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[sevenlayermuddle]

Today I got a panic-stricken phone call from better half on a borrowed phone... she'd lost her handbag, containing mobile, purse, credit cards etc.   Last she remembered was putting it down on a garden wall in the next town, two hours earlier, when she was picking up a relative.

Thankfully we allow tracking of one another, using iOS 'find my friends', I'm sure Android will have an equivalent.    I asked Siri, 'Where is ....', and moments later confirmed the iPhone at least, was still exactly where she'd left it. 

By the time I'd raced around there in the car, stopped outside the house... no handbag.

Find My Friends still insisted it was nearby, but zoomed on the map it had moved to the other end of the drive.  Sure enough, on closer inspection, some passing Good Samaritan had moved it out of sight, to outside the back door of the house. 

I'm normally wary of privacy issues with location tracking Apps but have to admit, this time it came in darned useful.

[William Grimsley]

What an interesting story, iOS saves the day!

[tickmike]

I'm normally wary of privacy issues with location tracking Apps but have to admit, this time it came in darned useful.

Yes she was lucky you got it back. 

I have only just last week turned on 'Location' on my 'hand down iPhone 4' , but how do you turn 'find my friend' on.?

[William Grimsley]

I'm normally wary of privacy issues with location tracking Apps but have to admit, this time it came in darned useful.

Yes she was lucky you got it back. 

I have only just last week turned on 'Location' on my 'hand down iPhone 4' , but how do you turn 'find my friend' on.?

It comes with the latest iOS not sure if yours is up to date.

[gt94sss2]

I would probably use the "find my iphone" functionality to locate a wayward device rather than "'find my friend"

Both are built-in to iOS9. However, if you have an iPhone 4 you can't use iOS9 in which case they are both also available as separate apps via the app store

Some instructions on how to use 'find my iphone' with iOS8 are here

[Moderator edited to fix the broken [url=][/url] tags.]

[sevenlayermuddle]

I'm normally wary of privacy issues with location tracking Apps but have to admit, this time it came in darned useful.

Yes she was lucky you got it back. 

I have only just last week turned on 'Location' on my 'hand down iPhone 4' , but how do you turn 'find my friend' on.?

Foremost, one thing that might be significant to you, the 'friend' being tracked must have data enabled.  My impression is a that the data bandwidth is tiny, but I have never seen it quantified.

If that is acceptable, see here...  https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201493

I did emphasise, this is not an Apple- exclusive feature?   It is my understanding that there are other alternatives, above and beyond the native iOS App that might work with other hardware.   These might have the advantage of compatibility with different hardware and OS, eg Android phones, but might also be subject to privacy T&C that is different to Apples's. 

I'll  not comment further, as this is not meant to be an Apple vs Android thread, go with your favourite.   

[sevenlayermuddle]

I would probably use the "find my iphone" functionality to locate a wayward device rather than "'find my friend"

Why?  I thought find my iPhone was more about tracking the device attached to the user's account.?

In my case, whilst taking the call on the landline phone I was able to pick up my own iPhone and using Siri ("where's...?") get an instant map display  for a device registered to an Apple account that was entirely unrelated to mine, other than we were 'friends', who had opted into sharing.

[gt94sss2]

Find my friend worked for you and that's fine.

However, I recommend most use 'Find my iPhone' as that app is specifically designed for this purposepurpose. Anyone logging into the relevant app or the Apple website with your wife's details would have got the location(so you don't need to rely on a friend!)

However, the app can do other things as well besides locate your phone including remotely wiping it, locking it and putting a message saying it's been lost and providing a telephone number for anyone who finds it to call.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Find my friend worked for you and that's fine.

However, I recommend most use 'Find my iPhone' as that app is specifically designed for this purposepurpose. Anyone logging into the relevant app or the Apple website with your wife's details would have got the location(so you don't need to rely on a friend!)

However, the app can do other things as well besides locate your phone including remotely wiping it, locking it and putting a message saying it's been lost and providing a telephone number for anyone who finds it to call.

Find my iPhone is only useful to the user who owns the device, ie who knows the Apple ID and password.   In the case of tracking a a phone belonging to another person, it is pretty much irrelevant because, as we all know, you must never tell anybody else your passwords.  I do not know hers, she does not know mine.

On Sunday, Find my Friends allowed a missing (not stolen) phone to be found, without knowing the owner's Apple account password.   That was the magic.

Had the phone turned out to be stolen, Find my iPhone may have been helpful for remote wipe etc, but only if she had access to a web browser, which she did not.  And in any case, it was not stolen, just missing.

[door_bell]

You had nicer people than those who took my work phone.

Went into a little supermarket to get a bottle of water. Bent down to look at something and stupidly put my phone down. Walked around the isle (10 seconds) and realised what I had done. Walked back and it was gone. Got my personal phone out and tried to ring it - they had turned it off and left the shop.

Bastards. Hope the phone blew up in their pocket and burnt off their privates.

[fluotech]

I've found Find my iPhone incredibly useful, too. Saved a lot of hassle for the police! What's the difference between that and using Find my Friends? I guess with the latter you don't need to know the iCloud password of your SO?

[WesBez7]

You send the invite to your friends. Or visa eras. Download the corresponding apps. This is very useful in emergency situations. Has help me find the exact location of an accident. Also I trust this more than any thing Google & co put out in privacy terms.

You can also find the last location of a phone. Stolen iPhones are pretty much useless to a common criminal as a phone. Don't know why they bother.

[door_bell]

Parts?

When my work phone got stolen, I was told by the phone team that they end up in Europe mostly if not parted out. The network block doesn't go beyond certain countries.

Seems to be a rather nice collection of iPhone bits on eBay.....

[sevenlayermuddle]

I've found Find my iPhone incredibly useful, too. Saved a lot of hassle for the police! What's the difference between that and using Find my Friends? I guess with the latter you don't need to know the iCloud password of your SO?

Find my iPhone is for devices that you own, and which are registered to an iCloud account that you can access.   As well as finding the device, you can remotely disable/erase it and/or cause a friendly message to appear on screen, so that if found by a decent person they can get in touch.

Find my Friends is for mutually consenting iOS device owners to track one another's locations.   You can set notifications, such as 'notify me when Fred leaves/arrives'.   I often have mine set to alert me when better half gets within a mile or so, so I can wind up the drunken party, or get the kettle on, whatever.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Parts?

When my work phone got stolen, I was told by the phone team that they end up in Europe mostly if not parted out. The network block doesn't go beyond certain countries.

Seems to be a rather nice collection of iPhone bits on eBay.....

It's not a network block, it's a device block.  My assumption of how it works is, a device that is signed into iCloud will chatter away with Apple's servers any time it can find data access or WiFi.  If it has been remotely erased or locked, that will happen on first data access, regardless of what country it is in. 

Any attempt to restore by factory reset is doomed, since that also requires authentication by Apple's servers, which will of course refuse.

Possibly it may be of value for parts but bootleg iPhone parts are already available for nearly nothing on eBay.  Selling parts from a stolen phone is not likely to be cost effective, given the overheads of dismantling.