Does Find my iPhone always use real-time signal or can it use the last signal given by the phone?

[iMore Question]

Hi Guys,

I lost my iPhone at a Gym, and I tried using the Find My iPhone to find it, and the location it gave is at the Gym. However, there is no staff at the Gym, so I can't ask anyone if some one has returned it. So my question is, is the signal always real time only or could it be that someone found it and shut it down, and the Find My iPhone -service is just showing the last place a signal was received from the iPhone?

 

[mark-d]

Hi Guys,

I lost my iPhone at a Gym, and I tried using the Find My iPhone to find it, and the location it gave is at the Gym. However, there is no staff at the Gym, so I can't ask anyone if some one has returned it. So my question is, is the signal always real time only or could it be that someone found it and shut it down, and the Find My iPhone -service is just showing the last place a signal was received from the iPhone?

Find my iPhone will use current location if available but if you have it set up it will remember the last location and use that if it can't send its current location because it's out of signal, battery etc or just turned off.

It may be the its at the gym handed in or it may be that someone found it and shut it down at the gym before leaving with it. Keep checking find my iPhone until you can get hold of the gym. If it's there the location won't change, if someone powered it off and took it from the gym the location will change if the phone is powered on and within signal coverage.

Good luck, hope it's at the gym still for you

 

[Tartarus]

The given location is in real time, save for some lag.
If there is no data or wifi connection, or the phone can't be localized, you will see at what time the shown location was observed.

https://www.imore.com/find-my-iphone?amp

 

[Annie_M]

My cousin left her iPhone at a restaurant. She's not one to use her phone much, so she didn't realize it was missing until the next day, almost 33 hours later. She had no idea how to find it, so she called us. She gave us her username and password, and we were able to log in to find my iPHone with her id, and it showed up at a restaurant near us. It was late, but I called anyway and the manager answered the phone. I explained the situation, that it was showing up on find my iPhone. He went back to the office, where they keep lost and found items. He looked in the safe, but it wasn't there. He said they were mopping floors that night, and he'd have everyone be on the lookout. I told him that it was in a black silicone case... and just as we were about to hang up, he let out a woot. There it was, sitting face down on a black file cabinet!!! I gave him my cousin's name, and he locked it up in the safe. She was able to successfully claim it the next day. She was so lucky that the battery held out!

Good luck on finding your phone! I know you're worried, but please keep us posted!

 

[evanking527]

Try looking on Find My iPhone and making the sound. It is a distinct sound that people may recognize as the tone an iPhone makes when it is lost. I was able to find two stranger's lost phones with Find My iPhone, and being aware of that distinct sound. I heard that sound in a store once, and I tracked it down, face down on a shelf. I turned it in and it was returned to the owner. If it doesn't make the sound, that means that it is powered off. The next time the phone powers on, the location will be updated. I hope you find it, keep checking the app, try the sound, and also put it in Lost Mode through the app so that when it is found by someone else, they can mark it as found and it will alert you.

 

[Annie_M]

Hi Guys,

I lost my iPhone at a Gym, and I tried using the Find My iPhone to find it, and the location it gave is at the Gym. However, there is no staff at the Gym, so I can't ask anyone if some one has returned it. So my question is, is the signal always real time only or could it be that someone found it and shut it down, and the Find My iPhone -service is just showing the last place a signal was received from the iPhone?

Were you able to find your iPhone?