Have had three iphones stolen this year. With my five kids, we own seven total. My kids had a phone stolen in Switzerland and Baton Rouge. They way they handled trying to recover the phones was not what I would have suggested. My wife's was stolen this past Sunday night. Had 500+ pictures on it (she does not backup) many of them candid shots at our daughter's wedding.
I got the phone back!! Here are my definitive steps on getting your phone back. The first steps are pretty basic but wanted to make sure nothing was left unsaid.
1. Make sure you have loaded FindMyIphone. Make sure you have checked it out in advance.
2. When your phone is missing, obviously go to another iphone or a computer and check location. If the phone is on, you can find an exact location. If you are close to the phone, you can send a loud tone, even if the phone is on vibrate.
3. If the phone is off, tell the app you want to be notified by email and text when it is found. In my case, the phone had been powered off, the first indication it was stolen and not lost. During the one minute the thief powered the phone on to put it in "airplane" mode so it would not send out a signal, my app locked in and gave me the location.
4. If you have a location, print off the map showing the location. You can just save on your other phone or computer. In my case, I printed the location in large and small scale. I also went to satellite view and printed two pictures of the house.
5. I tried the police first. Always the best best. They will many times (so I am told) help. In my case it was 11 p.m. and the police wanted to handle this in a several day process. That may be OK sometime but I thought my chances would go down with passing days plus I was 100% sure the pictures would be gone if I waited a few days.
6. I drove to the house where the phone had been. I did NOT accuse them of anything. I very apologetically said that my wife had "lost" her iphone with some valuable (to her) pictures on it and I hoped someone there had "found" it. I had my pictures and maps of their house in hand and said that the GPS said the phone was there and I hoped someone there had "found" it. The first guy said he did not know anything about a phone. I again apologetically said that there were other people in his house, I was hoping someone had found my lost iphone, I would be appreciative if they did and that the GPS (pictures in hand) said it had been there. He went inside and another guy came out and said he had in fact found a phone earlier. He got keys, went out to a locked car in the side yard and gave it to me. My wife's phone.
If I had accused them of stealing, they would have resisted. With me holding the pictures and maps, and giving them an "out" (they "found" the phone), they felt their best option was to give it up.
7. You might say I was just lucky, but when I left home at 11 p.m., I was confident I would recover the phone.
8. Obviously the police should always be an option but in my case it would have take several days and even then my fear was that the phone would be long gone and the culprit would have not choice but to deny everything. The GPS maps would help but could have been for anyone in the house or even someone driving nearby.
9. By the way, I'm not an iCloud fan and have had problems with the data sync'ing on my iPhone. I do use it for pictures only and have now put my wife on iCloud for picture sync'ing also.
10. Apple could help control theft if they would. These phones have a high value and are a big temptation. If they set up a lost/stolen phone registry and coordinated with iTunes and carriers ATT, Verizon, etc), thieves would be limited as to what they could do with the phone.
11. The most important point to this thread is to visit the people with the phone in a non confrontational manner.
I got the phone back!! Here are my definitive steps on getting your phone back. The first steps are pretty basic but wanted to make sure nothing was left unsaid.
1. Make sure you have loaded FindMyIphone. Make sure you have checked it out in advance.
2. When your phone is missing, obviously go to another iphone or a computer and check location. If the phone is on, you can find an exact location. If you are close to the phone, you can send a loud tone, even if the phone is on vibrate.
3. If the phone is off, tell the app you want to be notified by email and text when it is found. In my case, the phone had been powered off, the first indication it was stolen and not lost. During the one minute the thief powered the phone on to put it in "airplane" mode so it would not send out a signal, my app locked in and gave me the location.
4. If you have a location, print off the map showing the location. You can just save on your other phone or computer. In my case, I printed the location in large and small scale. I also went to satellite view and printed two pictures of the house.
5. I tried the police first. Always the best best. They will many times (so I am told) help. In my case it was 11 p.m. and the police wanted to handle this in a several day process. That may be OK sometime but I thought my chances would go down with passing days plus I was 100% sure the pictures would be gone if I waited a few days.
6. I drove to the house where the phone had been. I did NOT accuse them of anything. I very apologetically said that my wife had "lost" her iphone with some valuable (to her) pictures on it and I hoped someone there had "found" it. I had my pictures and maps of their house in hand and said that the GPS said the phone was there and I hoped someone there had "found" it. The first guy said he did not know anything about a phone. I again apologetically said that there were other people in his house, I was hoping someone had found my lost iphone, I would be appreciative if they did and that the GPS (pictures in hand) said it had been there. He went inside and another guy came out and said he had in fact found a phone earlier. He got keys, went out to a locked car in the side yard and gave it to me. My wife's phone.
If I had accused them of stealing, they would have resisted. With me holding the pictures and maps, and giving them an "out" (they "found" the phone), they felt their best option was to give it up.
7. You might say I was just lucky, but when I left home at 11 p.m., I was confident I would recover the phone.
8. Obviously the police should always be an option but in my case it would have take several days and even then my fear was that the phone would be long gone and the culprit would have not choice but to deny everything. The GPS maps would help but could have been for anyone in the house or even someone driving nearby.
9. By the way, I'm not an iCloud fan and have had problems with the data sync'ing on my iPhone. I do use it for pictures only and have now put my wife on iCloud for picture sync'ing also.
10. Apple could help control theft if they would. These phones have a high value and are a big temptation. If they set up a lost/stolen phone registry and coordinated with iTunes and carriers ATT, Verizon, etc), thieves would be limited as to what they could do with the phone.
11. The most important point to this thread is to visit the people with the phone in a non confrontational manner.
. Or maybe not.
