Lost your iPhone? I hope luck is on your side and you have activated the Find My iPhone function, otherwise things will be tough. In this article, I will show you how you can find the location of a lost device, as well as how to set up your smartphone so that if you lose it, you don’t have to grab your head.
The free Find iPhone app, just like the free function of the same name, can help out in a variety of situations and it’s best not to neglect its use. Think for yourself, spending a few minutes setting up the device is better than shedding tears over its box. Moreover, it's really simple.
Find My - location check feature
One of Apple's device detection features is Find My, which allows you to track a lost gadget by signal without involving police services.
Find My is an integrated proprietary service for finding phones, computers and other modern Apple models. It’s worth setting it up in advance and attaching your device. To set up Find My, you need to go to the iCloud cloud storage settings and indicate your phone as a lost device, which can also be blocked. This is one of the ways to quickly find an iPhone. Icloud from Android also allows you to get help in finding your missing device.
Conclusion
Owners of a new iPhone are so excited about their purchase that they completely forget that the gadget can easily be lost or stolen. Take care of registering an Apple ID account, install additional search applications, write down all passwords, save packaging, receipts and, most importantly, the IMEI number immediately after purchasing the device.
Sources
- https://AlfaMan.org/hi-tech/telefony/138-kak-nayti-poteryannyy-ayfon.html
- https://support.apple.com/ru-ru/HT210515
- https://www.opengsm.com/blog/mestonahojdenie-iphone/
- https://bigiphone.ru/kak-naiti/
- https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5d54328ea06eafb7bab346a4/kak-naiti-aifon-cherez-icloud-i-find-my-iphone-5df4e1c3d4f07a00ad78706b
- https://iphone-gps.ru/iphone/kak-nayti-funktsiyu-nayti-iphone
- https://SetPhone.ru/rukovodstva/kak-najti-poteryannyj-ajfon/
- https://iphone-gps.ru/iphone/kak-nayti-iphone-cherez-android
- https://profiapple.ru/iphone/instrukcii/bezopasnosty/nayti-ayfon-po-nomeru-telefona-onlayn.html
How to find an iPhone using iCloud.com?
If you don’t know how to find an iPhone through an Android device using iCloud, use the instructions below:
- Go to icloud.com in a new tab on Android.
- The user will be redirected to a page with a “Find iPhone” button, which will provide information about linked Apple gadgets.
- No need to pay attention to the iOS iCloud page. You need to immediately go to the “Share” box.
- A window with new shortcuts should appear. After this, you should select the “Full version of the site” button. The familiar “cloud” will appear on a new page when you log into iCloud.
- The system will ask for the ID and password of the lost iPhone.
- If activation is successful, the user will have full access to his phone and will be able to use the Find iPhone from Android service.
Full activation via iCloud takes two to five minutes. This allows you to quickly find an iPhone from an Android. It is important to consider that the search is carried out only if the “Find iPhone” function is activated on the Apple device, and the device itself is turned on and an Internet connection is established.
How to block an iPhone if it's stolen
If you can’t find your iPhone, it’s better to block it to prevent an attacker from gaining access to the user’s personal data. To do this, go to the My iPhone
enable lost mode.
Next, follow the instructions on the screen to create a password code. If you are trying to block the iPhone of one of your family members who does not have a code installed, then you need to log in to your Apple ID
on behalf of the owner of the lost phone.
Silent mode for a lost iPhone: what to do?
Users of branded smartphones have developed life hacks that make it possible to find an iPhone from Android, even if the silent mode is set.
You need to do the following:
- Open Find My iPhone.
- Select “Last geoposition” so that the system gives results as quickly as possible.
- Establish a connection with the desired device.
- Enter your password and ID.
- Select the “Play sound” option. After this, the lost phone will change the settings offline and then give a signal to the owner.
It is imperative that the user connects all necessary Apple devices to iCloud.
Phone tracking services and applications
You can track your smartphone not only through “find iPhone” or “Find my friends”. There are many ways to determine the location of a device - from applications to the services of mobile operators, but their use is possible only with the knowledge of the phone owner.
Under Russian law, any surveillance of other people without their consent is a criminal offense, even if it is carried out using the official “find iPhone” function.
Additional options to monitor the location of the device:
- Family sharing helps not only to share purchases or content between group members, but is a reliable way to find an iPhone - to do this, you just need to enable geolocation sharing.
- Cell phone providers can help you find your iPhone or any other cell phone if you enable SIM tracking in advance. This is a paid service; prices and conditions can be found in the specific company.
- Third party applications. Additional programs that track an iPhone can be downloaded from the App Store or Cydia (many utilities require jailbreaking). But we would not recommend doing this: the functionality of Apple’s own capabilities is quite sufficient, and by transferring data about your device to applications from unknown manufacturers, you risk your privacy.
Is it possible to find a mobile phone by IMEI
The technical ability to find an iPhone by IMEI exists, but it is only available to law enforcement agencies - mobile companies do not provide access to such data to private individuals. In this case, you will have to write a statement to the police, attaching a receipt confirming the purchase.
There are also user-generated databases where you can enter the IMEI of your device, indicate that it is lost and offer a reward. All other sites and utilities offering to find a stolen iPhone by IMEI are fraudulent.
Law enforcement agencies usually do not search for phones; most likely, they will only be able to help find an iPhone by IMEI if it allows them to solve a more serious crime.
Finding a disabled phone via Android
IMEI is a basic phone number that helps track an iPhone under any circumstances. In the factory settings, iPhones have a 15- or 16-digit number, which can be identified by the number: *#06#. The function is active when GPS data is turned on on the lost phone. The search is carried out over the operator's network, which provides information about the location of the phone via satellite signal.
This option is not available to individuals, so to find an iPhone through an Android phone, you will need to be patient. An application is submitted to the police department with a form and an explanation of the reason for the search. After reviewing it, law enforcement agencies will connect the telecom operator and track the phone using GPS navigation. A minimum of three days is allocated to process the request. If the loss is valuable, then it is better to start searching in other ways.
Find iPhone by IMEI or phone number
IMEI
is a unique phone code. it is assigned to the device by the manufacturer. It is almost impossible to change this code yourself. To find it out, just type the key combination
*#06#
.
There are special services online for searching for an iPhone via IMEI. The principle of their operation is similar to that described earlier. The user specifies a unique iPhone code and activates a search using geolocation data. In practice, finding an iPhone this way is almost impossible because:
- It is extremely rare, but attackers still manage to change IMEI.
- To search for an iPhone, you need access to special equipment and operator databases. Only law enforcement agencies have such information.
The only way to find an iPhone using a code is to place an ad on the LoSToleN service
. This is the IMEI database of stolen devices. Their owners publish information about the lost phone and indicate the reward amount. Participants in the secondary market often check devices for the presence of information in the database.
An alternative program for finding an Apple device
Samsung's remote search function is in many ways ahead of the Apple brand. The program provides the following features:
- Authorization without two-factor authentication from one device.
- Working with two geographic resources (maps). This option is convenient for those regions that have little geolocation information.
- Tips for new users. If the user is looking for his iPhone for the first time, then intuitive tips will help him perform all the steps correctly.
- A backup copy allows you to save the latest data. To do this, the Internet must be turned on on the lost iPhone.
- “Adding Trustees” is a new item that allows another user to monitor the device and transmit signals to it.
- To find an iPhone from an Android phone, you need to authorize the device through the Samsung website in the same way as through iCloud.
In the near future, Apple plans to surpass its competitor's program with the new Apple-SIM security system. The function will resemble a chip that will be built into the iPhone, and in case of any loss or theft, the owner will immediately find his gadget without setting up geolocation and the Internet. Switching between operators will also be inside the phone and will not allow you to open the cover to remove the SIM card. The corporation developed a similar innovation back in 2014, but the system had certain errors and required improvement.
Option 2. The phone is lost and there is no access to it
It is a very annoying situation when access to the phone is lost and no measures were previously taken to possibly protect it from such a situation. Or maybe it’s not your phone, but you absolutely need to know its location? And in these cases, something can be done.
Contacting specialists
Detective agencies have existed at any time, and in the age of high technology their resources are almost limitless. While researching this problem, I turned to an Internet search and found something on this subject. The site rozshuk.com.ua, which will be discussed, is not an advertisement, but is given only as an example, its services are relevant for residents of Ukraine, but I am sure that there are similar organizations in Russia.
So, being specialists, representatives of this site claim that it is more than possible to find a person by phone number and are ready to confirm this upon receipt of the corresponding application through the form on their website.
Contacting law enforcement agencies
This method is a last resort in the event of your iPhone being stolen, we will not digress too much on this topic, since there is already a very useful article on this subject.
How to find an iPhone via Android: application in the Play Market
You can find an iPhone using applications provided by the Play Market. One such free app is Find iPhone. To activate iOS you will also need iCloud. The application runs on the Android platform and can track any Apple device in Google Maps. Findi Phone has the following features:
- turning on and off the sound on the phone;
- work on multiple accounts;
- in street search, indicates the direction to a device with voice playback;
- the result is accurate to the street and house.
The application can also be used online. While working, you can check your linked devices on the Apple website and view their current status.
In the application, green color indicates the exact location of the found iPhone, and gray indicates that the device has been found, but the location cannot be determined. If a device on the Android platform does not play the application, then you need to double-check the ability to establish a connection with active geolocations and enable them if there is no Internet connection. It should be noted that the manufacturer is not an official representative of Apple.
All applications are imperfect and may experience various technical glitches. In England, cases have been reported where an Apple user lost his gadget and tried to track it through alternative applications on Android. The maps pointed to his own house, but the gadget was lost in a nearby cafe. This can happen because the system remembered the last synchronization of the phone and could not find a connection to the new location. To exclude such cases, you need to enable GPS data, Internet and iCloud binding on your iPhone in advance.
Wiretapping and searching for iPhone using GPS: capabilities of special programs
Determining the location of a specific phone using GPS coordinates is only a small part of the functionality of spyware. We invite you to consider the full range of capabilities of specialized wiretapping programs for iPhone.
A spy app from serious developers may include the following features:
- recording incoming and outgoing connections, listening to conversations in real time. You can also always listen to the recorded conversation in your personal account on the program website;
- access to the list of contacts on the phone, the ability to blacklist numbers;
- recording and reading SMS messages, as well as email messages;
- interception of online correspondence in popular instant messengers (iMessage, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.);
- control of Internet activity (logs, bookmarks in the browser);
- access to multimedia files (photos, audio, video);
- find iPhone location using GPS;
- hidden control of program settings using SMS messages or through your personal account on the Internet.
Thus, by installing a special application on the desired phone, you can not only easily find the subscriber’s location, but also get the widest access to his information.
Important Additions
There are several important points arising from using the Find iPhone application that you need to know:
- First, you should understand that the smartphone location data provided by the iCloud service is not displayed in real time, but only shows the moment the lost iPhone was last connected to the Internet.
- You can allow the application to receive notifications via e-mail, this will allow you to quickly catch the moment when a stolen smartphone appears online and quickly block the device and use the “Erase iPhone” function to delete all personal information.
- The “Find iPhone” function will be useless if the device was stolen by a resourceful thief and promptly flashed before you even noticed it was missing.
- And what is worth noting is that always-on geolocation puts a heavy load on the battery, as a result of which it discharges faster.
Let’s also imagine a situation where, for some reason, the owner did not immediately enable the “Find iPhone” function when purchasing the smartphone, then finding it, of course, will be more problematic, even almost impossible. But, nevertheless, it is possible to make life not so sweet for those people who find the device, but do not want to return it right away. The fact is that on the official Apple website there is such an excellent opportunity - to change the password for your AppleID account.
If everything is done quickly, this will instantly block access to many important functions. For example, to the AppStore, iTunes, iCloud, etc. Also, something worth taking care of is changing passwords on social networking accounts so that your photos and correspondence are not made public and simply do not fall under the prying eyes, and this can be done quite easily from a personal computer.
In this case, the most important thing is speed, since you didn’t take care in advance, you didn’t protect yourself from the loss of your phone by installing the “Find iPhone” application. And the faster the user blocks his personal data remotely, the greater the likelihood that an unscrupulous person will return the smartphone, which he will not be able to fully use.
A person who has installed the “Find iPhone” application on his device will have to be very careful and cautious about the safety of his personal credentials and not give them away left and right. Because if your data ends up in the wrong hands, these hands, in turn, will be able to calmly block the gadget and, promptly changing the iCloud password, subsequently come into contact with the owner of the smartphone and blackmail him, that is, you. This type of fraud is now very relevant, unfortunately, since according to various sources, recently more and more injured users are suffering from this type of action.
