Apple launches 'Find My iPhone' app to remotely wipe and find your lost treasure
By Thomas Ricker 
posted June 18th 2010 4:05AM
posted June 18th 2010 4:05AM
[Thanks, Brian M.]
posted June 18th 2010 4:05AM
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Is this only for gps equip iphone? If this work, i bet many employee who claim their loss iphone, this could located that is actually in their home lol.
@techlord
Most of these services use cell towers. Not many people keep their GPS on all the time. Have a similar app on my Android phone, but it's not free.
Can this only work with MobileMe and how much is that?
@Android looks Hacked Together
On a scale of 1-10 how random would you say you are?
@Android looks Hacked Together ok a good pc it loads in
@davepermen what ever happened to my post???
well, what i was saying was:
a good pc does load itunes in
@davepermen
@davepermen i give up
@davepermen ahh html tags.. right, forgot that.
a good pc loads itunes in less than 2 seconds. a good pc of today has an ssd in.
and you're a troll, as this is not a topic about itunes.
@davepermen you sure like to talk to yourself don't you?
@jrack21 nah, actually not. but i sure like my post to show all the info. and i'm too tierd to actually find out after the first post why it doesn't.. :)
@davepermen Edit button much?
@lookseehear
don't taunt him about the edit button, you know how hard it is to find on engadget. Next people will be whipping out Alt+f4
@Tes it works only with MobileMe. MobileMe has a free 3-month trial and then you are automatically charged for an annual subscription en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobileMe#Pricing here you can see the pricing of the service.
it's pretty lame actually. you lose your phone and you have to pay another $99 to have a chance to get it back. and i'm not sure if you can locate it after it's been stolen or you have to turn something on in your phone before it's stolen.
my girlfriend lost her iPod touch last week and i've trying to find a way of locating it ever since, although i know it's nearly impossible. f***ng thiefs!
@Tes
Can you give the name of the app that you are using?
@Lnds500 You have to have MobileMe prior to losing your iPad/iPhone/iPod because you need to enter your MobileMe details into the device and enable push notification before you can use the find and remote wipe features.
Also note that a remote wipe erases everything, including your MobileMe details, so find and other remote features are no longer available after a wipe.
@davepermen
A good PC has an SSD? ?? I guess you have tons of moorland to burn paying out the wazoo per GB
@techlord
So i have to pay $99 a year for this then right? MobileMe = RIPOFF
@techlord It works via a combo of GPS, cell tower pickups and wifi pickups so it works best with the iphone and 3g ipad but it will work with the others.
@Darkroom Why would a desktop application that requires an internet connection be any more convenient than using a web browser?
And no, not everyone syncs to a desktop computer.
@Charlik - Spot On!
This app plus "new" IMEI/ESN BLOCKING/BLACKLISTING BY THE DEATH STAR! Yea, "GOOD LUCK" eBay Shoppers. Sayin...
@Frankenstein Black
Does anywhere actually do IMEI blocking? AFAIK none of the carriers in the UK do
@Android looks Hacked Together,
iTunes on my Dell Lattitude E6500 loads and will play a song in under 3 seconds.
Just sayin', you're not entirely correct.
This is one of those features that's been available elsewhere for just about forever...but now that Apple has implemented it it's big news? Oddly enough Microsoft beat them to it by a good 8 months lol.
@Tes check out https://www.mobiledefense.com/, it does the same thing for free on Android (and of course you use the website to do the tracking, no stupid mobile app).
@Tes I have Mobile Defense on my G1. It's free.
Cool
@KevOne
This is cool. Is there something like this for Symbian?
@huzzlehoff Remote wiping is not new to Nokia.It was there for years. But sadly noticed it :(
http://www.nokia-asia.com/find-products/nokia-for-business/security
@symbian
Those are enterprise solutions. What about the home user?
@Tes
Nah. There's phonlocator but that just tells you where it is, it doesn't allow a remote wipe.
@huzzlehoff
Yeh, try searching for WaveSecure. I got it free for my android device when it was in beta but I think you have to pay for the Symbian version.
@case I just use where's my droid. Nice n free.
@KevOne This is to help you find that lost prototype which was left at a beer garden.
Apple is awesome
@appleipad
Yet, we still won't be able to access this feature without purchsing the $99/yr mobileme. Fail.
Great
The AppStore download stats will show Apple that there are peaks around the weekends and at night. And from Redwood City...
Nice, but instead of wiping the device it should ring the phone then explode when the thief picks up the phone. They could even charge for this app.
@Edobe Or you could get charged for using the app :-)
@Edobe
What this app should really do is tell if it's on standby or if someone is actively using it and maybe show you if an app is running or something so you can make the decision sooner to wipe it or not.
Must be rather useful for when you leave your iPhone in a bar...
Was this not available in the US?
We have been using MobileMe to do this in Australia for a little while...
@Hivetyrant
The "Find my iPhone" via the website is not new. The new thing is the "Find my iPhone" app for iPhone/Touch/iPad, although it kinda defeats the purpose if you only have 1 device.
@pika2000
Exactly. A true useful iPhone/iPod app would be "Find m'y Laptop" !
@pika2000
Ahh makes sense, I figured I was missing something!
Still, handy feature, especially for a business like mine where our exec's carry sensitive data on their iphones.
@pika2000 The idea is that you are out with a friend. you both have iphones or whatever. You realize you left your iphone somewhere. Oh crap. Now you have to run home or find a cyber cafe or whatever.
No you don't. I can download the app to my iphone and you can use that.
and look in less than half the time, we've locked your phone, and sent a message that it's lost with my number. It's ringing. Oh you left it at the restaurant, lets go get it.
Will i find my iphone if i loose it in a German Bar ? ;)
Does Emily really need an iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad?
@Josh123 considering she still has two empty places on the list, she needs 2 more devices...
@Josh123 .. Here's a thought. Maybe Emily has a family so they aren't all used by her.
Or perhaps Emily doesn't even exist !