[fogkeebler]

So just a few short days ago my wife went to CVS and she ended up leaving her iPhone on the counter. Yea I know but mistakes happen we all have done it with something at some point. She gets her stuff and heads back to the car and we leave. As we walk into the house she notices her phone is missing. We do the usual send a text, call it, and cuss a few times to no avail.

It is this time I remember the dandy little iPhone app I have installed on both of our phones called "Find my iPhone" which is an Apple app and service that is free. So upon opening this app I see her phones location on a map in real time. The app tells me its at CVS so we hurry back there and as shes talking to the people I see the phone leave CVS. By time I get her back in the car and on our way to tracking the gizmo, it had stopped at a house and stayed there for some time. I immediately sent a lock code to the device to lock it and was about to go have a "Come to Jesus" meeting with this dirt bag.

At this point my cooler head showed up and I took down the address and called the police. I explain to the dispatcher the situation and she asked me to stop at a location away from the house and an officer would meet me in a few minutes. 10 minutes later an officer showed up. I explained to him the situation and showed him the cool tech i was using and my wife's phones exact location. About then another officer showed up and he didn't seem all to thrilled about the idea of going and getting my wife's property. During this time the first officer was doing his due diligence to collaborate what I was saying with the people at CVS (it was assumed the person behind my wife at the counter took the phone and he was checking the address they used for their prescription to the address I gave him, and yes they matched).

Its at this point another officer showed up who had some say as to what was going to happen. When I showed him the tracking app and explained the situation he said "I have the same app on my devices and its extremely accurate, We will go down there and recover your phone." He told me to follow both him and the first officer there and to park about 4 houses away and then they will come get my phone to take to the door and show the person that it had been tracked to them.

So as me and my wife watched the police go to the door and show the man who answered that the phone was tracked to his residence he got white as a ghost and confessed to taking it along with 3 stories of why he did and all were different. They arrested him on the spot and returned the phone to my wife. We then discovered that the SIM card had been removed and asked the officer if he could get it for us. The dirt bag tried to pull the SIM to keep it from being tracked and like an ***** he told the cop that when he asked for the SIM back.

So the moral of this story, don't underestimate your local law enforcement to do their job (wife went on a baking spree the next day for the 2 cops) and have this app on your phone!!

[Fausty82]

Great story! I love a happy ending... good for you... now, tell your wife to keep her phone in her purse when out in public when she's not actually using it!

[CG68]

There's no place to hide anymore with this technology.

[itsmeev]

Well done! Stories like yours makes me feel glad that I activated the Find My iPhone feature when I first got the phone.

[gdasilva]

amazing story. i always had the thought of never losing my iphone because i love it so much. it's always beside me. never thought of downloading the find my iphone app. but after reading this story, i have realized, that you never know what can happen.

[kilcher]

amazing story. i always had the thought of never losing my iphone because i love it so much. it's always beside me. never thought of downloading the find my iphone app. but after reading this story, i have realized, that you never know what can happen.

There's no reason for anyone not to. There are stories on this very forum of people having the phone yanked from their hands and it being long gone before they even know what's happened. Contrary to what some people on this forum seem to think you don't have to be irresponsible/lazy/etc. to have your phone taken from you.

This is an amazing feature. I'm glad to see more prominence is being placed on it when registering new devices with iOS5.

OP - I'm glad you got your phone back.

[Smlk]

Great story and I'm really glad someone that would listen showed up to help you out. It's really nice to see the good guys win. It is easy to get a phone stolen.

[ghostface147]

Pretty cool. I'd have taken out the sim card, powered it off and then restored it fresh.

[MissJennell#IM]

App now downloaded! Thanks for sharing your story.

[Munky#AC]

Great story! I have the app on mine and have recommended it be installed to others!

[BreakingKayfabe]

Glad you got the phone back. Although it sucks that it was stolen for a few hours, glad it was stolen by
someone stupid enough to not turn the phone off.

[Ham Solo]

Thanks for sharing.

I have the same app installed on every iOS device in our household.

[Peligro911]

That is great!! Good for you the people were dumb lol if they would have pulled the sim sooner u may not have found it

[Uselessbass]

Great story technology is great

[Hot94Z28]

I use that app on my iPad and iPhone. Does that app work with a laptop or other smartphone?

[fogkeebler]

You can log into the service on a PC or MAC through Apples Mobile Me website. I believe the new version of Lion also includes the new Find My Mac app as well.

I'm glad to see the story has gotten a few people who didn't have the app to install it..

I can also see that there is room for improvement on the app concerning the removal of the SIM.

[xxDruMMer BoYxx]

Awesome story, but what sucks is the outcome and feedback from the cops might not be the same for everyone. I had a lady tell me that this happened to her. Almost sounds like the same story and she too had left her phone on the counter. Well, she didnt have an additional phone to check where it was at till she got home and went on the mobile me site to see it. she got the address and location and took her laptop with her. When she arrived at the block, she called the cops, and, same thing, told her story. They told her that they wouldnt be able to go into the house.

Now im not a cop or anything but youd think that maybe you need a warrant or something, you cant just go by what the person is saying and go to the house. but hey, i just hope that never happens to me. Just saying, you woman need to me more careful with your phones. You girls have purses and stuff and still loose your stuff. ...lol...im totally kidding..Anyways....

Great Story!!!!

[jsntrenkler]

One of the many reasons I love my iPhone. Glad to see a happy ending.

[anon(4698833)]

Interesting story...being in law enforcement, i find some of the details a little funny, but eh...good story.

[Handlebars]

Nice story that is great you got your phone back.

[Cyder]

Be greatful the moron didn't turn the phone off otherwise you would have been SOL. A friend of mine left his phone in a bar for no more than a minute before it got snatched up. Went home and tried to track it using this App but to no luck it had been turned off.

They should implement a feature to be able to remote turn on the phone for just these instances.

[Itsfoxy]

I was on vacation recently and at the airport I had left my phone in the ladies room. Walked out, back to my gate, sat down, saw the girl next to me on her phone and looked for mine. No where...I was like crap! Ran back to the ladies room and thank GOD it was still there. Talk about a panic attack. I was lucky!

[Munky#AC]

I was on vacation recently and at the airport I had left my phone in the ladies room. Walked out, back to my gate, sat down, saw the girl next to me on her phone and looked for mine. No where...I was like crap! Ran back to the ladies room and thank GOD it was still there. Talk about a panic attack. I was lucky!

Noticed you're in Atlanta, if it were at the Atlanta airport you're very lucky! That place is a mad house!

[fdeschenes]

I was on vacation recently and at the airport I had left my phone in the ladies room. Walked out, back to my gate, sat down, saw the girl next to me on her phone and looked for mine. No where...I was like crap! Ran back to the ladies room and thank GOD it was still there. Talk about a panic attack. I was lucky!

You're one lucky girl!

[Ipheuria]

OP glad you got your phone back like some said the first thing I thought was you're lucky they didn't turn the phone off. If you ask me Apple should put small amounts of C4 in the phone and then once the alert is triggered by FMIphone. If it's powered off the phone self destructs or if it's still on and you can't get it back you can remotely blow it up Yeah I'm a devious SOB, but I hate the thought of a theif using stolen property while someone else has to pay The only problem is it would become all the rage with terrorists