Thank you Apple!

[rgough305]

I want to share my story to help others and ensure that you have a feature enabled on your iPhone. My daughter had her phone stolen at work a few days ago. She called me from her work landline in a total panic (19 yr old, you understand..) that her phone was missing. Luckily the 'Find my iPhone' was enabled and I immediately logged into the app on my iPad and I saw the phone moving on a nearby highway. So I called Sprint and asked what I need to do since I knew where the phone was and where it was heading. They said to get a police report filed and call them back. Before I did that I checked the 'Find my iPhone' app and saw it had stopped moving at a residential address and sent a text saying I know you have the phone and I have your address as 123 Anystreet Ave, etc..etc. Please return the phone where you picked it up.
So I kept monitoring the phone movement and was ready to put it in "lost mode" in case they didn't comply and based on the direction of the phone it was headed back to where my daughter worked. I of course told her to NOT go outside and meet this person but let them come in and give it back to you with people around you. 30 minutes later the phone was returned, no incident.
I know I was lucky that I was able to retrieve the phone, but take a moment to check your phone and/or your spouse/child's phone to be sure this feature is enabled. I, of course would NEVER drive to the location of the phone but in my situation it was being returned with lots and lots of people around and if the person didn't go back I had their address and was ready to report it to the police.
I honestly do not understand people who steal iPhones, they are absolutely useless now unless you have the iCloud account password to wipe it, good job Apple! Thank you for saving my daughters iPhone 6 and me hundreds of dollars to replace it.
The person that took the phone claimed she thought it was hers and picked it up accidentally, however the phone was put away behind a counter in a drawer. lol, nice try.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Thanks for sharing your experience, and have a great day.

 

[TwitchyPuppy]

That's great!

However, she is lucky the person did not turn off the phone or removed the sim card.

Otherwise, it would have been expensive for you!

 

[digitalcurosity]

Glad this worked i would advise her to keep iPhone very close to her, and not allow it to get taken again. This time she was lucky.

 

[Ledsteplin]

In many cases the police refuse to do anything, even if you can show the location. It's a matter of priority. But it's worth a try.

 

[rgough305]

In many cases the police refuse to do anything, even if you can show the location. It's a matter of priority. But it's worth a try.

I wondered what would have happened if I had to get law enforcement involved.That's really unfortunate that they would refuse to help, that would just encourage someone to retrieve their phone without any regard to safety. In our case that would have not been done, but scary none the less.

 

[godittor]

Thanks for this useful information.

 

[Ledsteplin]

I wondered what would have happened if I had to get law enforcement involved.That's really unfortunate that they would refuse to help, that would just encourage someone to retrieve their phone without any regard to safety. In our case that would have not been done, but scary none the less.

I think big cities is where you would get the least help. A friend in Miami tracked his 6 Plus up the highway and back to a Block and a half from his house. The police did nothing. He was afraid to go there. He sent them a message on the phone, but they then just powered it off.