iPhone is the world’s best smart phone available today without any doubt. People carry their phones everywhere they go, and hence there is always a chance of them forgetting their iPhone somewhere or the iPhone getting stolen. Learn how to track, message, erase and recover your lost or stolen iPhone.
Also read: 4 Ways to Track and Recover your Stolen Laptop
Track or Locate your iPhone
1. Track your iPhone via MobileMe
Apple has announced a new service called Find My iPhone that will allow iPhone owners to remotely locate their lost or stolen iPhones using the iPhone’s GPS. The service will be available as part of Apple’s MobileMe online subscription service.
Find My iPhone will pinpoint the iPhone’s current location using Google Maps and let owners send and display a message on the iPhone even if it’s locked, presumably to provide information on how to return the phone to the owner of the phone. The Find My iPhone feature can also force the iPhone to play a sound for 2 minutes, which is useful for not only getting the attention of the finder of iPhone but also locating it between couch cushions.
The Find My iPhone feature will require a subscription to Apple’s MobileMe service, which costs $99 a year (currently $65.99 on Amazon.com) after a free 2-month trial.
Update: Find my iPhone Goes Free with iOS 4.2
Update 2: Find my iPhone is now part of iOS 5 via the iCloud.
2. iPhone anti-theft solution – iLocalis
iLocalis lets you track your iPhone device location and also remote control it! It is considered as the best theft-tracking and remote control utility for Apple iPhone.
iLocalis has the following uses-
- Never lose your iPhone: If it is missing, just log onto the iLocalis site and you’ll know where it was located last.
- Retrieve a stolen iPhone: If your iPhone is stolen you can log into the site and check out where it’s at. Extra features built into iLocalis allow you to send text messages or make calls on your iPhone when you don’t even have it with you. If your iPhone is stolen, log in and send yourself a text message. If the thief changed the sim card you’ll have their phone number!
- Allow your family and friends to know where you are: iLocalis will send a message to your friends when you are near by. You can also set it up to allow your friends to locate you. If your friend also has iLocalis you can send messages to each other for free. No text messaging charges.
- iLocalis can also be used for a business that needs location services for their employees. Employees carrying iPhones with iLocalis can be tracked via the web site easily.
Note: iLocalis needs a jailbroken iPhone with Cydia installed and supports all firmware versions on iPhone 3G and 3GS.
3. GPS tracking for iPhone with Mobile Spy 3.0
Mobile Spy version 3.0 spy software for Apple iPhone from Retina-X studios allows users to track GPS locations, SMS messages and calls of employees, teen or family mobile phones by logging into SSL secured online control panel from any computer or phone’s web browser.
Mobile Spy allows users to monitor their handsets in real time and runs in the background behind all other applications. After the spy software is setup on the cellphone, it will silently record SMS messages, GPS locations and call activities, and then upload the data to your private Mobile Spy secure online account.
The Mobile Spy version 3.0 software is compatible with all iPhone models, Windows Mobile or Symbian OS based smartphone and is priced at $99.97 (1-year subscription).
4. Find and Recover your Stolen iPhone with iHound
This free security program alerts you when your iphone is connected to another individual’s computer. It will also track down the location of where your device is being used.
When your missing iPhone is being plugged in to a computer, you will:
1. Get an email saying that your tracked device is being located.
2. Get a detailed report on where it is being used by logging in to iHound’s website.
The second method can be very useful when the stolen iPhone is switched off and later gets connected to a computer for changing software or formatting the memory card.
Download iHound for iPhone or iPod Touch
5. Recover your Lost/Stolen iPhone with Navizon app
Navizon is a hybrid positioning system combining GPS, Wi-Fi and Cellular triangulation techniques. It calculates the geographic location of a wireless device by analyzing the signals from nearby Wi-Fi access points and cellular towers and comparing it against a database of known data points. A new option called Locate-by-SMS allows you to locate your lost iPhone by just sending an SMS text message to it.
6. MyFoundCast
MyFoundCast, a patent pending technology is the internet’s first lost and found service that allows you to create custom wallpaper and embed information into that wallpaper so when somebody finds your iPhone or iPod Touch they will know how to return it. All members are given a unique tracking ID and automatically registered in our lost and found database. You may register the serial number of any iPod or iPhone.
I am not sure if this really works. If someone is honest enough to return your iPhone he/she will do some basic research on the owner of the iPhone and return it back. Isn’t it?
Raju PP is the founder-editor of Technically Personal, which is one of the most widely read technology blogs on the web. He holds an Engineering degree in Electronics & Communication, and has previously worked as a Technical Specialist in Banking Software domain.
You can try an app, ” find my phone”, I believe you can download it on a friends iphone or ipad. I think you have to sign up for a mobile me acct and use the trial. Read about it while trying to find a way to track Gf’s lost droid, which appears to be hopeless.
How do I protect my privacy when I do not want to be tracked down?
simple! Remove all such apps which directly or indirectly use GPS. You know how to remove apps from your iPhone, don’t you?
iHound is not free!!
is there a way to track your stole phone without these apps?
Yes, subscribe to mobile me.
Same question, I lost my phone today and want to track it but did not install any of these programs, any solution?
Unfortunately there isn’t any
iLocalis is very good,seems to be free!
There’s also cerebro
if you backed i up in itunes you will still have those in a ipsw file
Pray to the lord Jesus Christ and enlighten yourself with his love and miraculous powers. You will find everything in your life, including that lost iPhone!
how about my virginity?
LMAO! Good one
lost an iphone 3g in a London Cab on august 3rd 2010 at around 8pm
the IMEI # is 012154006551973
if found please do email me at awasha-88@hotmail.com
willing to give a reward for it, the phone has a lot of business contacts and and carries family memories!
Aishah
what is the serial number pls?
Can you track by serial number?
Can you track a phone by serial number? I lost my iphone 4 last night and i have data on there that is ver sensitive, please help.
dont you think this is scary, people can get killed by locating the criminal. just a thought but at least there are ways to find who is the robber.
well sorry good on the ppl that can actaully catch the bastatrds that wanna steal other ppl property, kharma a bitch mate,but all i can say if u dont have insurance on it not worth looking for it if you aint gonna download the app.
all those options hav to be setup when the phone is in your possession tho, i hav lost mine but i didnt set up any software on it to help find it before i lost it so is there any other options???, is there no way u can track a phone just using the imei number? my phone is still switched on and ringing
The same situation happened to me on friday, have a found any answer?
Hah, that’s incredible. The amount of times people lose their phones and now here could lie the answer! Heh
THE iphone is like your mind… Just dont lose it…
you missed a way to get a lost iphone back again!
I LOST MY NEW 4G IPHONE ON SEPT 19TH AT THE PARX CASINO IS BETHLEHEM PA, THIS PHONE HAS ALOT OF IMPORTANT INFO STORED IT ALSO HAS MANY FAMILY PHOTOS.PLEASE IF YU FIND IT PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL… I WILL GIVE YOU A REWARD…THANKS
So there is no way that you can get your iphone back from it has no gps apps? can’t the serial number track it down?
my iphone was stolen today. is there anyway possible to get my contacts back. the phone was synced to laptop.
Ah >: My Iphone 3gs was stolen 2days back while working in the F1 event. Any ways i can track it back if i do not have any of these tracking apps installed? I know my imei number, tho. Help, please? >:
No, sorry. IMEI isn’t enough to track down the iPhone from what I know.
i have at&t family map but my phones dead and stolen so it wont locate it. also its locked so its useless to the thief. cant they just switch my sim card out and my tracking be pointless? if so then im screwed cause its my life. ALOT of business stuff on there
i cant get back on here to check replies so can u email me with any info??
camrn00boyette@yahoo.com
here is another way AT&T FAMILYMAP. i found my iphone 4G after 10 HOURS in the same bus.
YOU CAN USE IT FREE FOR FIRST MONTH
How do I see what someone is doing on their iphone when they connect it to the internet via wifi? What websites they are visiting, emails, chats etc
I meant IPOD… not iphone… sorry
How do I spy on an IPOD thats connected to the internet via wifi??
Hi, I lost my iphone on Friday night. I don’t have MobileMe but I want T Mobile to not only block the sim card (already been done) but to block the handset itself. I know this could be done a few years back with Nokia phones as i had a handset blocked but they say they dont think this can be done?
Also I synced the iphone to the laptop before i lost it… can i log into the itunes website without connecting an iphone to it. Will i be able to recover my photos from there. I cannot find a way of logging into the itunes site now i have lost my iphone.
Finally, when you save tellf numbers do they save to your sim card or the iphone handset?
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Sammy
Hello,my iPhone 4 was stolen at the work on 5th of October between 3p.m. – 5p.m. .What`s I need to do??Please,give me advice.
hey traded work on car for a iphone know im scared could been stolen dont seem to have any aps for locating it and they took their sim. should i look for police to show up when i put my sim in and turn it on email— lonniehall72@yahoo.com
So today, i dropped my phone near the car; when i back-tracked to get it back, it was gone. O__O i have this strong feeling this girl i was talking to stole it, she left immediately after she knew i noticed my phone missing,i know she was in no hurry– that leaves me feeling skeptical. IM TOTALLY FLIPPING OUT!!! I been crying on and off since 8:30am about it. I have my LIFE on there… no joke! Theres enough information on there especially with my email to even steal my identity. I went to report it to ATT and the police but they claim theres no way of tracking it especially if its not a crime (meaning if they arent using it, its not consider stolen but lost) and im sitting here like people call 911 from their cells all the time and the cops and ambs. always show up… ALL SMART PHONES CAN BE TRACED…. problem is… it depends if the cop is willing to help or not.
Want to return this 3G i found but dont know how !! No message is being displayed when i turn it on . Lock is activated so no access to contacts . What if i take out si
And put in my i phone 3Gs ? Will that work ?
CHRIS MILLER?
Is the iphon4? What the IMEI number on?
My iPhone 3GS was stolen right out of my purse by a pickpocket in Whole Foods in NYC on Oct 23. It had thousands of photos of my family on it, including my cat who died last year. Of course I had no tracking or MobileMe installed on it (a mistake I’ll never make again). I’m not eligible for upgrade pricing until July 2011. I got a great look at the guy who kept bumping into me, filed a police report, and identified the guy through a mugshot. Still, I’ll probably never get my phone back along with hundreds of precious photos & all my contacts, because I didn’t want to spend $99 on MobileMe. If you have an iPhone, it’s money well spent. The NYPD told me if I had MobileMe they could go right to where my phone is & get it back. I’m telling you, don’t have what happened to me happen to you. It’s well worth the money you will spend to (hopefully) be able to recover your phone.
please find my stolen i phone
imei 011300003700367
What happens if the thief does a factory restore for the iphone. That would wipe out any of these apps. Will it still track it down from the IMEI?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way