Personnal experience using Find My iPhone App when phone got stolen
July 14th, 2009 by iPhoneTechZone
A nice feature of the iPhone’s 3.0 OS that works well with Apple’s Mobile Me service is the Find My iPhone feature. The one drawback with it is that it only works when the phone is actually connected to the network. So when my phone was stolen on the weekend I was able to track if for a bit, but my attempts to telephone and text the thief to encourage him to return it ended just prompting him to turn the phone off. Worst all he needs to do is remove the Sim card and he won’t ever be bothered again.
If only it could be liked to the iPhone’s serial number, International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, identifier, or ICCID…
Apart from tracking the Find My iPhone feature of Mobile Me allows for a remote wipe of the iPhone. So given that there is a good deal of personal data on my device, since it was in effect my main computer, I activated it once the phone went off the grid. Better to erase everything on the phone than to let my personal data get used by the thief who had stolen the phone.
A feature that would be nice would be a method of completely disable the phone until it was plugged back into your own specific version of iTunes. That way the thief who stole it would have no way of profiting from selling it on Craigslist. Perhaps it could just lock the phone up with a message on the screen that read something like:
“This phone is stolen. If found please call xxx-xxx-xxxx.”
Still it’s good to know that whomever stole my iPhone won’t be able to be using anything on my phone.
Like the tracking the wipe requires the device to log into the service, and so up until last night it was still pending. Around midnight I received the following email, confirming that my data was being erased:
Dear MobileMe member,
The remote wipe of the iPhone requested at 6:37 PM on July 10, 2009 began at 12:29 AM on July 14, 2009.
All media, data, and settings are being permanently erased from the iPhone. This process may take up to two hours, depending on your device. Please note this process cannot be cancelled.
If you retrieve your device after completing a remote wipe, you can connect it to your computer and use iTunes to restore it to a previous backup. If you were previously syncing with MobileMe, you can re-enter your MobileMe settings on your device to immediately restore email, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks.
If your iPhone has been lost or stolen, be sure to contact your carrier to suspend your wireless service.
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Steve Jobs acknowledges MobileMe is a Failure
August 5th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
With all the complaints going around about MobileMe, Steve Jobs is finally responding to the uproar. Well, to his staff, at least.
Jobs admitted that MobileMe wasn’t “up to Apple’s standards” at the time of release and should have rolled out over time, adding a few features here and there, not in one huge lump. And since it was released at the same time as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 and the App Store, Apple had their hands full, leaving MobileMe to remain chock full of errors for a greater length of time. Jobs adds:
The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services…And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.
On a related note, Eddy Cue is now in charge of all things Apple and the Internet, including iTunes, the App Store and MobileMe.
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