Find My iPhone is an awesome free feature that allows any iPhone or iPad owner to track down their device in the event that it gets stolen or lost. From any Mac or iOS device, you can log into MobileMe and instantly see a map containing the locations of your iOS devices. From here you can lock them, reset them or even send a message and set off an alarm.
This feature is great in theory, but does it work in the real world? Today we’ve got three “Find my iPhone” stories that recently made headlines, each with interestingly unique outcomes.
Find My iPhone
The Good: An Action Movie Police Chase
Manchester, UK – This story takes the cake. It’s everything that you dream about when you imagine someone stealing your phone. It sounds like over-the-top fiction, but according to the Manchester Evening News, it really happened.
A woman was casually enjoying her lunch during a day of shopping when a thief appeared and stole the phone from her purse. She quickly called her husband from another line, who was able to activate “Find My iPhone” and call the police with the thief’s location. Awesome action movie events followed.
The police scrambled a helicopter to spot the thief, which spotted his car and radioed it in to the boys on the ground. A full-on police chase then ensued, ultimately resulting in the thief being stopped and the phone being found among other stolen property in the car.
Helicopters, police chases, all over a cell phone? The best part: all of this happened within an hour of the phone being stolen. A word of caution to would-be thieves in the UK, the Manchester police don’t mess around!
The Bad: Not All Police Forces are Created Equal
Melbourne, Australia – When you download and setup “Find My iPhone”, you do so with the hope that, if your phone is ever stolen, the information can be used to catch the criminal. But is that always the case?
It would be nice if all police forces had both the gall and resources to scramble helicopters for every phone-stealing punk that walks out of the mall, but it seems more likely that your stolen device will be added to a very large stack of work that may or may not ever be followed up on.
In Melbourne, a man who realized that his iPad, along with over a thousand dollars in other goods, had been stolen immediately tracked down the device, sent it a message and called the police. So, he had the location of his stolen property and he informed the authorities. Rally the troops, it’s time to get the sucker! Right?
After a month of waiting, the victim discovered that the police had done little to nothing to approach the thief. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the information provided was insufficient for a search warrant to go through the thief’s home and locate the device.
So despite knowing where the alleged iPad burglar was holding his device, the man was forced to let it go, considering but ultimately letting go of the idea of barging in himself to take it back. Think you’d be brave enough to get your iPad back? The next story might change your mind.
The Ugly: Vigilante Seeks Justice, Ends Up Behind Bars
Reading the last story might have gotten your blood pumping a little. You’re a tough guy, and if you knew where the little worm who stole your iOS device lived, you’d march in and take it right back!
Umpire Carl Ippolito thought the same thing, and that’s exactly what he did. After using “Find My iPhone” to track his phone down, Ippolito followed the map to the location where, lo and behold, there stood a man talking on an iPhone.
According to Ubergizmo, Ippolito confronted the man, who of course denied having stolen any phone. Not one to be taken advantage of, Ippolito then attacked the man and wrestled him to the ground!
Somehow, the brawl ended and the poor guy escaped the umpire’s wrath. I say “poor guy” because Ippolito ended up finding his phone nearby in a snack shack, where he had mistakenly left it after a game (whoops!).
Ippolito was then arrested for assault, disorderly conduct and generally not being too bright. “Find My iPhone” allows you to lock the phone and even set off an audible alarm, which may have prevented Ippolito from attacking an innocent bystander who happened to be using a working phone at the time.
Tell Us Your Story!
As you can see, despite being a great service, “Find My iPhone” can have drastically varied results in the real world. For my own part, the feature has turned out to be a lifesaver. I once realized that my iPad was missing and couldn’t quite remember where I had last used it. I fired up my Mac and saw that my that the device was sitting at a pizza place that I had eaten at two days earlier! Fortunately, the staff had dutifully held onto it for me and I was able to get it back in perfect working order with zero problems.
Do you have a story about using “Find My iPhone” to locate your lost or stolen iOS device? We want to hear it! Leave a comment below and tell us what happened.