How to Track Your Lost iPhone?

Anup Shrestha

It’s always painful to lose your phone, isn’t it? And you have probably arrived at this article because you have lost your iPhone. You are searching for the effective way to track your iPhone and here we are helping as much as we can with our tutorial to track your iPhone. Lets begin with the tutorial.

If you have turned on “Find My iPhone” in your phone, congratulations! It’s easier to locate your phone. Use the methods mentioned below to track your phone.

Method 1: Find My iPhone

Find My iPhone is quite possibly one of the most valuable apps you find in your iPhone or app store. It is even easy to set up. It also works on your iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, so you can keep track of all your Apple devices at one time. You must set up Find My iPhone settings in your phone first of all and assuming that you’ve already set up Find My iPhone, your iPhone will be connecting to the internet and broadcasting its location. So you can use another iOS device or just visit iCloud.com to find your lost Apple device. Whether you’ve left your iPhone in the back of a cab, think you might have left it in the office, or, worst-case scenario, it’s been lifted from your pocket, you should be able to use Find My iPhone to track it down. Here’s how. You can use the iOS device if you have access to any from your family or friends, or visit iCloud.com on your PC.

Using an iOS Device

  1. If you’re using another iOS device, locate the Find My iPhone app. (You can drag down from the top of the screen and type Find: you should then see Find iPhone in the Applications section.)
  2. Click on that icon in order to open Find My iPhone. You will see the following page as shown in the snapshot below:  You will be asked to enter your Apple ID and it’s password as shown in the snapshot above which is the  login you use whenever you buy anything from the App Store or iTunes, or when logging on to any other Apple services. You will have set up an Apple ID when you got your first Apple device. If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it.
  3. You will see a compass and the word Locating on the screen of the device as the iPhone tracks the location of your devices.
  4. You may see a few options, such as allowing Find My iPhone to know your location and turning on Send Last Location as shown in the snapshot below. It is recommended that you agree to both of these options. Click on “Allow”.
  5. Now you will see a map where your various devices using the same Apple ID will be displayed.
  6. Tap on the map to zoom in closer to the location of your ‘lost’ device. The online devices will be located by a green dot on the map.
  7. Now that you’ve located the device, tap on it, and you will get to see few options. You can play a sound, for instance which is useful when you’ve lost your iPhone somewhere at your home but you had the sound turned off so calling it won’t work. the Find My iPhone Alert i.e sound will help you in such case.
  9. If you are sure that your iPhone is lost somewhere out or stolen and depending on the age of the iPhone and the iOS version you can either switch your iPhone into Lost Mode, which will lock it down and transmit its location or for older iPhones, Lock, which will lock the iPhone and notify you when it’s found.
  10. In a worst-case scenario, it is safer to click on Erase option so you can Erase your iPhone and prevent your data from falling into the wrong hands.
  11. Once you’re done, sign out of Find My iPhone on the other device you are using.

Using iCloud.com

  1. Firstly, visit the site iCloud.com on your PC/ Desktop.
  2. Log on to your Apple account using your Apple ID and Password.
  3. Click on Find iPhone. This will actually find all your registered Apple devices.
  4. Sign in again with your password and wait for your devices to be located by iCloud.
  5. Located devices will be indicated by a green dot on the map as in the Find My iPhone app.
  6. Click on the green dot, beside the device name. This will zoom into the location of your device and give you several options : it will let you Play Sound, activate Lost Mode, or wipe your iPhone.
  7. You can also gauge how much battery life is left using this.
  8. You can add a number at which you can be reached as well as a message for the person who finds the iPhone. Let’s hope that as a result of this, you will returned your iPhone.
  9. If you’re concerned that the iPhone has fallen into the wrong hands, it is better to either lock it, so that it can’t be used but will continue to transmit its location, or you can choose to erase the iPhone.

Lost Mode

As long as your iPhone was registered for Find My iPhone you will be able to use Lost Mode to lock down your device.

If it’s an iPhone running iOS 6 or later then you will be able to track the device as long as it is on a previously used Wi-Fi network. If you have Apple Pay set up on your device this will be disabled and any cards set up will be suspended in order to protect your privacy and money. When you retrieve the iPhone you will be able to reactivate your suspended cards via iCloud.

Here’s how to turn on Lost Mode to lock your device:

  1. Sign into Find My iPhone as per the instructions I have mentioned above.
  2. Locate the device you wish to lock and tap on it.
  3. Tap Lost Mode.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions carefully.
  5. You will be asked to create a passcode if you don’t already have one on your lost iPhone.
    You will be asked to enter a phone number that will appear on the device’s Lock Screen – this is made so that if a nice person finds the iPhone they can contact you and you can have your iPhone back.
  6. You may also be able to add a message along with the phone number, so that you could tell the person who found the device that the device is lost and ask them to contact you at the number given.
  7. Once you have turned on the Lost Mode tracking begins so you can see your device’s current location and see any movement on a map if any. This will work even if Location Service was turned off on the device (it will be temporarily turned back on).
  8. If your iPhone was turned off then Lost Mode will start working as soon as it is turned on & as long as it is able to get online again.

If you get your iPhone back you should be able to unlock it using your passcode, but if there are any issues, don’t worry, you should be able to get it unlocked at an authorized repair center.

Find an iPhone Which is off or offline

If you have lost your iPhone and you suspect that the battery has now died or someone may have turned your iPhone off, there may still be a way to find it thanks to the Send Last Location feature mentioned above.

There is an option to turn on Send Last Location in Find My iPhone. With this feature turned on the last known location of your iPhone will be stored for 24 hours after the battery runs out. This isn’t on by default but when you open Find My iPhone on your iPhone you will see an alert asking you to enable it. If you have enabled it then thank yourself for doing so.

If you have Send Last Location enabled you will be able to see where your iPhone was when it ran out of battery or was turned off. Which will at least indicate if it was in your office, in the pub you went to after work, or somewhere else entirely which may indicate it was stolen, or that you left it in the back of a cab/on the train and you can be sure of where you actually lost your phone.

Here’s how to turn on Send Last Location:

  1. Tap Settings > [Your name]
  2. Tap Find My iPhone.
  3. Ensure Find My iPhone is set to On.
  4. Set Send Last Location to On.

Method 2: Using Google Timeline

  1. On your browser in a phone or PC, navigate to the Google Timeline website at https://www.google.com/maps/timeline. Google Timeline maps out all location data collected from your iPhone so you can track its location.This method only works if you have location reporting and history enabled on your iPhone. You can locate your iPhone using a different method defined in this article if these features are not enabled in your phone.
  2. Click on “Today” which can be found at the top left corner of Google Timeline. Your iPhone’s most recent timeline will be displayed in the left sidebar.
  3. Scroll until you reach to the bottom of the timeline to identify the last reported location of your iPhone.
  4. Review the Timeline’s location data to find out whether the iPhone is moving or lying still. This aid to determine whether your iPhone is simply lost and misplaced, or on the move.
  5. Google Maps uses GPS technology to identify the approximate location of your iPhone. Therefore you can use the map displayed on-screen to locate your iPhone.

 

Method 3: Using an Apple Watch

  1. Connect the Apple Watch to the same network as your iPhone. The Apple Watch and iPhone must be connected via Bluetooth or via the same Wi-Fi network.
  2. Swipe up on the face of your Apple watch, this would bring up the Glances menu.
  3. Tap on the “ping” button which is located below the Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb and Silent Mode buttons. A brief pinging sound will be emitted on your iPhone after you tap  on the ping button, which will help you to locate the device, even if silent mode is enabled.

These are some the easiest ways you can apply to track your lost iPhone and hopefully find it. If these ways fail to track your iPhone then using GPS tracking apps can be helpful. It’s better to file a complaint in your nearest police station about your lost/stolen phone with the IMEI number. But using the techniques mentioned above, you can try to find your lost iPhone in your own level.

If you have lost your android phone, also check out this tutorial from our website.