Stolen iPhone - can it be found?

purplepapillon

Hi all,

A friend of mine was mugged last night in town and his iPhone, among other things, was taken. He had a lot of sentimental photos and videos of his late grandfather on it, and is heartbroken not to have them now.

He didn't back them up or set up iCloud.

Is there any way to retrieve an iPhone without the Find my iPhone thing? I know it's a longshot, but just thought to ask if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks in advance

purplepapillon

TonyStark

purplepapillon wrote: »

Hi all,

A friend of mine was mugged last night in town and his iPhone, among other things, was taken. He had a lot of sentimental photos and videos of his late grandfather on it, and is heartbroken not to have them now.

He didn't back them up or set up iCloud.

Is there any way to retrieve an iPhone without the Find my iPhone thing? I know it's a longshot, but just thought to ask if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks in advance

purplepapillon

Probably not, isn't it through iCloud the tracking feature works?

https://www.icloud.com/#find

CathalDublin

No, but if he synced with itunes recently chances are there is a backup of the phone which if he plugs another iphone into his computer it will let him restore from the backup

biko

Try the link above to icloud. If the FMI is activated he might be able to track it.

guil

What's the point in tracking it though. The guards can't do anything about it

smash

It takes around 1 minute to factory reset an iPhone, even if locked. His network provider should have his IMEI number and they will pass it to apple to shut down the phone remotely. If anyone ever wants to use it again, the network will need to request an unlock from apple.

So while you might never get it back, you can make sure nobody else can use it. My guess is that it's been sold to a cash converters shop already.

guil

smash wrote: »

It takes around 1 minute to factory reset an iPhone, even if locked. His network provider should have his IMEI number and they will pass it to apple to shut down the phone remotely. If anyone ever wants to use it again, the network will need to request an unlock from apple.

So while you might never get it back, you can make sure nobody else can use it. My guess is that it's been sold to a cash converters shop already.

Re you sure apple have any involvement. The network simply bars the imei and sometimes it gets barred on all the other networks

purplepapillon

Cool thanks a lot guys!

Deep Thought

probably pure co-incidence but have a look at this Thread...ya never know

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056703075

smash

guil wrote: »

Re you sure apple have any involvement. The network simply bars the imei and sometimes it gets barred on all the other networks

I got my 4 stolen and reported it at the same time as getting my new sim. I put my sim in my old 3gs and the next day it stopped working. My operator had accidentally blocked the IMEI number on my 3gs instead of the 4.

When I phoned them, they said they'd have to put in an unlock request to apple. A few hours later I got a text from apple saying the phone had been unlocked and to sync again to activate it.

Seems everything goes back to apple with the iPhone.

guil

That was to unlock the phone and not remove a blacklist

smash

guil wrote: »

That was to unlock the phone and not remove a blacklist

The reason the phone was locked because they thought it was the stolen phone. They needed the IMEI number to unlock.

guil

smash wrote: »

guil wrote: »

That was to unlock the phone and not remove a blacklist

The reason the phone was locked because they thought it was the stolen phone. They needed the IMEI number to unlock.

Ok if what you say about apple is true. How come a blacklisted iPhone in the uk will work no problem in Ireland or any other country? You're getting confused with sim lock and blacklisted. Also how come the phone will work as an iPod in the country it's reported stolen in if apple remotely shut it down?

smash

guil wrote: »

Ok if what you say about apple is true. How come a blacklisted iPhone in the uk will work no problem in Ireland or any other country? You're getting confused with sim lock and blacklisted. Also how come the phone will work as an iPod in the country it's reported stolen in if apple remotely shut it down?

They don't shut it down, you just can't make or receive any calls/texts. It even connects to the network but there's no signal bars.

Initially I thought it was the sim, but I tried my wife's and a friends and the phone just didn't work. Even when I jailbroke it, it didn't work with any sim until I got the text from apple to say they had unlocked it and to sync to activate.

guil

What your describing is a network bar so nothing can bypass that unless you change the imei before it has being barred. The unlock apple provided was removing the sim lock for other networks

smash

guil wrote: »

What your describing is a network bar so nothing can bypass that unless you change the imei before it has being barred. The unlock apple provided was removing the sim lock for other networks

The phone was jailbroken, It was unlocked to other networks!

guil

smash wrote: »

guil wrote: »

What your describing is a network bar so nothing can bypass that unless you change the imei before it has being barred. The unlock apple provided was removing the sim lock for other networks

The phone was jailbroken, It was unlocked to other networks!

That's a software unlock and updating it locks it again. Jailbroken or not a network barred phone ie. blacklisted can't be used in the country it was blacklisted in until the blacklist is removed by the NETWORK. It has nothing to do with apple

smash

guil wrote: »

That's a software unlock and updating it locks it again. Jailbroken or not a network barred phone ie. blacklisted can't be used in the country it was blacklisted in until the blacklist is removed by the NETWORK. It has nothing to do with apple

You can bypass a software lock by jailbreaking the phone.

guil

smash wrote: »

guil wrote: »

That's a software unlock and updating it locks it again. Jailbroken or not a network barred phone ie. blacklisted can't be used in the country it was blacklisted in until the blacklist is removed by the NETWORK. It has nothing to do with apple

You can bypass a software lock by jailbreaking the phone.

Now your not even making sense. Do you know the difference between a jailbreak and unlock?

smash

guil wrote: »

Now your not even making sense. Do you know the difference between a jailbreak and unlock?

Ok here's the scenario:

• Reported phone stolen.
• Placed new sim in old phone. (jailbroken)
• O2 locked old phone by mistake instead of stolen phone.
• Phone O2, get told they've unlocked it.
• Still doesn't work, with any sim card.
• Install latest OS (at the time) and jailbreak.
• Still doesn't work.
• O2 say they'll have to send the IMEI number to apple as it's not locked by their network.
• A few hours later I get a text from apple to say they've unlocked it and a sync/restore will fix it.
• Restore and the phone works again.

So O2 didn't have a network lock on the phone. Apple had it locked disregarding the network sim, and disregarding a jailbreak.

guil

Mother of Jesus. Apple don't blacklist phones. They removed the sim lock.

Have a look on google, apple have replaced phones that were reported stolen that we're still in warranty

smash

guil wrote: »

Mother of Jesus. Apple don't blacklist phones. They removed the sim lock.

Either way, they had to remove a lock that the carrier couldn't and I couldn't.

guil

Yes that's the sim lock. It's on all iPhones unless you purchase one from apple. Only a network can request it

smash

guil wrote: »

Yes that's the sim lock. It's on all iPhones unless you purchase one from apple. Only a network can request it

So reporting it as stolen really doesn't make a difference because the network will get it unlocked anyway? Well that's crap.

guil

Reporting it stolen gets it put on a blacklist with the network. It's supposed to get blocked on all networks. Sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't. I think only the network who blacklisted it can remove it

smash

guil wrote: »

Reporting it stolen gets it put on a blacklist with the network. It's supposed to get blocked on all networks. Sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't. I think only the network who blacklisted it can remove it

Only within the same country?

On a side note, I just checked my apple profile which is supposed to list all devices registered to an itunes account and it's only listing current devices, not historical ones as it's supposed to.

guil

Yeah if it's blacklisted in Ireland it will still work in the uk

Lux23

Mine was knicked last night and I am raging.

I do have iCloud and I have asked the network to block the handset etc and from what I can see it's not switched on.

I am assuming unless it's used again in Ireland that I won't ever see it again.

smash

Lux23 wrote: »

Mine was knicked last night and I am raging.

I do have iCloud and I have asked the network to block the handset etc and from what I can see it's not switched on.

I am assuming unless it's used again in Ireland that I won't ever see it again.

Have you tried find my iphone?

Lux23

smash wrote: »

Have you tried find my iphone?

Yep, it hasn't popped but sure once you block it using the Imei it's dead anyway.

smash

Lux23 wrote: »

Yep, it hasn't popped but sure once you block it using the Imei it's dead anyway.

I'd wait before blocking it. If you have a password on it then I'd give it a day or so in case it connects to open wifi.

Actually, it should still connect I think.

Lux23

smash wrote: »

I'd wait before blocking it. If you have a password on it then I'd give it a day or so in case it connects to open wifi.

Actually, it should still connect I think.

Well when I reported it stolen to 3 Ireland, they told me to block it straight away. Not a lot I can do about that now.

PcAngel

Mine was picked last week. I was devastated as everything was on it. The iPhone search brought up nothing / it was obviously turned off. I blocked it via the web site. I rang vodafone and they locked it totally. I rang the guards and no one had handed it in. It was the fourth one that was picked that week-a small town.
It was insured so another one landed yesterday. I did A restore via iTunes so I've most items back bar photos.
I'm glad I paid the extra for insurance- I was going to give it up to save a few euro.

Lux23

My insurance just ran out, it was literally three working days since it ran out. So I am fecked.

Lux23

My insurance may still cover me which is a relief!

I have been using Find My iPhone and it still hasn't popped up, wonder what that means.

guil

Find my iPhone won't work now because you have blocked the sim card. Chances are the phone was restored aswell which will also block find my iPhone

Lux23

guil wrote: »

Find my iPhone won't work now because you have blocked the sim card. Chances are the phone was restored aswell which will also block find my iPhone

Well you have to do all that for insurance purposes. It's really a useless feature unless you have just misplaced your phone.

Lux23

I just had my claim approved even though my insurance had run out so I will get a new/refurb iPhone next week so stick that you smelly scanger.*

*aimed at the yoke that robbed me!

G-Money

So let me get this straight. If you are unfortunate enough to get your phone stolen, if you give the IMEI to your carrier, they can get the phone blocked?

If I was unlucky enough to get mine stolen, seeing I can't make it blow up in the scumbag's face, the next best thing would be to brick/block the phone so it can't ever be used on any network worldwide. Is that possible?

Lux23

As far as I know it using the IMEI number to block the phone only works in Ireland, I would imagine if these guys have any sense at all they are robbing them to sell them to people who are exporting them. They are basically worthless then.

guil

yeah it will only be blocked in ireland, sometimes though it doesn't get blocked on all networks