Recover stolen iPhone

A friend of mine had her iPhone stolen, it *****!
She had the 'Find my iPhone' app installed.
She tracked it down using iCloud's find my iPhone option and locked it remotely. I mean the phone's location showed up somewhere on a highway so we know it is not the thief's house.
Ever since she locked it the location hasn't moved, we're assuming it has been switched off. The thief called a bunch of international numbers (to NY n Algeria) and we're located in Toronto.
She's not very tech savvy so this question is really from me, can the thief set the iPhone into DFU mode and basically set it up as a new iPhone? That would kind of defeat the purpose of being able to remotely lock it.
It's been reported both to the ISP and Apple so if the thief takes it for any kind of servicing it should pop up that it's a stolen iPhone.
Any other ideas on how to possibly recover it?
Thanks

If it's still saying that it's located there, that means that it's still there. If the thief restored it, then it wouldn't show up. What you should do is go to the location. To answer your question about the DFU, yes the thief can easily restore it.

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How to recover stolen iphone

hello. i recently purchased iphone 4 (used) with bill accesories n all genuiene details of the seller. it was stollen and i m searchin ways to recover that phone . i tried to register the device on support prof but it was already registerd before. find my phone was off, is only way to track is with imei?

If Find My Phone was not setup/activated, then there's no way to track your phone now. Neither Apple nor your carrier will help you.
Report the loss to your carrier, Insurance company & the police. Change all of your passwords, especially your Apple ID.

How to recover data for a stolen iphone

Does anybody know how I can recover phone data from a stolen iphone?

If you used to sync your iPhone with your computer, you should have a backup. That backup should contain the photos you have in your camera roll.
If not, then unfortunately there is nothing to be done without physical access to the phone.
Also, you can use iPhone Data Recovery to help you recover your data back.
Best wishes.

How to recover photos from stolen iphone?

How to recover photos from stolen iphone?

You might be able to recover any photos that were in an iCloud Photo Stream if you had an iCloud account and used Photo Stream. But without a backup of your library or MB hard drive you won't be able to recover any of the iPhoto Library photos as Jim has already pointed out.

I recovered my stolen iPhone 4s thru' IMEI tracking and Police's help. The thief had set up the phone with his apple account. He is now out of police's contact and i could not retrieve his Apple/icloud PASSWORD which i need to ACTIVATE my iPhone. Any way?

i recovered my stolen iPhone 4s thru' IMEI tracking and Police's help. The thief had set up the phone with his apple account. He is now out of police's contact and i could not retrieve his Apple/icloud PASSWORD which i need to ACTIVATE my iPhone. Any way?

No, not without help from the thief.

Stolen Iphone. Is there ANY way to recover photos!?

Like many other people on these discussions, I have been the victim of a stolen Iphone 6 very recently. I've erased the phone via Find My Iphone and let my service provider know. The only thing that is concerning me are the photos. Before the phone was stolen, I had about 1000 photos in the photostream on my Ipad. Right after the phone was stolen, the photostream just deleted off the ipad. The only photos I can see on my ipad and when I login to Icloud are the photos that I had saved onto the ipad (like screenshots and stuff. No one actually takes photos on Ipad so I basically have no photos at all.). I'm so confused.
Until now, I had NO idea that the new IOS 8 now only keeps photos in the photo stream for 30 days. This is ridiculous. I've had 3 generation of Iphones and my photos have always just been in the 'cloud' and always just transfer to my next phone without any issue. I'm traveling in Asia for 3 months without a computer, so of course I haven't been transferring my photostream photos to itunes every 30 days. The theft happened in Cambodia, leaving absolutely no chance of my phone being found.
So does this mean that literally every photo I've ever had in the photostream is gone?! Does anyone know if there are any programs to restore photos from the photostream? Even if I could somehow recover the photos that are from the last 30 days on the iphone..
Thanks!
Caitlin

Welcome to the Apple Community.
Photo stream has always only kept the last 30 days photos. If you haven't maintained a back up, there is nothing you can do about any photos over 30 days unless they had already been uploaded to another device.

Recover IP address to locate last known location on a stolen iphone

My iphone was stolen how can I track the last known location before it went offline

If it was registered with Find My Phone, then it would show the last location for a period of 24 hours, only.
What To Do If Your iDevice Is Lost Or Stolen
iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
If you activated Find My Phone before it was lost or stolen, you can track it only if it is connected to the Internet by Wi-Fi or cellular. What you cannot do is track your device using a serial number or other identifying number. You cannot expect Apple or anyone else to find your device for you. You cannot recover your loss unless you insure your device for such loss. It is not covered by your warranty.
If your iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad is lost or stolen what do you do? There are things you should have done in advance - before you lost it or it was stolen - and some things to do after the fact. Here are some suggestions:
This link, Re: Help! I misplaced / lost my iPhone 5 today morning in delta Chelsea hotel downtown an I am not able to track it. Please help!, has some good advice regarding your options when your iDevice is lost or stolen.
1. Reporting a lost or stolen Apple product
2. Find my lost iPod Touch
3. AT&T. Sprint, and Verizon can block stolen phones/tablets
4. What-To-Do-When-Iphone-Is-Stolen
5. iCloud- Use Lost Mode
6. What to do if your iOS device is lost or stolen
7. 6 Ways to Track and Recover Your Lost/Stolen iPhone
8. Find My iPhone
9. Report Stolen iPad | Stolen Lost Found Online
It pays to be proactive by following the advice on using Find My Phone before you lose your device:
1. Find My iPhone
2. Setup your iDevice on iCloud
3. OS X Lion/Mountain Lion- About Find My Mac
4. How To Set Up Free Find Your iPhone (Even on Unsupported Devices)

How to recover contacts from a stolen iphone

Hey guys please can you help me recover my contacts from my stolen iPhone.

Welcome to the Apple Community.
If they were in iCloud, just log onto your account on another device or access them at iCloud.com on a computer.

Retrieve information and phone numbers from a stolen iphone

I need to retrieve the information and phone numbers from my stolen iphone

Not possible.
What To Do If Your iDevice Is Lost Or Stolen
If you activated Find My Phone before it was lost or stolen, you can track it only if Wi-Fi is enabled on the device. What you cannot do is track your device using a serial number or other identifying number. You cannot expect Apple or anyone else to find your device for you. You cannot recover your loss unless you insure your device for such loss. It is not covered by your warranty.
If your iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad is lost or stolen what do you do? There are things you should have done in advance - before you lost it or it was stolen - and some things to do after the fact. Here are some suggestions:
This link, Re: Help! I misplaced / lost my iPhone 5 today morning in delta Chelsea hotel downtown an I am not able to track it. Please help!, has some good advice regarding your options when your iDevice is lost or stolen.
1. Reporting a lost or stolen Apple product
2. Find my lost iPod Touch
3. AT&T. Sprint, and Verizon can block stolen phones/tablets
4. What-To-Do-When-Iphone-Is-Stolen
5. What to do if your iOS device is lost or stolen
6. 6 Ways to Track and Recover Your Lost/Stolen iPhone
7. Find My iPhone
8. Report Stolen iPad | Stolen Lost Found Online
It pays to be proactive by following the advice on using Find My Phone before you lose your device:
1. Find My iPhone
2. Setup your iDevice on iCloud
3. OS X Lion/Mountain Lion- About Find My Mac
4. How To Set Up Free Find Your iPhone (Even on Unsupported Devices)

Stolen iPhone 4S / I'm surprised there isn't a better recovery system

I recently had my new iPhone 4S stolen. I made a trip to my local waste disposal facility on Saturday and it must have fallen out of my pocket while I was pulling heaps of recycling out of my car. After realising I must have dropped the phone, I drove back and from the time I left to the time I returned, no more than 30 minutes pass and my phone was gone, obviously. I tried calling it but the phone appeared to have been shutoff.
Unfortunately, I hadn't enabled the iCloud service and Find My iPhone - only had the phone for a month - but I had setup the Find My Friends app so that my wife and I could track each other for a laugh. Amazingly enough, about 6 hours after losing my phone, it showed up, no more than 1/2 a block from the waste facility. I watched it remain relatively stationary for 3 hours and then it became unavailable again.
I drew up some flyers the next day and canvassed the area where I suspected the phone to be. Imagine my surprise when, after talking with some people in the vicinity, I discovered that the suspect house was owned by someone who works at the waste facility. So what are the odds of that?
I filed an incident report with the police and went back to the waste facility to speak with the employee. He obviously denied everything and even though our conversation remained civil, I just had a sinking feeling that he was lying to me and let's face it, the GPS led me to his house.
I think what frustrates me the most is the lack of co-operation from the phone company and Apple. It would be ridiculously easy for Apple to track serial numbers. Everytime the phone is connected to a computer to sync or the person uses the iTunes/AppStore apps, the serial number should be sent to Apple with the user's corresponding information. The suspect serial number would be compared to a list of serial numbers from phones reported as stolen. Upon successful match, Apple could then issue a query to a national stolen phone registry (maintained by the authorities - we have one here in Canada) and if there is another match, they could contact the original owner of the phone telling them to contact the police. Apple would generate a claim entry in some sort of CMS and forward a ticket number to the police for them to use when requesting the data (e.g. ISP provided IP address, time of access, machine name/MAC/private LAN IP, etc.) This way, it's the authorities that have to request the information from Apple, as it should be. A similar sort of system could be put in place by the phone companies as well, but using the IMEI.
A system such as what I described above would prevent legally acquired second hand phones from triggering police intervention, protect the suspect party's personal information until the police request it, and provide an efficient and effective way to recover stolen phones. It's astonishing that such a simple system doesn't already exist. Most of the key components are already in place.
Anyhow, I'm hoping the police recover the phone now that I've been able to identify the suspect but I have my doubts.
I really hate dishonest people.

Julian Wright wrote:
Takes about 5 minutes to setup.
As I explained, I only had the phone for a month and wasn't familiar with the new features for iCloud/iOS 5. I've never lost a phone before so never even thought to search for such a feature.
KiltedTim wrote:
They DO provide a tracking mechanism. YOU chose not to enable it.
Actually, I didn't choose anything. I wasn't aware of the feature at the time and, as I said above, I've never lost a phone before so never thought to look for such a feature. The phone was setup by the agent at the store (I would have preferred to do it myself) and therefore iCloud services were disabled by default. Furthermore, this clearly illustrates why an additional mechanism would be beneficial. It's also very easy for someone to disable Find My Phone - that's actually not a very good security mechanism at all.
wjosten wrote:
Ain't gonna ever happen...for the same reasons that GM won't help you find a stolen car...nor GE a stolen toaster or Samsung a stolen TV. These guys are NOT the police & don't want to have anything to do with this stuff. You can keep barking, but your bark will fall on deaf ears.
Many GM cars come with OnStar which can help locate or disable a stolen vehicle. A toaster and TV are not communications devices and are not as easily misplaced and stolen like a cell phone. They also aren't as readily trackable like a cell phone. Furthermore, you have home insurance to cover such a loss.
Why couldn't Apple offer a similar additional service as part of MobileMe or other such offering? This is analogous to what GM does with OnStar. GM ships their vehicles with the components necessary for OnStar (control module, etc) to work and OnStar provides the customer interface and implementation of the service.
With that said, if you actually read my post, I did locate my phone using a similar feature provided by the Find My Friends app.
Julian Wright wrote:
Apple clearly already added a few features to help a customer recover their phone
If you had read any of the documentation Apple provides about the "Find my iPhone" feature, you would see that Apple never states the word "stolen". They always state "lost". It will help you locate a lost iPhone.
As soon as it becomes a stolen phone, that is a criminal matter and therefore legally not Apple's job to help recover it.
Regardless, you hadn't set the feature up in a whole month, so it wouldn't have been any help to you anyway...
Since Apple doesn't offer a service to assist in the recovery of a stolen phone I wouldn't expect them to use the word "stolen" in any of their literature regarding locating services.
I completely agree that a stolen phone is a matter for the police but that doesn't mean Apple can't provide assistance to the authorities upon request; whether a court order is required or not is not the question here. With regards to privacy legislation, again we are in agreement. As a software developer in a field where privacy impact assessments and conformance to existing federal legislation is mandated, I know all too well what is allowed to be tracked and what is considered a violation of a privacy. I also get to see first hand how inadequate some of the existing security systems and policies are. I completely agree that Apple tracking someone's private IP and NIC MAC, machine name, etc might cross the line, they are already tracking serial numbers, search history, and external IP addresses when a person connects through iTunes. This information can be subpoenaed by the authorties. All I'm suggesting is to make this process easier.
I'm not suggesting that Apple start kicking down doors but they could easily work more closely with the authorities to offer enhanced recovery services for stolen phones, even if offered at a price. Just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean that it can't or shouldn't be done. Now that I know how easy it is for a phone to go missing, I'd gladly pay for the reassurance that some shady opportunist isn't able to benefit from my misfortune and hard work. Judging by posts on the net about this subject, I know I'm not alone.
No great company has ever succeeded by maintaining status quo. Apple (and cell providers) could really do something to help address a fairly large issue with minimal cost and risk.

Any way to track stolen iPhone 4 without having previously installed an app

Hi, I've had my iPhone 4 stolen.
I've not got a mobile me subscription, (but I'd buy one if it meant I could track the phone?) and haven't installed any third party tracking app either.
Is there any way it could be tracked? It seems silly that my network can send a shutdown signal, to essentially "brick" the phone unless it's recovered, but can't have the device report it's location...
Thanks.

I remember reading somewhere that they recommend that you don't immediately report it to AT&T so you can avoid having your phone turn into a brick. If the thief is not smart and uses the phone, you may be able to track the numbers the individual is calling and then report those to the police as evidence.
If the person turns off the phone and pulls the sim card out, it could be harder to trace even with tracking software installed.
For those interested in tracking software, here are some apps that might help.
http://techpp.com/2009/09/18/6-ways-to-find-track-lost-stolen-iphone-free/

Does it help when I play on my stolen iphone?

Hello,
My iPhone got stolen and the phone is off. When i hit play sound does it help?

Not really.
What To Do If Your iDevice or Computer Is Lost Or Stolen
iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
If you activated Find My Phone before it was lost or stolen, you can track it only if Wi-Fi is enabled on the device. What you cannot do is track your device using a serial number or other identifying number. You cannot expect Apple or anyone else to find your device for you. You cannot recover your loss unless you insure your device for such loss. It is not covered by your warranty.
If your iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad is lost or stolen what do you do? There are things you should have done in advance - before you lost it or it was stolen - and some things to do after the fact. Here are some suggestions:
This link, Re: Help! I misplaced / lost my iPhone 5 today morning in delta Chelsea hotel downtown an I am not able to track it. Please help!, has some good advice regarding your options when your iDevice is lost or stolen.
1. Reporting a lost or stolen Apple product
2. Find my lost iPod Touch
3. AT&T. Sprint, and Verizon can block stolen phones/tablets
4. What-To-Do-When-Iphone-Is-Stolen
5. What to do if your iOS device is lost or stolen
6. 6 Ways to Track and Recover Your Lost/Stolen iPhone
7. Find My iPhone
8. Report Stolen iPad | Stolen Lost Found Online
It pays to be proactive by following the advice on using Find My Phone before you lose your device:
1. Find My iPhone
2. Setup your iDevice on iCloud
3. OS X Lion/Mountain Lion- About Find My Mac
4. How To Set Up Free Find Your iPhone (Even on Unsupported Devices)
Mac Computer
       Find My Mac can be used from Find My Phone at iCloud.com and via Find
       My Phone on your iDevice.
      The following is third-party anti-theft software:
           1. STEM 2.1
           2. MacPhoneHome 3.5
           3. MacTrack 7.5.0
           4. VUWER 1.7
           5. Sneaky Bastar* 0.2.0
           6. Undercover 5.1.1
           7. LoJack for Laptops
           8. Hidden 2.0
           9. Prey 0.6.2

HT201198 does apple care cover stolen iphones?

does apple care cover stolen iphones?

No, it does not.
What To Do If Your iDevice or Computer Is Lost Or Stolen
If your Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad is lost or stolen what do you do? There are things you should do in advance - before you lose it or it's stolen - and some things to do after the fact. Here are some suggestions:
1. Reporting a lost or stolen Apple product
2. Find my lost iPod Touch
3. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon can block stolen phones/tablets
4. What-To-Do-When-Iphone-Is-Stolen
5. Lost or Stolen iPhone? Here’s What to do
6. 6 Ways to Track and Recover Your Lost/Stolen iPhone
7. Find My iPhone
It pays to be proactive by following the advice on using Find My Phone before you lose your device:
1. Find My iPhone
2. Setup your iDevice on MobileMe
3. OS X Lion- About Find My Mac
4. How To Set Up Free Find Your iPhone (Even on Unsupported Devices)
Third-party solutions for computers:
1. VUWER 1.5.4
2. Sneaky ******* 0.2.0
3. Undercover 4.7
4. LoJack for Laptops Premium Mac
5. STEM 2.1
6. MacPhoneHome 3.5

Can apple determine the location of my stolen iphone when iy was powered back on and the remote data erase was initiated?

Can apple determine the location of my stolen iphone when it was powered back on and the remote data erase was initiated?

What To Do If Your iDevice or Computer Is Lost Or Stolen
If your Mac, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad is lost or stolen what do you do? There are things you should do in advance - before you lose it or it's stolen - and some things to do after the fact. Here are some suggestions:
1. Reporting a lost or stolen Apple product
2. Find my lost iPod Touch
3. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon can block stolen phones/tablets
4. What-To-Do-When-Iphone-Is-Stolen
5. Lost or Stolen iPhone? Here’s What to do
6. 6 Ways to Track and Recover Your Lost/Stolen iPhone
7. Find My iPhone
It pays to be proactive by following the advice on using Find My Phone before you lose your device:
1. Find My iPhone
2. Setup your iDevice on MobileMe
3. OS X Lion- About Find My Mac
4. How To Set Up Free Find Your iPhone (Even on Unsupported Devices)
Third-party solutions for computers:
1. VUWER 1.5.4
2. Sneaky ******* 0.2.0
3. Undercover 4.7
4. LoJack for Laptops Premium Mac
5. STEM 2.1
6. MacPhoneHome 3.5

How do you find a stolen iphone if you did not install find my iphone?

I have had my iphone stolen at the YMCA today. I am wondering if I can find my iphone without the use of the app find my iphone. I don't quite remember if I turned on the find my iphone service in the iCloud settings and i did not install the find my iphone app. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Look for it. But you cannot find it unless you activated Find My Phone.
What To Do If Your iDevice Is Lost Or Stolen
If you activated Find My Phone before it was lost or stolen, you can track it only if Wi-Fi is enabled on the device. What you cannot do is track your device using a serial number or other identifying number. You cannot expect Apple or anyone else to find your device for you. You cannot recover your loss unless you insure your device for such loss. It is not covered by your warranty.
If your iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad is lost or stolen what do you do? There are things you should have done in advance - before you lost it or it was stolen - and some things to do after the fact. Here are some suggestions:
This link, Re: Help! I misplaced / lost my iPhone 5 today morning in delta Chelsea hotel downtown an I am not able to track it. Please help!, has some good advice regarding your options when your iDevice is lost or stolen.
1. Reporting a lost or stolen Apple product
2. Find my lost iPod Touch
3. AT&T. Sprint, and Verizon can block stolen phones/tablets
4. What-To-Do-When-Iphone-Is-Stolen
5. What to do if your iOS device is lost or stolen
6. 6 Ways to Track and Recover Your Lost/Stolen iPhone
7. Find My iPhone
8. Report Stolen iPad | Stolen Lost Found Online
It pays to be proactive by following the advice on using Find My Phone before you lose your device:
1. Find My iPhone
2. Setup your iDevice on iCloud
3. OS X Lion/Mountain Lion- About Find My Mac
4. How To Set Up Free Find Your iPhone (Even on Unsupported Devices)

Recover stolen iPhone

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