When to wipe lost phone?

[upnorth85]

yesterday i forgot my iPhone 6+ at a company i was consulting at. No one has handed the phone in. I can see the phone. I played the sound remotely from the find my iphone App i put it in the lost mode. My friend walked around the offices while I played the sound. All to no effect. I have a password and finger print to unlock it. I suspect the phone may travel out of the company this afternoon. The advice I am seeking is should i do a remote wipe from the lost mode the lost mode shows a message to the finder to call a particular number. But at some stage i need to protect my financial data etc. while i can still "see" the phone i also understand if it is really list and some one finds it, it may never come back to me because no one would know the owner. But i am now wanting to be realistic and protect my sensitive data.

Kindly hep give your advise on what i should do. I have 3 hours or so left to act, in case it leaves the company today and is switched off.

 

[Newtons Apple]

If you passcoded and finger ID they will not be able to get in your phone. Once wiped you will no longer be able to track so that is up to you. It will be sold for parts but Apple says your info is safe!

 

[upnorth85]

I have seen that an iPhone can be switched off even when it is locked. Can some one switch it off and then connect to a computer and reset or wipe it and use the phone in a different country?

If you passcoded and finger ID they will not be able to get in your phone. Once wiped you will no longer be able to track so that is up to you. It will be sold for parts but Apple says your info is safe!

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Would wiping actually help some one who found the phone to be able to use it?

 

[Chatter]

I have seen that an iPhone can be switched off even when it is locked. Can some one switch it off and then connect to a computer and reset or wipe it and use the phone in a different country?



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Would wiping actually help some one who found the phone to be able to use it?

The phone stays "locked" when wiped. Your data is safe in case they sell for parts. You can display a message that says "call this number if found" using icloud and hope someone does. Its a company so you hope someone found it and didnt steal it.

 

[upnorth85]

If I wipe, I lose ability to track and also have a lost message to call me, right?

The phone stays "locked" when wiped. Your data is safe in case they sell for parts. You can display a message that says "call this number if found" using icloud and hope someone does. Its a company so you hope someone found it and didnt steal it.

 

[Newtons Apple]

If I wipe, I lose ability to track and also have a lost message to call me, right?

That is correct. If it is lost and no one has it the battery will be going DEAD pretty soon and after that it will not allow them back in without your code or finger

Most people who know what they are doing will turn that phone off to keep it from being tracked so maybe yours is just lost.

 

[Max(IT)]

At this point, track it is useless I think....
I would wipe it right now.

 

[rigormortis]

i tell people to wipe it when they feel they have reasonably have given up ever getting it back. you should keep the sim card going until you decide to wipe it, with a valid and activated sim card, the iPhone will respond faster if not instantly to tracking and erase orders

they could still turn it off or remove the sim though, but its still better then wifi only


one thing i want to throw out is make sure you DO NOT REMOVE it from iCloud

if you remove it from iCloud , anyone can activate the iPhone without any restrictions


on www.icloud.com wiping the phone and removing the phone are two separate functions.

you can wipe it and there will be a name and number to call

but you can also remove it, and you don't ever want to do that, because you just gave away a perfectly good iPhone to whoever finds it

make them sell it on eBay for parts

 

[upnorth85]

Thanks for your advice's. So here is how my day went today. I thought I would go to the company one more time this afternoon and look for it, even though the company is 80 miles from my home. I walked around in their offices with my iPad Air 2 connected to their Wi-Fi and my findmyiphone app running. Interestingly, I saw 2 devices not at the same location, my iPhone was showing north of where I was in the building and close to the front office near the road. So I took my iPad and kept pressing the "play sound" icon and went around all the offices to the front side. Finally I thought why not see outside as well. So I had a buddy go out and check while I used the app. When he was outside he heard a sound from the side walk. Under the snow he found my iphone, almost frozen cold. The battery life was at 32%. Last night was -4F, today day time was negative as well (Tonight the minimum temperature will be -16F with windchill of -35F). I was amazed that the iPhone did not die out under such brutal weather conditions, and the battery was still not dead. In hindsight I dropped my iPhone 6+ while getting in to my car last evening. It was snowing when I left the company. In the night some one cleaned the snow and my iPhone went with the snow in to the landscaped rock garden area. It lay there all night until it was retrieved today. One more day, the battery would have gone dead. Earlier today, when I had lost hope of finding it, I had decided to replace my iPhone 6+ with an iPhone 6 because the size is small enough to fit snugly in my pant pocket. While the iPhone 6+ is nice for usage, I have a tendency to carry it in my hand and I have sometimes forgotten it in the meeting room etc. Going ahead, I hope to keep my iPhone 6+ in my laptop bag!

 

[scaredpoet]

Good to hear that you found it! And even better that despite the conditions, it doesn't seem to be the worse for wear.

 

[Kiimora]

awww so glad you found it! that findaphone app rocks! Rock on !!!

 

[Newtons Apple]

This is why you do not erase your phone unless you know there is no chance!