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Find My iPhone app thwarts another thief
It's becoming a familiar story: a ne'er-do-well miscreant attempts to steal an iPhone, only to be thwarted by Apple's free Find My iPhone app. Today's tale comes from Manchester, England. James Bird is an aerospace engineering student at Manchester University. As he recounts, when his iPhone was stolen he alerted his friend, Nick, who tracked the iPhone using Find My iPhone on his computer. Nick then handed his own phone to James and a mutual friend Alex, who received running commentary on the iPhone's whereabouts from Nick back at the computer. Finally they spied the man who likely had the phone and he took off on foot. After a footrace, James and Alex chased the man onto a bus and confronted him. James asked for the phone and the man denied having it, but the bus driver refused to drive until the suspect could prove he was not in possession of the phone. Realizing he was caught, he handed the iPhone over. As fate would have it, there was a police car behind the bus. The suspect was then arrested. Go, technology! I've had first-hand experience myself with using Find My iPhone to retrieve a lost (but not stolen) iPhone. This is the first app everyone should install -- even if you're not in the habit of losing your phone while preparing a skydiving run.
iPhone 4 survives 1,000 foot fall from Air Force plane
Late last night, we received an email from U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker, who wrote to tell us an incredible story about his iPhone 4 and a minor workplace mishap. Staff Sergeant Walker's duties as a jump master require him to ensure that his aircraft is in the proper location before sending parachute jumpers into the air. One week ago (on March 16), he stuck his body out of the plane's open door to look for landmarks as the plane sped through the air at 130 knots (about 150 mph), about 1,000 feet above the ground. As he did so, the Velcro seal on his pocket flew open, and out popped his iPhone. Airman Walker could do nothing but watch it fall away from the plane; he assumed it was lost forever, not to mention destroyed by the fall (for reference, that drop is roughly equivalent to tossing a phone off of a 90-story skyscraper). Later, he told his tale of loss to his colleagues on the ground, one of whom installed the Find My iPhone app on his iPhone. Within minutes, the app found the wayward phone, still active, and Walker and his buddy hopped on ATVs and tracked it down in a wooded area about 2 miles away. Not only was the iPhone undamaged, Walker reports, it was in perfect working order -- "not a scratch on it, not even dirty." That's the phone itself in the photo above. The phone was wearing a Griffin case at the time of its unexpected journey, but no special aerodynamic protection. (It wasn't even this Griffin case, which is designed to meet military standards.) Thanks to Staff Sgt. Walker for sharing this iPhone recovery saga, and for his continuing service to our country. We're glad it turned out so well. Next time, however, make sure the iPhone is wearing a parachute and carrying a flare gun. [Airman Walker also shared his story separately with iLounge.]
Find My iPhone leads to a late-night chase in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv resident Ori Goshen realized the benefit of Find My iPhone when an unexpected late-night car ride left him without his iPhone. Goshen hopped into a car with two strangers and gave them directions, using his iPhone, in exchange for a ride closer to his apartment. (Bad decision? Quite possibly.) What started out as an innocent ride turned into a nightmare when the two men began quizzing him about places to find some sordid late night activity. At his first opportunity, Goshen bolted from the car to head to his apartment and immediately realized he'd left his iPhone in the car seat he'd just vacated. Arming himself with his Mac notebook and an Android handset, Goshen went on a hunt for his phone using the maps on Find My iPhone and Google Maps. Undaunted by the late hour, Goshen took to the streets of Tel Aviv with phone and notebook in hand. Guided by his phone's GPS coordinates, he came upon the car sitting at a red light. Goshen hopped in the back seat and asked the shocked men for his iPhone. They claimed to have no knowledge of the phone, but Goshen rang the iPhone using the remote ring feature. He quickly snatched the ringing phone from the front seat and bolted out of the car as fast as he could. After arriving home from his adventure-filled recovery mission, Goshen savored the moment with a frosty beverage and some hard-won life lessons.
Find my iPad turns up English rugby legend's missing tablet
Former England rugby captain Will Carling has been reunited with his stolen iPad after tracking it down with Apple's free Find My iPhone app. The best part is that he live-tweeted his hunt for the thief. Carling noticed his iPad was missing after leaving it on a train. He then used Find My iPhone to pinpoint its location and was off. While the chase was no doubt a harrowing experience for Carling, some of his tweets are amusing in hindsight: "breaking news! My Ipad has moved! It is now at the station! This is like Enemy of the State !!" He eventually pushed a message to the iPad telling its handler that s/he was being tracked, "followed" it (virtually) to a police station and rejoiced at its recovery. Well done. This isn't the first time we've heard of a successful recovery via Find My iPhone, but it is the first time we've seen the victim live tweet the process. [Via Computer World]
Find My iPhone no longer needs automatic mail delivery to be enabled
Apple has recently eliminated one of the configuration requirements and potential points of failure for Find My iPhone (FMI) on your iOS device. About a year ago we reported that there were three settings that you had to have enabled in order for FMI to work: 1. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > (Your Mobile Me account), you must set "Find My iPhone" to ON. This is not enabled by default. 2. Settings > General > Location Services has to be on. 3. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, you must either enable Push OR have fetch set to Every 15 minutes, 30 minutes or Hourly. If you disable Push and set Fetch to "Manually," Find My iPhone will not work. The first two requirements were fairly obvious. If FMI wasn't enabled, and if Location Services were disabled, you wouldn't expect FMI to work. The third requirement was a little less obvious, and I only discovered it when I tried to set mail to "manual" and was warned that it would make FMI cease to function.
Apple's Find My iPhone / iPad service now free, doesn't require MobileMe
We'd been sort of hoping Apple would just make MobileMe a completely free service, but it looks like we're taking baby steps instead: Find My iPhone / iPad is now free for iPhone 4, the iPad, and the fourth-gen iPod touch running iOS 4.2.1. As with the paid feature, you'll be able to locate your device on a map, lock it, display a message, play a sound, or remotely wipe your data from any browser or the updated iOS app, which should presumably go live sometime today along with iOS 4.2.1 itself. Like we said, it's a baby step, but hey -- we never say no to free. Update: Okay, so this is strange -- Find My iPhone is free for all devices running iOS 4.2.1, but you can only register for the service from an iPhone 4, iPad, or new iPod touch, unless you pay for MobileMe. Why? We'd guess it's to limit it to owners of the newest gear, but whatever -- if you've got an iPhone 4-toting friend you can totally get in on the action.
MobileMe finds a missing iPad but it's not a happy ending
Find My iPhone/iPad is one terrific benefit of MobileMe. In fact, to me, it is the best part of the service. For an Indiana man, the ability to find a missing iPad worked as it should, but too late to do much good. Here's the depressing story. One of our readers was moving stuff into his car with his Dad. With hands full, Dad put the iPad on the hood of the car. Then the pair drove off, leaving the iPad in the street. When our reader discovered the missing iPad he went straight to MobileMe, and the service dutifully located the iPad a few blocks away. The police assumed the iPad was stolen, and as they searched the apartment building where the location was, the police asked the owner to send a sound to the iPad so it could be found. They did locate the iPad, and the guy who had it said he found it in the street and was going to try to find the owner the next day. The iPad had been run over while it was in the street, and the case didn't look too spiffy, but amazingly the iPad still worked well enough to contact MobileMe servers, but the screen was cracked and not displaying anything. Lessons #1: don't leave your iPad on the top of a car. It's unlikely to stay there. Lesson #2: Find My iPhone really does work. Lesson #3: the iPad can "take a licking and keep on ticking," as the watch commercials used to say. Check the gallery for Find My Phone in action and the grim results. %Gallery-107065% Thanks to Jack K. for sending us his tale of woe
Verizon's Mobile Recovery: like 'Find my iPhone,' but for VZW Android, webOS and BlackBerry handsets
Fancy the idea of having Big Brother track your handset if it goes missing, but aren't so keen on owning an iPhone, ponying up for MobileMe and signing a deal with AT&T? Fret not, fretful one, as Verizon Wireless has just launched an extension of its Total Equipment Coverage program that essentially provides the same services, but for VZW-branded BlackBerry, webOS and Android phones. The full list of compatible phones is down there in the source, and the best news is that the Mobile Recovery app is offered free of charge to those already ponying up $7.99 per month for TEC. When enabled, it will allow users to remotely lock the device, sound an alarm (solving the infamous "couch cushion" dilemma) and wipe contacts from the phone. If a recovery proves unsuccessful, the carrier will supposedly provide you with a next-day replacement, but we've got an idea that there are quite a few lines of fine print to read beforehand. At any rate, it's a lovely option to have -- particularly if you're already paying for TEC -- and it's available to download and activate as we speak.
Apple releases Find my iPhone app
Apple has released a Find my iPhone app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch today, bringing the MobileMe service to the three devices (it only tracks the iPhone and iPad, of course). If your iPhone or iPad goes missing, you can install the app on any other iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and log in with your MobileMe credentials (a MobileMe account is required) to find it. Once located, the app places its location on a map. From there you can display a message on the iPhone or iPad's screen, have it play a sound (even if silenced), remote lock it or even wipe it clean. Of course, the whole thing hinges on your having a 2nd device to find the first one. Find my iPhone is free and universal and available now.
Apple launches 'Find My iPhone' app to remotely wipe and find your lost treasure
Stay with us here because this one isn't obvious. Apple just launched its Find My iPhone app on the iTunes App Store -- a service previously limited to MobileMe's web interface. The App will find your iPhone or iPad or iPod touch should it be lost or stolen. So obviously, you don't install it on your lost/stolen device, you install it on a different iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, yours or somebody else's (try a Starbucks). Panicked owners can then login with their MobileMe account to map their missing property and then remotely lock the device or wipe the data. The App can only be installed on iOS 3.1.3 or later devices and is available now for free.%Gallery-95615% [Thanks, Brian M.]
Enter Gmail contact syncing and DropBox; exit MobileMe?
Well, that's that. I have whittled MobileMe down to two useful functions: Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe. And yes, I use one of those functions quite often, say, when my husband is off on some 80 mile jaunt on his bicycle. I have, thankfully, yet to require the services of the other one. But the rest of it: email, syncing, and online storage? Gone the way of the dodo. Initially, I moved mostly over to Gmail to take advantage of its more robust email aliasing. I have several email addresses on personal domains, and Gmail gave me the best mix of domain use, plus sophisticated filtering and spam identification. MobileMe just doesn't play nicely with personal domains, and once Google enabled IMAP for gmail and then push email, I basically abandoned my .me address, relegating it to receiving Apple Store retail receipts and my Apple ID for iTunes.
Ask TUAW: Mac mini HTPC, Find My iPhone with another iPhone, eliminate duplicate photos, and more
Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about Mac minis running as HTPCs, eliminating duplicate photos, using an iPhone to access MobileMe's FInd My iPhone feature (for another iPhone), automatically mounting a network disk, and more. As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify), or if it's an iPhone-related question, which iPhone version and OS version you have.
Find My iPhone: Questions, answers, and suggestions
Mobile Me's Find My iPhone is a wonderful (relatively) new feature which can help track down your iPhone if it is lost or stolen, but it is not foolproof, and it must be configured before you need it. Q: "Is it true that Find My iPhone does not work if you have 3G turned off or lose your iPhone where there is no 3G service available (EDGE only)?" A: False. Find My iPhone works with the original iPhone, which did not even have 3G or GPS capabilities, so it does work with EDGE. If you have a 3G-capable iPhone and disable the 3G (Settings > General > Enable 3G > OFF) to save battery life, "Find My iPhone" will continue to work. Q: "Will find my iPhone work over WiFi?" A: True... sort of... Maybe... Not really. In my home I have very little or no AT&T service (or Sprint, or Verizon, or any other cell provider). I do have WiFi all over the house, and Find My iPhone has never failed to help me locate my iPhone when it is "lost" in my house. In order to test it purely over Wi-Fi, I put the iPhone into Airplane Mode (meaning that both EDGE and 3G were both disabled) and enabled Wi-Fi. I asked "Find My iPhone" to locate my iPhone and was told that it was near Orlando, Florida. It was, in fact, in Ohio. I repeated the test and it came back with the same information. Later, I tried the "Wi-Fi only" test from my home, and Find My iPhone could not find my location at all. However, even in Airplane + Wi-Fi mode I was able to use the "Display a Message" and "Remote Passcode Lock" features. So you may not be able to locate it on a map, but you still may be able to connect to it. Proper setup is your first crucial step All of this is a moot point if you don't have three crucial settings enabled on your iPhone. Without any one of these, Find My iPhone will not work. Settings > General > Location Services has to be on (this one is obvious, right?) Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > (Your Mobile Me account), you must set "Find My iPhone" to ON. This is not enabled by default. Under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, you must either enable Push OR have fetch set to Every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or Hourly. If you disable Push and set Fetch to "Manually" Find My iPhone will not work.
iPhone turns Pittsburgh man into Columbo, helps cops catch robbers
The MobileMe Find my iPhone service certainly paid off for a Pittsburgh area man. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that police said the man was robbed at gunpoint in Shadyside (a neigborhood on the east side of Pittsburgh, home to an Apple Store) by two men who asked for his credit cards and the PIN numbers. Police say he turned over his wallet, PIN numbers, and his iPhone. Later the man used his computer and MobileMe to find the location of the phone, and police located the crooks at a gas station. Officers recovered a pellet gun, stolen ID cards, credit cards and cash. Three men have been charged in the incident with device fraud, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and possessing instruments of crime. 2 of the 3 are also being charged with robbery. The victim, not identified by the police, is probably a happy guy, and will no doubt renew his MobileMe subscription when it comes up. One caution. If something similar happens to you, don't go chasing the thieves by yourself. Confronting criminals is serious police work & nothing for the amateur sleuth to try. [Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and thanks to Sean for the tip]
Find My iPhone reunites true nerd with lost iPhone
You know, we might be inclined to disbelieve this exciting tale of derring-do if it weren't for the highly improbably heroics and ingenuity displayed by its three protagonists -- you just can't make this stuff up. Probably. Kevin, Ryan and Mark were in Chicago minding their own nerdness out at Brickworld when Kevin left his iPhone behind at a dive bar. When they went back for it just minutes later the phone was gone, and instead of calling the cops like a bunch of suckers, Kevin and co. did the right thing and pulled out a Sprint 3G dongle and a MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, Find My iPhone couldn't get a lock on his phone at all -- it was either off or out of data range. The next day at lunch he finally got a delivery confirmation message from me.com, which kicked off a wild, dangerous chase into the wilds of Chicago. We won't spoil the ending for you (he finds the iPhone), but Kevin does raise a couple good points about the service functionality: you need to pull up MobileMe on laptop to use the service (instead of perhaps another iPhone), movement updates aren't pushed, ringer volume impacts alert volume whether the phone is on vibrate or not, and there should be an option for controlling the phone in more nefarious ways like taking pictures. We're glad it all ended up well, but those moments of Lego bliss that Kevin and his friends missed out on are gone forever.[Thanks, Tristan W.]
Find My iPhone location tracking enables all-city chase
We're not 100% convinced of the safety of his approach, but Kevin Miller's determination to recover his lost iPhone -- combined with the power of MobileMe's new Find My iPhone feature -- led him on a wild chase across Chicago, which he visited while he was attending a LEGO convention in nearby Wheeling, IL. After leaving his phone in a bar, Kevin tried to get FMI working (via a friend's laptop & broadband adapter, ironically from Sprint; as Megan & Michael pointed out, you can't access the MobileMe page from the iPhone browser anyway) with no luck. The next morning, however, the phone began responding and Kevin's three-man team began the hunt. With laptop in hand and a succession of more and more specific location details, the guys began tracking down the errant phone. We won't spoil the end of the story for you; Kevin's post is quite entertaining and worth a read. Still, once you do know how the plot turns out you may want to consider enlisting the police for a missing phone, rather than choosing to use their methods.
3.0 update brings Street View, 'Find' functionality to iPod touch
iPod touch users are finally getting a taste of what iPhone users have had since iPhone OS 2.2: Google Street View. iPhone 3.0 Software Update for iPod touch includes an update to the Maps application that enables Google Street View, and it works just like it does on the iPhone. Additionally, the "Find my iPhone" feature is implemented as "Find my iPod touch" for iPod touch users. It works exactly like Megan described yesterday, but is perhaps less accurate than using the iPhone's built-in GPS. It'll at least get you close, so long as it's connected to a Wi-Fi network. If it is, you can send messages to the iPod touch and wipe its memory. If you do send a message to an iPod touch that's turned off or not connected to a Wi-Fi network, the message is queued until it's on and connected. Both features appear to work on both first- and second-generation iPod touch devices. As Megan mentioned, since the first-generation iPod touch lacks a speaker, it won't make the "ping" noise associated with Find my iPhone unless you have speakers plugged in. Perhaps less useful for finding it in the house, but still helpful if you left it on a table at the park. Have you found an undocumented feature that the iPhone 3.0 Software Update for iPod touch provides? Let us know by tipping us, or leaving a comment. Thanks, Harold, Ben, Rocky, and everyone who sent this in!
Find My iPhone: If only I could find myself so easily ...
Mel gave you the instructions for how to set it up... but dear reader, we're going to go in-depth into the features of using MobileMe's Find My iPhone to see how well it works in locating and securing your phone from a remote location -- including performing a voluntary wipe. Locating where your phone is via map When you bring up the Find My iPhone page in MobileMe, the first thing you will see is a map giving the approximate location of your phone. As indicated above, my phone is somewhere inside of my apartment. Because the map is powered by Google, you can toggle it among plain map, satellite, and hybrid views of the location. However, the feature won't give off an exact address. So, if you happened to leave your phone inside of a shopping center complex, you'll still have to visit each store to track down the phone. Read on for more into Find My iPhone's features ...
Find My iPhone is live, totally found our iPhone
We wouldn't really say we "have it together" when it comes to remembering where we put our keys / phone / small children, so Apple's announcement of the Find My iPhone service for MobileMe users came as quite a relief. The service just went live, and with a quick toggle of a preference pane in iPhone OS 3.0 the phone is fully prepared for all sorts of lost and found scenarios -- along with acting as an incredibly intuitive (if pricey) stalking mechanism. Find My iPhone works exactly as advertised, giving us a fairly good location estimate from within our lead-lined underground fortress, and sending annoying messages to the phone complete with sound, even when the handset is switched to silent, though unfortunately the sound is a sort of sonar ping that strikes us as incredibly difficult to locate, unless of course our phone is taken by whale. The only other problem is that both the location function and the message service took a couple minutes to track down our iPhone -- not a deal breaker, but we don't know what the hangup could be. After the device is pinged, a confirmation of the event was sent to our MobileMe email address. A live, enthralling video demonstration is after the break.
USB tethering, Publish Video and Find my iPhone found in OS 3.0
Apple touted quite a few new iPhone features at yesterday's OS 3.0 event, but now that the beta build is trickling out, there's been a bevy of unearthed discoveries to further pique our interests. First up, the gang at Boy Genius Report found an option to enable the "Find My iPhone" service in the MobileMe settings. Unfortunately, that's all we've got, but we wouldn't put it past Cupertino to build some me.com-linked location tracker that'd be the envy of Orwell himself -- hey, that'd be pretty useful if you accidentally left the mobile in a taxi. Also in the MobileMe section, it now says Publish Video when you go to publish an image. It's an odd typo, to be sure, and while video recording has been near the top of our wishlist for some time, we're not about to get our hopes up. Finally, Mac Rumors is reporting that a hacker has dug up and successfully activated the USB tethering capabilities. Apple's Scott Forstall had mentioned the devs were building it in, but were still in talks with the carriers. As to whether any or all of these functions will actually end up in the final OS 3.0 build, your guess is a good as ours. For now, check out more pics of the MobileMe additions after the break.[Thanks everyone who sent this in!]Read - Find My iPhoneRead - USB Tethering
