Have you ever had an iPhone stolen? Or at least thought it was stolen? Well, buckle up, because I learned a few things the hard way when my son lost his phone a couple weekends ago.
We took a trip out to Frederick for a nice meal and stopped in a few nearby shops, but somewhere along the way, Jack’s iPhone slipped out of his pocket. As soon as he realized it, we retraced our steps, asking in every store and the restaurant where we had dinner. One of those stops was a Goodwill, so just imagine me going down EVERY SINGLE AISLE looking for a generic black iPhone on the floor or on a shelf where it shouldn’t be. Sigh.
I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal, since we all have Life360 installed… except, someone had turned off the phone and the location wouldn’t update.
I then thought to use Find My iPhone instead, but we had never activated it, trusting that Life360 was all we needed. Yeah, rookie move. And here’s the kicker… when I was trying to activate Find My iPhone (because Jack is under “family” on my iPhone account), it kept sending a confirmation code TO HIS PHONE. Which we didn’t have.
At this point, we had given up on finding it that evening and headed home. So while Travis was driving, I tried everything to get Find My iPhone activated, and finally it worked. And that’s what I saw it – the phone was moving AWAY from where we lost it.
And yes, I was big mad. But I took it as a lesson that there are crappy people in the world who will steal a phone, rather than just turning it in at the closest restaurant or shop where they found it.
Luckily, Jack’s phone has an access code, and I have parental controls set up where he has to request permission for any downloads (so nobody could spend any money on new apps). I went in and locked down all the screentime options, just in case his code was hacked. I then added a “Contact me at my phone number” message through Find My iPhone. I also submitted a claim through our phone insurance that evening.
Fast forward to the next afternoon, and surprise! I received a call from my son’s phone. Turns out, a woman had found it on the ground where he dropped it… and then TOOK IT WITH HER TO WORK, 15 minutes away. Her daughter ended up calling me the next day, and we finally got the phone back.
Moral of the story? Install Find My iPhone now, not after you need it. And maybe remind your kids to check their pockets more often!
I don’t have an iphone but my husband does. Thanks, I will tell him to set this up. Congrats that you got his phone back!
Thanks Nancy -it was quite a relief!