Girlfriends Iphone4 was stolen tonight, findmyphone cant locate it,Phone is off, help

[MustangLife]

Hey all. My girlfriend has gotten her cell phone stolen in her hometown about 3 hours from me.Its a Iphone4. The phone had findmyphone on it and was registered. A few days later my girlfriend had to restore but did from someelses backup. So the app findmyiphone is not on her phone physically. Now I logged into her account with my findmyphone app and it said locating Lacey's Iphone can't find location. The phone is turned off. Is there anything else we can do? Does the phone have to be on to be located? Its been reported and the Police seem to be slipping. Her hometown is like a pop. of 2,000 maybe.

Thanks in advance

PS - We just bought the Iphone4's September 26th. I was going to exchange both for the 4S on Friday. We do each have insurance on the phone. Is there going to be a problem with the insurance since we just bought the phones. It looks bad that a phone you bought under rebate was stolen 2 weeks after you bought it.

Josh

 

[MustangLife]

I'm so pissed. Shes not even sure how it got stolen. Shes had a couple old highschool friends staying with her the last few days. Its a couple that she hasn't seen or talkedto in years. And 1 of them doesn't have a phone so they've been borrowing the iphone. She also informed me, my old Samsung Blackjack (backup phone in case my iphone had issues was stolen), her laptop, jewelry, her iphone, and a few other things were also missing. And the Police say they have no proof that it was the couple and can't press charges. I'm 3 hours from her and have a doctors appointment in the AM that I have to be at. Its so hard not being there to help, shes only 20 so doesn't really have experience in the real world like i do at 30 years of age. I guess now I'm just venting to the world at 5 AM, lol.

Anybody have any advice as far as the iphone goes, chime in. I can't exchange a phone friday on release thats stolen. I have my own iphone4 that I will be exchanging. I'm worried if it takes a while to get a new phone on the insurance and than the iphone4S sells out. We will miss the 30 day exchange timeframe and miss out on her getting the new Iphone4S.

 

[Alli]

If it's not on, you can't track it. All someone has to do is restore it, and no more Find My Phone.

 

[MustangLife]

If it's not on, you can't track it. All someone has to do is restore it, and no more Find My Phone.

Ok, thanks Alli. I guess thats life

 

[diamonddialogue]

Wow, I'm sorry man. Live and learn though, right? I just always remind myself how much I pay for my iPhone 4, and definitely try to be careful with who I let use it. I had a friend who left her iPad and GPS in her front seat one day, she ran into the store for 5 minutes, car locked, and came back to a shattered window and her iPad and GPS unit gone. Apparently people see iOS devices and immediately want to steal them. I assume it's because up until the iPhone 4S was released you could sell it on Craigslist for $400.

I hope it works out brother. Make sure, if she gets another iPhone, to have her password protect it (and not a simple 4 digit code either), and don't let her give the password out, ever. I think we all go through too much trouble for our iOS devices to be careless at all with them. I know I couldn't afford new ones if mine was stolen. Sorry again mate.

 

[mikesa_tx]

Sorry to hear about the loss man. As stated above I too always make sure I am very careful with this bad boy.

Hope things come together for you guys.

 

[StaticFX]

that is the only thing that worries me when i switch from BlackBerry.... BB protect.. as soon as you know its missing, you can remotely lock the phone, do a backup, locate it, and wipe it. and you cant really turn off a BB (except by pulling the battery)

now if I remember right, if you set a password it cannot be removed unless it is synced with the first PC it was synced to .. correct? so its useless to anyone who steals it....?

 

[Alli]

I hope it works out brother. Make sure, if she gets another iPhone, to have her password protect it (and not a simple 4 digit code either), and don't let her give the password out, ever. I think we all go through too much trouble for our iOS devices to be careless at all with them. I know I couldn't afford new ones if mine was stolen. Sorry again mate.

You are limited to a 4 digit code on the iPhone.

 

[Alli]

that is the only thing that worries me when i switch from BlackBerry.... BB protect.. as soon as you know its missing, you can remotely lock the phone, do a backup, locate it, and wipe it. and you cant really turn off a BB (except by pulling the battery)

now if I remember right, if you set a password it cannot be removed unless it is synced with the first PC it was synced to .. correct? so its useless to anyone who steals it....?

Find my iPhone allows you to remotely lock or wipe as well.

Even with a password, all you need to do is put the phone in DFU mode and restore as new.

 

[Grafixx01#IM]

That stinks man, sorry. I always keep valuables in close proximity because of that stuff. I don't trust a lot of people because I've been burned a lot in the past.

 

[ChickieBoom]

This is what makes me nervous about getting an iphone. I've had a Blackberry for years and for $7.99/mo my blackberry is covered for loss, damage, malfunction whatever. I am getting the new iphone 4s on Friday and I'm really worried about this...I also drop my phone quite a lot.

 

[Grafixx01#IM]

If you're worried about it breaking because of dropping it, spend the money and put it in an OtterBox Defender series case. I threw mine down the stairs in my house like a baseball and it still works (that was the BlackBerry). I haven't tried it with the iPhone due to the screen but I did throw a Storm down the stairs with an OtterBox and it worked fine.

The case adds some bulk to the phone but it's worth it. I've dropped mine and it works. My wife has dropped hers countless times and she is also in the Army, so she beats hers up all the time, and hers is still functioning. I'm an IT guy and I'm always banging the phone on something and its still kicking.

 

[ainslee_AU]

You are limited to a 4 digit code on the iPhone.

No. If you turn off simple passcode then you can input any password you like.

 

[Smlk]

wow. That's really rough. It sounds like they really wiped her out! Sorry to hear about this. I don't have a password on mine, but I am pretty stingy about my phone. I got an otter box for my daughter because she has a horse and at the barn she's pretty rough on her phone even though it's on her at all times. It still goes through a LOT and that otter box has been such a blessing! Again, sorry to hear about this. I would need to vent too.

 

[jdavis530]

Sorry to hear about this. It makes me so mad that people are willing to take from others like that. I mean these iphones, and all the other things they stole from her, cost a lot of money and some people work really hard to be able to buy them.

 

[Grafixx01#IM]

No. If you turn off simple passcode then you can input any password you like.

I like that! I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip. I guess I've never had an iPhone4 stick around too long to get to play with it that much. I had the simple passcode on all of mine but when I have to have VZW swap them every other month, it's a little ridiculous to try and keep up.

 

[davjaxn]

That is terrible. It is pretty obvious one of her "friends" stole it (some friend!). But one thing that your 30 year old life experience should tell you is that there is nothing you can do in a situation like this. It sucks, but that's the way it is.

Only thing you can do is take precautions and prevent this in the future. I never, ever, never, EVER leave my iPhone, iPad, wallet or anything else I don't want to "lose" out and around for anyone to see whenever I have people over (excluding my one or two lifelong friends). If someone is coming to fix something or there are people I don't know joining friends I do know- all that goes away. Keep them in your pocket, in a drawer or anywhere out of reach. I guess I am just not the trusting type. But it appears these people from her old high-school days couldn't be trusted.

 

[CalifJewls]

It irks me to no end that people steal stuff from anyone, least of all someone you know, which probably unfortunately is more often than not!

I am so careful with my iPhone, heck people even steal them right from your hand! Which is crazy! I am usually conscious of my surroundings in public when I have my iPhone out of who's around me, how close...maybe someone will invent an iPhone leash we can all attach to them...for added security..(haha)

I would suggest you don't loan your iPhone to anyone unless you can afford to pay for a new one if they break it, lose it or worse steal it. Im sure she won't in the future and Im sorry she had to learn this way, it sucks!

I also wish there was an even better way to disable/find the iPhones for good if they are lost, stolen etc..

 

[Handlebars]

Can't apple do anything to shut the phone down like blacklisting the serial number ?

 

[StaticFX]

Find my iPhone allows you to remotely lock or wipe as well.

Even with a password, all you need to do is put the phone in DFU mode and restore as new.

really? i remember from my ipod touch 2g... that it did not work. it would still prompt you for the password in itunes. Good to know that you can get around it... and if stolen, someone cant bypass the code, then see your stuff. They have to wipe it.

Thanks!