Stolen iPhone. Notes will no longer be the favorite place for passwords. What to do if your iPhone is stolen? How to find the kidnapper

Everyone has at least once experienced the loss or theft of a smartphone. If not myself, then I’ve certainly heard about this problem from other users. Every day there are hundreds of thefts of mobile devices, which are then used for spare parts or on the secondary market. Now that Apple has blocked the site by blocking definition iPhone activation, users have to look for alternatives. Launched in the USA official service, allowing you to check if your smartphone has been stolen.

The service is called . The user needs to go to the site and indicate unique codes, which are assigned to each gadget - IMEI, MEID and ESN. This service It only works in the USA, so you can check iPhones purchased in the States.

In order to check iPhone by IMEI, you need to know it serial number. To do this, you can connect the gadget to iTunes, or go to the settings. You can also find out the serial number by dialing the combination *#06# and the call button. Within a few seconds, a message with the required information will appear on the smartphone screen.

When iPhone theft the owner makes an official statement about the loss and blacklists the IMEI. In the USA and Europe, stolen devices, even if the SIM card is changed, will not work on any network in these countries.

Stolenphonechecker is not the first such site, but one of the most useful. In Russia you can use free SNDeepInfo service, which allows you to get full information about iPhone using IMEI.

Upon arrival from Thailand, our homeland did not greet us very warmly; at the exit from Domodedovo, my iPhone was stolen.

And to hell with it, but 4,500 photographs showing the birth of Dashaun, a vacation in Thailand and other dear and necessary photographs were incredibly sad.
I didn’t get upset, but rolled up my sleeves and went online to find out what could be done in this case and how to return a stolen iPhone - A procedure that will be useful to everyone who got caught
into a similar situation.

Is it possible to return an iPhone?

Can. At least you can try to do this. But looking ahead, I will say that do not repeat my mistakes and prepare for a possible theft in advance so that you know how to return a stolen iPhone,
when everything has already happened.

How to save and protect files on iPhone?

If you, like me, take a lot of photographs, shoot videos, and cloud mac For some reason it doesn’t suit you (it doesn’t suit me because it eats up too much space, and also because there are a bunch of devices hanging on one ID and the cloud drives them all into one heap).
I advise you to download it from the Apple Store and install the cloud mail

They give 100 GB for free, which is quite a lot. Files are downloaded very quickly and everything will remain safe and sound.
It is also advisable to back up photos and videos in iTunes, which, of course, I haven’t done for a whole year.

How to protect your iPhone from strangers

The first and most important thing is to set a password. Second, download the Find iPhone program and install it on your phone.

Third, find out your IMEI code in advance. You can find out by dialing the number - *#06# and call. Or look under the battery, there is a sticker there. Also, the IMEI code is on the box, if it is preserved.

How to return a stolen iPhone - what to do?

If you did all of the above in advance, then the chances of returning the phone are high.
As soon as you find it missing, go to the icloud website and put your phone in lost mode. You are prompted to enter contact number phone and a message for the person who found or stole the phone. In icloud, in case of loss, there are 3 options - turn on the lost mode, call (the phone will ring as soon as it enters the network, convenient if you cannot find the phone at home), and also - erase the phone remotely.
In fact, the first and last are not much different. I thought that by returning the phone and removing the lost mode, I would be able to recover my photos. This would be the case if I had connected to iTunes or to cloud service apple. If you did not do this, then only the information that was synchronized in last call in itunes.

So here it is. There are actually two options for returning the phone: The first is to turn on the lost mode, leave a message about the return for a fee and a contact number (I did this), the second is to contact the police with IMEI number code. Let's laugh together at the second method and at how suddenly all the employees of your police department will run to look for your phone, but trying is not torture, cases of returning the phone through the police have happened. There is no need to explain that if you have friends who work for large operators such as Beeline or Megafon, then this will also help you. IMEI code is like your phone's fingerprints. If a person threw old SIM card, inserted yours and uses the phone, then find it by IMEI through operators cellular communication can be done without difficulty. Find and remotely block the phone or find and try to track it - return the phone with the help of the police.
Friends in the police are also welcome.

How I returned my iPhone

I MEI I didn’t know mine, the box was thrown away a hundred years ago, and of course I wouldn’t have gone to the police.
Therefore, leaving a message to bad people, I began to wait. We didn't have to wait long. Three days later, a notification was sent to the email associated with the apple id that the phone was connected to the network at such and such a time. Great, I thought. I checked the address, children's clinic, hmm.
I wrote a new message in which I addressed the guys at such and such an address with a request to return the phone for a reward (7000 rubles). As soon as the number changed from 5000 to 7000, my new phone I called and with an accent told an amazing story about how my phone was sold to him, and he read my message and of course is ready to return it.
I was terribly happy. To hell with them with seven thousand, choke, you greedy dogs, I thought, but I’ll return the photos!
We made an appointment in the evening, and it’s good that I went with my husband. A flock of tense people of Caucasian nationality gave me a phone and we said goodbye.
Of course, my good Samaritan did not hear anything about the wallet in which the phone was, or about the cards, about 1,500 baht and dollars.

Then the agony began with getting the phone out of lost mode. After consulting with the guys who had repaired our imac a couple of days before, I learned that the photos, bye bye, had sailed away. I should have thought earlier, connected to iTunes and everything I talked about before. In fact, I received content and photos from April 2013, great!

That is. Why the hell should I look for an iPhone, pay to buy it for the sake of photos and files, if they are all stored in the cloud and iTunes? This is not very clear to me.

Take two

Two days later, in the Nike store, in the fitting room, my daughter’s iPhone was stolen. PPC! I blocked him an hour later, but he never came online. I assume that it was immediately used for spare parts.
Yes! Where did this price for my ransom come from? An iPhone 5 locked by the Find iPhone program turns into a brick. There is absolutely nothing you can do with it other than disassemble it for parts. Provided that you have iOS 6 or higher.
The repairmen mentioned above apple technology They said that the price of such a phone is 5000 rubles. No one wanted to pay me back for five and six, but for seven they returned it.
An iPhone 4, locked in the same way, costs 3,000 rubles.

Now let's repeat:

* Do not neglect the password, it is almost impossible to crack, the phone enters sleep mode after several attempts.

* Install “find iPhone” in advance, if you have an Android, this also works.
* Rewrite IMEI code
* Don't forget to transfer files to the cloud email or the one you like best. Sync with iTunes.
* If your phone is stolen, block it quickly, I think the Machine was “merged” before I put it in lost mode.

Better not lose anything!!!

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Your brand new iPhone 6 is a real bait for a pickpocket. But in addition to the purely physical loss of an expensive device, the user loses a lot of necessary and, often, private information. Therefore, be sure to accept preventive measures before this happens. And if suddenly your iPhone is stolen, you will probably know what to do such a case. And thanks modern developments Apple who tries to do everything possible for reliable protection, you can quickly block your smartphone, preventing access to personal data, and make it much more difficult for the thief to sell it further.

What to do to ensure safety?

First of all, activate the Touch ID function, which involves scanning the owner’s fingerprints at each entrance. Doing this quickly and not difficult, but it will help protect against unauthorized access if the phone is stolen.

Then be sure to initiate the “Find iPhone” function, and it is advisable to do this immediately after purchase. Go to the “Settings” menu item, find the “iCloud” tab. To sign in to the cloud, create or enter an existing Apple ID and password. If you don’t have it, you can get it completely free by selecting the appropriate offer, it will be displayed simultaneously with the request. But it’s better to create a strong, combined alphanumeric password yourself, and most importantly, don’t forget it!

Next, in iCloud menu, find the green icon in the form of a radar, with the inscription - Find iPhone, and switch it to the “on” position. At this moment, the smartphone is activated, by default, background mode"Activation Lock". Then, if the iPhone is stolen, it will not give scammers the opportunity to do anything with it in the future, except sell it for spare parts. Without your password and Apple ID, they will not be able to erase existing data without a trace, nor disable Find My iPhone, nor use it for its intended purpose, if you try reactivation. Currently it is almost impossible to completely remove existing blocking, certain restrictions on the iPhone will still remain. That is, the whole point of theft is lost. And perhaps it will be returned to you for a reward, under the guise of being “found” and not stolen.

It is also very important to block the ability to disable the geolocation service so that the thief cannot deactivate it. But again, this needs to be done before the iPhone is stolen. To do this, in “Settings” go to “General”, select “Restrictions” and enable them by entering a four-digit password different from the unlock password. Then, having found the “Location Services” tab at the very bottom, block its changes. After this, the thief will not be able to turn off the iPhone or disable geolocation. It wouldn’t hurt to also prohibit changes in the “Accounts” tab, thereby eliminating the possibility of hacking account owner in iCloud.

Procedure for committing theft

If attackers do steal your smartphone, as quickly as possible, from any computer, go to the link: http://icloud.com/find. Enter your Apple ID with a password for identification, and launch “Find iPhone” and select your iPhone. To do this, click on the “All devices” tab. Next, in the same menu, you must immediately enable “Lost Mode”, thanks to which the lock will be made using a four-digit password code. Then you can send a notification to your iPhone that it is lost/stolen and indicate your contact number. This message will appear on the screen even if the device is locked. And from your iPhone you can call back, but only to the number that is listed in this message.

Then try to determine the location of your smartphone. If the green circle glows next to the name, this means that the phone is online and can be tracked, but if the gray circle is not, it will immediately send its coordinates when connected. You can click on “Notify me about a find” and receive an email notification about the device’s connection to the network. If an iPhone, according to the map, is detected nearby, you can force it to play a long (about 2 minutes) sound signal on maximum volume to help find him.

It also makes sense to try to find an iPhone that was stolen using the IMEI code. It can be found on the box, or in advance, before it is stolen, dial the combination *#06# and write down the resulting fifteen-digit code. But to do this, you need to personally submit a written statement of theft to the police department, and she will already issue an order to the mobile operator to track the code. This way you can get information about the location of the device if it appears on the network, or about an attempt to replace the SIM card. But the chances are slim, you understand.

Statistics show that expensive mobile phones are stolen more often than others. And among the leaders in crime reports - lost iPhone. How to return a stolen gadget, and what to do if your iPhone is stolen - read on.

Let’s immediately say that returning a lost or stolen iPhone is an extremely difficult matter. But the opportunity to get your favorite gadget back increases several times if it has operating system iOS version 5 and higher, and in the iPhone settings in iCloud section Lost mode is activated - the “Find iPhone” function.

Through iCloud, you can find a stolen gadget, identify its current location, and even remotely block the device. But this function only works if the phone is connected to the Internet. If a user has lost their iPhone or their gadget has been stolen, and the device is not connected to the network or is out of reach, iCloud will be powerless.

It often happens that a normally working iCloud cannot determine the current location of the iPhone, which leaves the user bewildered. To solve this problem you need to:

• Enable geolocation feature. This is done in the “Settings” menu in the “System Services” section.
• Check whether the gadget is connected to the Internet.
• Please note that the latest current data on the location of the device can be obtained by the user only within 24 hours after the last connection to the network.

If one of the above conditions is not met, if the iPhone is stolen, return it from using iCloud It won't work.

What to do when Lost Mode is on

If the lost mode on the iPhone is activated and functions normally, in a situation where someone has lost their iPhone, you can block it.

Below we describe step by step how to block an iPhone if it is stolen, and how the lost mode works.

So, the user actions will be as follows:

• If your iPhone 6 or another gadget model is stolen, you need to activate the lost mode in iC
• After this, you need to lock your iPhone by creating a password. If the lock password is already activated in the gadget settings, then when you turn on the lost mode, you will not be able to enter the password, because The iPhone is already password protected.
• Enter the user's contact phone number in the appropriate field.
• Write a message asking to return the gadget, promising a reward for this.
• Write a statement to the police about the loss of the gadget.

IN law enforcement agencies You will need to provide an international device identifier - 15 digits on the iPhone packaging in the barcode location.

If an attacker who has stolen a user’s smartphone connects it to the Internet, the blocked gadget will display a message on the screen requesting that it be returned to its owner. Now all that remains is to wait and hope that a call will come from him.

The question of how to block an iPhone if it is stolen was discussed in detail above. But what to do if it is not possible to enable the search function on your device?

What to do if your iPhone cannot be found via iCloud

If your iPhone 4, iPhone 5, 5s and other gadgets are stolen - newer versions, and for some reason use iCloud storage to block mobile device, it doesn’t work out, the first step should be to contact the police. In such a situation, don’t even think about how to lock your iPhone, because... you will only waste your time.

How can law enforcement agencies help if an Apple gadget is lost or stolen?

The point is that every time mobile gadget connects to the operator's network, it transmits its an identification number, which has already been mentioned above. The operator will be able to determine the geolocation of the iPhone and block it. However, this data will not be provided to the user in any case, because they are secret and can only be shared with the appropriate authorities.

Thus, through mobile operator Finding an iPhone is very easy. But practice shows that this method is not so effective, since the operator transmits information to the police several days or even weeks after the loss. During this period, the gadget, as a rule, ends up on the illegal market in some other country, and is successfully sold there. Unfortunately, if the user did not bother to enable the search function on his iPhone, the likelihood of returning the gadget is minimal.

What to do if the iCloud of a stolen iPhone is offline

If in cloud storage The iPhone is shown as an offline device, which means it is in current time not connected to the internet. In this situation, it is, of course, impossible to block the gadget. The user can only wait for the moment when the device is not turned on, and he learns about this from his computer, namely, he receives a notification by e-mail.

How long will you have to wait? If the device was locked via a password, it won’t last long, because... To reset it, you will need to reflash the gadget and activate it, which means you will need a network connection. As soon as this is done, the gadget will enter lost mode, i.e. The person who stole your iPhone will receive a message demanding that the gadget be returned to its rightful owner.

In a situation where the lost mode on the iPhone was not turned on, the attacker who stole the device will not be able to completely unlock the device and use all its functions. The smartphone will simply be in a locked state.

Attention! If your Apple smartphone is stolen, do not erase it from iCloud memory under any circumstances. Anyway, sooner or later the gadget will be connected to the Internet and there will be a chance to return it. Otherwise, only the police can help you, but the likelihood of success will be very low.

Agree, it will be a pity to lose an expensive gadget, especially if it is one of the new models - six, seven, etc. due to an annoying error in deleting device information from iCloud. Unfortunately, a number of users recklessly take this step, and, as a result, say goodbye to their smartphone forever.

So, don’t panic if you have lost your Apple smartphone or someone has stolen it from you. Initially, remember whether the search mode was turned on in your device, if so, then use the instructions above and wait patiently. The probability of returning the gadget is very high. If you did not take care of this, immediately contact law enforcement authorities with a statement.

The theft of an ordinary mobile phone does not allow you to count on finding it - the police are reluctant to take on such cases, and there are simply no other ways to find stolen handsets. As for smartphones, the situation here is completely different, since searching for them is a simpler operation. An iPhone was stolen - what to do if it is stolen? smart device? Is it possible to find the smartphone and return it?

Indeed, tools for returning stolen smartphones exist. And every owner of Apple devices will be able to use them. To do this, use the Find iPhone function. Here are the capabilities of this useful function:

• Remote sound signal (suddenly the phone is somewhere nearby);
• Remote smartphone locking;
• Remote erasing of data from memory;
• Displaying the location of a stolen smartphone.

It should be said right away that this functionality works via the Internet, so the stolen smartphone must be connected to the network.

Description of the Find iPhone feature

How to find a stolen iPhone? To do this, you should take advantage of the opportunities provided by Apple. Cell phones and smartphones are stolen often. And no less often they become lost, falling out of your hands, pocket or purse. Apple specialists are well aware of these problems, so they tried to do everything possible to give users convenient tools to block and return lost devices.

What to do if your iPhone is stolen? With Find My iPhone, you can:

• Display a message on the screen of the stolen device calling for the return of the smartphone;
• Track the location of the smartphone;
• Delete all data remotely.

At the same time, the “Find iPhone” function works according to the original principle of “neither yourself nor people.” If an attacker tries to reflash a stolen smartphone, then remove installed lock he will not succeed - there are practically no opportunities for this (both the attacker and the owner may be left with nothing). Find My iPhone works on almost all Apple devices. But she needs pre-setting, requiring an internet connection and geolocation enabled (for location tracking).

What do I need to do to set up this feature? You should start setting it up immediately after purchasing a smartphone - security needs to be ensured in advance, and not when the device has already been lost. Setting up the Find iPhone function is done through iCloud settings– here you need to activate the “Find iPhone” and “Last location” checkboxes. Now, if the device is lost or stolen, we can quickly block it. The main thing is that at the time of blocking the smartphone is connected to the Internet - take care to connect the appropriate tariff plan or options.

Simultaneously with the activation of the “Find iPhone” function, activation lock will be turned on - it will block the possibility of re-activating the device after flashing it (it is the flashing that is counted on by attackers who steal smartphones from unwary people). Even if the attacker does not return the device, he will no longer be able to use it, even if he really wants to.

Actions to take if a smartphone is stolen

What to do if your iPhone 6, 6S, 4, 5 or any other smartphone is stolen? In this case, you should urgently use the following tools:

• The Find My iPhone app on another device;
• iCloud web interface.

If you have an iPad or another iPhone, immediately install the Find My iPhone application from the AppStore on it. With it, you can track the location of a stolen phone on a map and perform remote blocking. Along with the blocking, it is possible to enter a message asking for the return of the smartphone - this message will be displayed on the display of the stolen handset.

Similar functionality is provided by the iCloud web interface - go to the service’s website, enter your Apple ID and password, find the “Find iPhone” function and activate Lost Mode. At this point, the stolen iPhone will be locked. When the device is locked, it further use becomes impossible - absolutely all functions become unavailable. A field for entering the unlock password will also appear on the screen.

By the way, the unlock password is set when setting up the Find My iPhone function - try not to forget the cherished 4 digits and do not assign unnecessarily easy passwords.

What else can you do after your smartphone is stolen, besides blocking it? Try to find its location on the map and visit the indicated place. Having arrived at the specified point, activate the sound signal - if your smartphone is nearby, you can hear it.

Found a sounding smartphone in the hands of some person? Act according to the situation and exclusively within the law, no matter how much you want to break it - it is quite possible that your iPhone is in the hands of the person who found it and did not steal it.

There are also situations when attackers sell locked smartphones for next to nothing, trying to somehow make a profit and telling unfortunate buyers “fairy tales” about the ease of unlocking.

Is it possible to find a stolen iPhone? It is possible, but only if you prepare it first - we wrote about this in our review. If you are afraid of accidental leakage of important or confidential information, perform a remote erase - it will destroy all files, records in phone book and any other data. The downside of this tool is that after deleting the data, tracking the iPhone will become impossible.

If you have not set up the Find iPhone function, try writing a statement to the police - it is quite possible that law enforcement agencies will look for the stolen smartphone. Don’t forget to indicate the IMEI of your iPhone in the application and attach documents to the device confirming ownership.