What you need to know
- Find My iPhone can help locate lost or stolen handsets.
- One Londoner was able to locate a lost iPhone.
- But it wasn't quite that simple.
Apple's Find My iPhone service has been credited with reuniting people with lost iPhones over the years. And it's been at it again, this time helping a Londoner find the iPhone that they lost while traveling. Redditor Jujusmu posted to say that they lost their phone either in the back of a taxi or while running for a train. Either way, it was gone.
After initially trying the Find My app to locate the iPhone, things didn't look good. It was turned off. That might have been enough for most people to give up. But not here.
Over the next few hours I kept calling my phone, to no avail. I'd given up and had started looking up new phone deals online when all of a sudden I got a dial tone. Nobody picked up but I SPRINTED to my laptop to run Find My iPhone. Bingo! It tracked them to an address less than a mile from the station where it went missing. Less than 30 seconds later it went offline again- they'd switched it back off.
After a less than fruitful call to the local police, the Redditor did something that probably wasn't the best idea in hindsight. They went to where the iPhone was and started knocking on doors.
I had been making a fuss for a good two minutes in the doorway when eventually a man ... says "come outside with me". I follow him outside and he sheepishly pulls my phone out his pocket, removing a slip of paper from between the phone and case in the process. He mutters something about finding it, we shake hands and I leave.
That could have gone wrong in any number of ways, but I'm glad the person got their iPhone back. And for everyone else, make sure you know all about the Find My app and service. You never know when it will save the day.
