Stolen iPhone Need Help with Find My

[ROGUE777]

Hey guys,

A couple of days ago my iPhone was stolen from me while I was working on a vehicle. By the time I noticed my iPhone was 30 mins away from me I contacted the authorities and provided them with the serial number since I didn't have access to a computer or phone. I also put in an erase request via Find My iPhone and reset all my passwords including my iCloud and logged out all my sessions once I got home. My issue though is that my passcode could be very easily guessed without a doubt. The iPhone was offline when I put in the request to erase and has remained that way for two days. Is it possible that they had already erased the iPhone? or logged out of my iCloud? They wouldn't have known my iCloud password. So what could they do? Will the activation lock still work? Could the phone have to been put in recovery mode before I sent in the erase request? Seems like its just an expensive paperweight right now. I was running 13.6 on an iPhone 11 PRO MAX. TIA

 

[trevpimp]

I would contact Apple and see what they do from there

Apple keeps a good job keeping access to findmyiphone and everything under a password

 

[chscag]

Apple is not going to help you find the phone or get involved. You've already contacted the police and submitted a report and did an erase. For now, that's about all you can do. Did you have any kind of insurance on the phone? Applecare + with loss protection? Home owners insurance? Carrier insurance? You will need the police report in order to submit a claim.

 

[hungryteresa]

I had my iphone stolen last year and it's quite possible the person who stole your phone has already turned it off. My understanding (from both Apple and the police) is as soon as someone tries to turn on the iPhone, the full erase will happen. If someone tries to register your iPhone with a new Apple ID, this will get flagged because you reported the iPhone stolen. The police can subpoena this information from Apple. However, with my stolen iPhone, I never heard back from my detective. So I'm not sure what happened with it. I did get a notification a few weeks after my iPhone was erased and that Activation Lock was requesting my password. I would suggest getting a new phone as it's rare that the police are able to locate the stolen phone. I got a used 6S for a few weeks, but I would probably do the same thing and wait for the iPhone 12 that is supposed to come out in fall. This time around I signed up for AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss. Good luck!

 

[Audit13]

If you have a passcode on the phone, there are a limited number of tries before the phone locks completely.

What Happens if You Enter the Wrong Password Into an iPhone Too Many Times?

One of the optional security measures you can take to protect your iPhone is to use your phone's Settings screen to set up a four-digit passcode. When you do that, whenever you want to unlock your iPhone, you must enter this passcode. If you forget your passcode, however, the iPhone takes...

smallbusiness.chron.com

 

[ROGUE777]

Thanks for all the replies! I went ahead and bought a new phone and iPad pro and chucked it up as a loss. The theft didn't occur at my house so homeowners insurance wasn't an option @chscag and I didn't have the apple care plus theft just regular apple care. As long as they don't try to access my info I don't care. They'll have some karma coming there way.

 

[chrfr]

Thanks for all the replies! I went ahead and bought a new phone and iPad pro and chucked it up as a loss. The theft didn't occur at my house so homeowners insurance wasn't an option @chscag and I didn't have the apple care plus theft just regular apple care. As long as they don't try to access my info I don't care. They'll have some karma coming there way.

Homeowners insurance often covers personal property even if the loss did not physically occur at your house.

 

[Ezra Dante]

If you have a passcode on the phone, there are a limited number of tries before the phone locks completely.

What Happens if You Enter the Wrong Password Into an iPhone Too Many Times?

One of the optional security measures you can take to protect your iPhone is to use your phone's Settings screen to set up a four-digit passcode. When you do that, whenever you want to unlock your iPhone, you must enter this passcode. If you forget your passcode, however, the iPhone takes...

smallbusiness.chron.com

If this happens well your iPhone may be disable by a couple of minute or if you turn on the erase data after 10 failed attempts on your phone then it will factory data reset

 

[Shanghaichica]

Thanks for all the replies! I went ahead and bought a new phone and iPad pro and chucked it up as a loss. The theft didn't occur at my house so homeowners insurance wasn't an option @chscag and I didn't have the apple care plus theft just regular apple care. As long as they don't try to access my info I don't care. They'll have some karma coming there way.

I think that’s the most gutting thing. Someone getting to your information. I had my iPhone 4 stolen in 2012. Back then I stupidly did not have a passcode on my phone and did not have find my iPhone activated. Nor did I have insurance. So it was an open book for them. Since that day I’ve learned 3 lessons:

Always have a passcode/biometric unlocking

Always have find my iPhone activated

Always have insurance.

 

[anonymousmoose]

If this happens well your iPhone may be disable by a couple of minute or if you turn on the erase data after 10 failed attempts on your phone then it will factory data reset

That's optional. I have it turned off because my 2 year old gets hold of my phone and I don't want it erased every so often

 

[Polly Mercocet]

If Find My iPhone is on and you sent an erase request, the phone will be erased as soon as it's turned on and connected to a network. At this point Activation Lock is enabled so your iCloud password is needed to get into the phone. There is technically a way to bypass Activation Lock but it requires specialist equipment and opening up the hardware to change serial numbers. Most common thieves are not going to do this. Odds are the phone will be sold for spare parts.

But in any case your information is safe. Someone could remove the SIM and try to guess your password without a network connection I guess. But if they did, they wouldn't be able to access anything useful to them (e.g. financial info) without getting into further accounts, so there's not much motivation to do so. Besides it'd take ages to try even with a simple passcode.

Now you have a new phone, turn on the option to erase the phone after 10 failed attempts and of course use a stronger passcode, then you can relax if anything happens to it.

As for the police yeah to be frank they couldn't care less about finding stolen phones. They simply don't care.

 

[anonymousmoose]

What happens if:

1. The thief disconnects all network access
2. Puts the iPhone in DFU mode
3. Uses iTunes to erase and restore
4. Starts setting it up as a new phone

 

[jetsam]

What happens if:

1. The thief disconnects all network access
2. Puts the iPhone in DFU mode
3. Uses iTunes to erase and restore
4. Starts setting it up as a new phone

This does not clear the activation lock.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

What happens if:

1. The thief disconnects all network access
2. Puts the iPhone in DFU mode
3. Uses iTunes to erase and restore
4. Starts setting it up as a new phone

Doesn't matter, as soon as they try to setup the phone it will say it's locked. No code, no activation.. They can take the phone apart and use everything inside except for the logic board if they want...

 

[StaceyMJ86]

My daughter lost her iPhone X in March of this year. I’m still waiting for it to be turned on so everything can be erased. I had no choice but to chuck it up as a lost and get her another device, which have insurance and she’s been able to hold on to.