Losing an iPhone is painful since you are not only losing your data but you will also have to get another iPhone which is costly. However, you can recover your iPhone long as your lost device isn’t in the wrong hands thanks to a feature that enables you to track an iPhone. This is especially important if you’ve just misplaced your iPhone.
How to track someone else’s iPhone
Share iMessage location
To track a friend’s iPhone you can use the share location feature on your iPhone
- Open Settings > Privacy
- Select Location Services
- Tap to Toggle it ON
- Scroll down and open Messages
- Select Location Sharing to When Using the App
- Choose a conversation you want to share location with
If it is a new contact create a new conversation first. Once you get the notification to share location from your friend’s phone accept then click do not share your location. This will help you Track a friend’s iPhone indefinitely as is one of the options.
Read Also: How to fake instagram location
Use ‘Find my iPhone’
You can track and find a lost iPhone if you had previously set up find my iPhone on the lost device. This feature enables you to log in to iCloud and not only track your device but also lock or erase data on the phone if you are afraid of your data being in the wrong hands.
To use Find My iPhone;
- Log on to icloud.com and sign in using your Apple id and password. If iCloud requests two-step verification where they send a code to your device select need to find my device on the bottom of the screen.
- Note this can be done with both Apple devices and non-Apple devices, for example, an Android phone or PC.
- Click find my iPhone icon
- Select the device from the list of your devices on iCloud
- You should see the location of the iPhone on the map if so you can toggle lost mode on. You can also ring the phone if within range to play sound for two minutes in loud mode. ‘lost mode’ will deactivate the iPhone and will display a custom message of the screen You can also select ‘erase phone’ although this will deactivate the phone you and will not be able to link your iCloud even once found.
Find my iPhone offline
If the iPhone is offline you will have to wait until it is connected to the internet again. You do not have to wait on iCloud as Apple will always notify you when it does. This might be resourceful if the phone was stolen but if lost and powers of it might not be fruitful
Although find my iPhone is a great chance of you getting it back you have to have activated it in the first place. Moreover, the iPhone needs to be connected to the internet too, if not you will have to try the next option
Can You Track An iPhone With An Android Phone?
Yes, apart from using Android you can track your iPhone using Google too. For this, you will require visiting Google timeline.
- Visit Google timeline
- Select the last location on the left-hand side. You can choose the day you had the phone last and see a list of all the places you were.
If the phone is stationary you can go and get it if moving though you may have to ask some few friends or colleagues or report to your local authority and get help as it may be in another person’s possession. This, in fact, is the only known method on How to find a lost iPhone without ‘Find My iPhone’
Alex is an IT technician who shares his experiences with Apple devices occasionally. He has a collection of Apple devices (from iPhone 4) and has recently started trying out Android.
IG: @I M_Alex