What to do if your iOS device (or even your Mac!) is lost or stolen…:(

We all love our iOS devices, for some of us, they have become a third hand, an extension of us!  We’ve grown accustomed  to having our iPhone in our pocket, or purse or simply in our hand, everywhere we go.  For some of us, it contains not only our contacts and calendar events, but our business notes, banking information, credit card info, Starbucks card, and a slew of other information I can run down before I even mention your pictures!  The point being, these tiny, wonderful little devices also carry around a shocking amount of personal information.

What do you do, if the unthinkable happens.  Your iPhone/iPad gets lost, or even worse stolen!  Hopefully, you’ve been following my blogs, and are backing your devices up regularly with iCloud!  Doing this will at least give you piece of mind that your data is backed up, as well as giving you the ability to either lock down your device (if it’s misplaced), or you can completely wipe the device clean if you know it’s been stolen and it’s not coming back to you…:(

Here’s how you protect yourself.  First, you’ll go to a computer, open a web browser, then navigate to www.icloud.com.

Next, you’ll log in with your iCloud account (usually it’s the AppleID you use for purchases, some of you may have a second AppleID for iCloud). 

Next, you’ll click the Find my Phone icon.  It’s not a well named icon, it should be titled “Find my device”, as it can show the location of all your iCloud connected Apple devices, as long as they are turned on.  

The next screen you come to will be a map that will pinpoint your device(s) if they are on.  If they are not turned on, they can’t be found. 

 In the event that they are off, and you fear your device is stolen, you’ll click the All Device button (top center of your screen), which will show a listing of your devices (both on and off). 

 If the device is off, click the device and you be taken to another screen.  Here you’ll have the option to Play a sound, Lock the device, or Erase the device.  Now for my purposes here, I’m not going to be able to graphically show you how to do this, because if I lock my MacBook Pro, I'm not going to be very happy with myself!  So, I’ll guide you through what to do next.  When you push Lock the Device, you’ll be prompted to add a code so whomever has the device, and tries to turn it on, will be unable.  And if they subsequently try to take the device to an Apple Store, or an Authorized Apple dealer, the minute a person from the store tries to turn it on, they will know the device is not in the hands of the rightful owner.  You’ll also be prompted to add a message and phone number, in the event that your device is lost and a kind soul actually cares enough to return it!  You can also choose the drastic, but content saving (as well as headache saving) method of Erasing the device of ALL content (every last thing!).  Again, if you’ve done your iCloud back-ups, as soon as you replace your device, you restore from your last iCloud back-up, and your headache will be over (though your wallet will be feeling it!).  

Hopefully you’ll never be in a situation that requires the services described in this blog.  But should you loose or have your device stolen, the content of this blog will at least be able to give you piece of mind that your content (which is really the most important thing here) is safe!