It would also update and report the "Last known location" back to Apple.
 
jayes said:
I'm really confused. I did think that a known network was required for backup.
Click to expand...
It's needed for an _automatic_ backup. Otherwise you could be charging your phone near some really insecure WiFi where you wouldn't want any traffic going through that network. Or in a hotel that charges you an arm and a leg for WiFi.
 
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