

Tracking Down a Stolen iPhone - TallGuyShort
http://happywaffle.livejournal.com/5890.html

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awolf
It's only a matter of time before one of these Mobile Me adventure stories
ends in a stabbing.

~~~
amichail
Sounds like a startup opportunity: provide a service to track down stolen
phones and return them to their owners.

~~~
stcredzero
Sounds like a pitch for a reality TV show.

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rjurney
A brutal robbery/assault locally was solved because the attackers stole an
iPhone, which had location services turned on. The police had him within a few
days. The other two suspects were identified on his facebook page.

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luckyland
Pretty remarkable lack of street smarts.

Should probably stick to Legos next time.

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sounddust
There is a much better (and much cheaper) version of "Find my iPhone"
functionality for jailbroken iPhones called iLocalis
(<http://www.ilocalis.com>). It can do things like force your phone to call a
number, send you an e-mail when the SIM card is swapped, etc.. I've been using
it for months and it's helped me find my phone several times already (although
thankfully it hasn't been stolen).

~~~
defied
iLocalis looks interesting, but do you trust those guys with all your
information? I mean they basically know where you are at any time of the day,
they might be able to browse your iPhone data, ...

~~~
sounddust
That's a great point. Although I trust the guy who runs it (it's a small
project run by an independent iPhone hacker/developer), there's no question
that a service run by Apple is more trustworthy.

From my view, however, the cost/benefit analysis strongly favors installing
the app. Benefit: It has saved me $500 once already. Cost: 14€ + (chance that
the data on my phone will be used maliciously) * (average amount of financial
damage that would be done in one of these instances).

But in my opinion, the "Find my iPhone" feature of MobileMe is not
comprehensive enough. For example, it should still work if the SIM card is
swapped. It should work even if the only available connection is Wi-Fi (such
as being indoors) and should report back to the user the name of the hotspot.
It should work if the OS is wiped/reinstalled.

iLocalis doesn't do all of these things, but it's much closer.

~~~
pieter
I think it should work with another sim and wifi only, as it also works with
an iPod touch.

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tptacek
Not the best neighborhood in Chicago to try this in.

[http://chicago.everyblock.com/crime/filter/streets/medill-
av...](http://chicago.everyblock.com/crime/filter/streets/medill-
ave/2700-2799w/1-block/)

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Tichy
Nerves of steel? I thought stolen phones would immediately be used to call the
most expensive sex hotline possible? So my first move would have been to block
the account, not sleep over it in vague hopes of iPhone finder getting it's
act together.

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bryanwoods
Great story.

I found myself doing just about the same thing (eerily similar settings in my
neighborhood in Brooklyn) when my girlfriend's iPhone was stolen just a few
days before WWDC and the Find My iPhone announcement.

At the time I wished for nothing more than this exact technology, but days
later when we were reasonably sure we had found (through a few degrees of
separation) who had stolen the phone and were _still_ unable to get it back,
it dawned on me that this might be one of those social issues that will go
mostly technologically unsolved at least for the time being.

~~~
stcredzero
Apple store personnel treat iPhones/iPods like cord wood. If it breaks, you
often just get a new set of hardware. The iPhone might require a sim swap.
Given that, there is a financial/technological fix: insurance plus customer
service.

On the technological side, send a signal to erase the contents of the phone
and permanently disable it. Apple could then give you a new phone. This could
be a service like AppleCare, but which would expire every time you used it.

~~~
sili
"permanently disable it" - self destruct on a text message :)

~~~
stcredzero
You'd want to use _really_ big public keys for that one.

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sabon
Am I the only one who noticed that they didn't pay the promised $50? Despite
multiple promises of reward.

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tjmc
"I wuv you, iPhone"

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

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dawie
I wonder why they didn't just contact the Police?

~~~
TallGuyShort
The cops wouldn't have been able to do much, and they probably wouldn't have
cared. I once found an 80gb iPod on the street in Brooklyn - brand new. I took
it to a cop and he just said "congratulations".

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kunqiana
amazing story, I wonder if service like this could be used on other devices.

