Losing your smartphone is a tragic incident. Regardless of whether it is a pricy flagship or an entry-level phone, the device itself contains ample information, some of which are private or exclusively stored onto it. Hence, it is definitely worth the time to look for a lost device.
Thanks to the rapid development of mobile technology software over the course of the last five years, there are plenty of options out there to do just that, especially if you are on Android. In this article we will be taking a look at the smartest and less time-consuming ways to track your iOS device.
The most classic way to look for your handset is by using an application. We found three of them that could possibly help you find your lost iDevice.
Find My iPhone
The first thing that comes in mind when thinking about a lost iPhone is Apple’s own app, Find My iPhone. How does it work? It is actually pretty simple, though make sure that you had activated the Find My iPhone feature prior to losing it, otherwise this is not the place to go.
In case you are not familiar with Find My iPhone setup, all you have to do is launch the settings app, then privacy, from there open up location services where you will actually find the Find My iPhone turn on and off option.
A popular belief about the particular solution is that you must have the app on your lost device, and that is wrong.
As aforementioned, you only need to have the Find My iPhone setting turned on, and do not worry, evil people cannot switch it off since such an option requires your Apple ID and password. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to iCloud.com/find from any browser, it doesn’t have to be an Apple device.
- Sign in using your Apple ID
- Hit the Find My iPhone button
- Click on the ‘All devices’ drop-down menu, which includes all your iOS devices synced to he particular Apple account, and pick the missing one.
If the device is online – which means connected to the Internet-, it will show up in the map.
If it is offline you can set an option to receive an email whenever the device goes online.
Device locator
Another useful app we found while navigating around the App Store is Device Locator, retailing for $3.99 without any additional fees or subscription.
Before saying anything else, make sure that the app is already installed to your device before losing it (iPhone and iPad).
Device Locator is a multi-functional piece of software as it allows you to sound an alarm, take a photo of the person who has your device in possession and even send a sound SMS (audio recording), all of which can be accomplished remotely.
- Type device locator in the iOS App Store and purchase it.
- Set up an account by heading to device-locator.com.
- Tweak the settings in the application.
After losing the device…
- Head up again to device-locator.com and sign in to your account.
- Set your iPhone or iPad to emergency mode thus locking it down
The website includes information of your device’s current location and previous places it has been, so if you are good at puzzles, connecting the dots might get you somewhere.
FollowMee GPS Location Tracker
The third and last app, my personal favorite, is GPS Location tracker which will set you back $3.99.
The particular app is actually quite sophisticated. It tracks your iPhone or iPad using data that retrieves from its GPS coordinates, WiFi and cellular data and uploads it to a secure server, where you can monitor its activity. The app features a location history up to seven days and real times updates, a feature obviously available for the iPhone and iPad with 3G/4G antenna on.
GPS Location tracker allows you to sync a number of devices, in case you want to monitor your children’s activity and alike. There is also an option that lets you download any tracking history in various file formats or even share it social media like Facebook. It is also feasible to add some phone numbers, which the person who finds the device canr reach to in case of emergency.
- Look for GPS Location tracker on the App Store and buy it.
- Open the app and create an account.
- Write down the required info.
After losing the device…
- Head up to FollowMee.com and sign in using your account.
- Open up the Map option to track your device.
It is worth to mention that if your iPhone’s thief removes the SIM card from the device then location tracking will be ceased, and the only data that is going to be available is the one that has been recorded prior to the removal.
Trying to find your device is quite the struggle as it requires a rather painstaking procedure, hope and ambition. It is worth to note here that it is dangerous as well, since a person was actually shot to death from his phone’s thieves a short time back, after tracking them down. So in conclusion, always take precaution before going through this, because you never know what you will encounter.
With that aside, we definitely hope that the apps above will help you out in such a difficult occasion. We did list what we believe are the best in this field, though there are plenty of other options out there. If you have any suggestions or questions to make, feel free to drop them in the comments below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.