If your iPhone gets lost or stolen, your best bet to get it back is with Find My iPhone that can track its location and even allow for some remote controls. However, if you never enabled or configured this feature and your iPhone is nowhere to be found, there are some alternative ways to find it. Learn how to find your lost iPhone without Find My iPhone enabled below.
Find My iPhone: What is it & How Find My iPhone app Works?
Find My iPhone is a built-in feature that allows you to track one Apple device with another if all are under the same Apple ID Account. It provides options to locate, track, and lock your iPhone remotely if it gets lost or stolen.
Once you’ve located your device, you’ll have plenty of options at your disposal. Find My iPhone allows you to play a sound, get notified if you left your iPhone behind, display a message, or erase all data. All of that remotely. That’s why it’s crucial to enable Find My iPhone as soon as you set up your new iPhone.
You can access Find My iPhone on other Apple devices or via iCloud on the web with your Apple ID credentials. Here’s how to enable Find My iPhone on your iPhone:
- On your iPhone, open Settings.
- Tap on your account at the top and select Find My.
- Choose Find My iPhone.
- Turn on Find My iPhone and enable Find My Network and Send Last Location.
Also, make sure you can sign into iCloud via a web browser, especially if you don’t have another Apple device. It’s a good idea to set up multiple sign-in options. It’s hardly ideal to lose your iPhone and then be unable to sign into the service where you can track it because it asks for the confirmation from the device that’s not at your disposal.
What To Do When You Lose Your iPhone?
The moment you lose your device, you should try to track it in the Find My app on another Apple device or on iCloud.com. If the service can’t locate your device, you can first mark the device as Lost.
If you feel someone might get access to your data, you can erase the phone data and lock it remotely. Finally, report your iPhone as stolen to local law enforcement and provide them with the serial number. After that, make sure to remove your iPhone from your iCloud account and trusted devices.
How to Find a Phone That is Dead Using “Find My iPhone”
To find an iPhone that is dead using Find My iPhone, you had to enable the Send Last Location option beforehand. If you did, there’s a good chance that you’ll get the approximate location in Find My iPhone.
If you have Find My enabled on your lost iPhone, you may be able to see your phone’s last known location in the Find My app even if your phone is powered down, offline, or dead. To get started, open the Find My app on another Apple device that’s logged into the same Apple ID.
If not and if your device had Location Services disabled when the battery died out, chances are that you won’t be able to track it down with Find My iPhone. That’s just bad luck.
How to Track an iPhone Without “Find My iPhone” App
You can track your iPhone without the Find My iPhone app by pinging it with your Apple Watch. Alternatively, you can use Google Maps Timeline or track it with Google Photos by checking the location tags on recently backed photos.
1) Use your Apple Watch to ping your iPhone
If you have an Apple Watch, you can immediately swipe into your Control Center and tap and hold on the Phone icon to make your iPhone ring and flash its flashlight. If your iPhone is in the proximity, you should be able to hear or see it.
On the other hand, if Apple Watch ping didn’t help you locate your iPhone, let’s try with some Google services.
2) Find your phone with Google
Apple is pretty strict with third-party services using the location in the background but Google Timeline in Google Maps or geo-tags in Google Photos should work by default. As long as you grant the necessary permissions. You can use these to pinpoint the recent location of your device if necessary. Obviously, to use these services, you had to sign in with a Google Account.
Use Google Maps Timeline
You can access the Google Maps Timeline on any device as long as you sign in with your Google Account. Once there, you can check if Google Maps got any records of recent trips.
Here’s how to access Google Maps Timeline in a browser:
- Navigate to Google Maps Timeline.
- Sign in with your Google Account when asked.
- Select the most recent entry in the top pane (Today) and check for records.
Use Google Photos to Track your iPhone
If you keep your location enabled, all photos you take on your iPhone come with a geotag by default. Once uploaded to Google Photos, these photos bring over those metadata tags. With that in mind, you can check if recently uploaded photos can give you a better idea where’s your iPhone.
Here’s how to log into Google Photos on the web and check the geotags of most recent photos:
- Navigate to Google Photos on the web.
- Select the photo.
- Click or tap on the “i” icon and scroll down in the right pane until you reach the geotag and the Google Maps preview.
3) Check Your Dropbox Camera Upload
In the similar manner as with Google Photos, you can check OneDrive or Dropbox camera uploads. Just open Dropbox on the Web or OneDrive on the Web. Sign in with your account and check for geotags on recently uploaded photos or videos.
How to Track and Find an iPhone Without iCloud
1) Find iPhone By Phone Number
Sadly, you can’t locate your iPhone by number on your own. But you can provide the IMEI and serial number to authorities and hope for the best. You can always call your number and hope that the finder will answer and return it to you. Reporting theft to your carrier and Apple is also a good idea, especially if you have Apple Care+.
2) Find iPhone using a Family Member’s or Friend’s iPhone
Your family members can possibly locate your device if you enabled this feature in Settings > Family > Location Sharing. If you open the Family option on your family member’s iPhone or iPad, select your device from the list to see the actual or the last recorded location.
Of course, if Family Sharing isn’t enabled, using your family member’s device won’t be useful if yours is lost or stolen.
3) Use a phone tracking app
If you have installed any sort of a third-party tracking app on the device, you can use it to track the lost or stolen iPhone. Family Location Sharing is the main choice for the majority of Apple users, some parents prefer to use other apps to track their children movement and ensure their safety.
iPhone IMEI Tracker: How to Block Stolen iPhone With IMEI Number
How to Check iPhone IMEI Stolen
IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number is a unique 15-digits-long number. Each device has a unique IMEI number that can’t be changed. You can usually find it on your device or on the packaging and it can’t be changed or replicated.
In case you had your iPhone stolen or lost, you can use the IMEI number to report it to authorities and your carrier. That way, the carrier can blacklist the device.
How To Lock iPhone Remotely and Enhanced Security Measures
As we mentioned in the introduction, as long as Find My iPhone and associated features were enabled before you lost your iPhone, there’s a good chance that you’ll locate it sooner or later. Once you do, you can lock the iPhone remotely with Lost Mode. Once you lock the device, no one can access your data.
Here’s how to lock your iPhone remotely from iCloud.com:
- Navigate to iCloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID.
- Open Find Devices and expand All devices.
- Select your iPhone from the left pane.
- Click Mark as Lost.
- Follow the instructions and change contact info if you need to.
You can also Erase your device if you select Erase This Device to remotely delete all data from your iPhone. If you have Apple Care+, you can file a claim for your lost iPhone.
Preventive Measures for Future iPhone Loss
Many of us neglect all the important security features because we’re sure that our device will never get lost or stolen. Until it happens and we realize that things like Find My iPhone are actually useful in that worst-case scenario.
Here are some preventive measures you should enable in order to keep your iPhone easier to find and more secure in case it gets stolen or lost:
- Always use a Passcode and Face ID or Touch ID on your Lock Screen. You can create add or edit a Passcode and Face ID in Settings > Face ID & Passcode.
- Enable Find My iPhone in Settings > Your Apple ID Account at the top > Find My > Find My iPhone. Enable Find My iPhone and then enable Find My Network and Send Last Location.
- Disable access to Control Center on the Lock Screen. Navigate to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. Toggle off Control Center under the Allow Access When Locked section.
What to Do After You’ve Recovered Your iPhone
If you were lucky enough to recover your lost or stolen iPhone, you should immediately change your Apple ID password. Sign in again and check for any changes on your iPhone. Ideally, if you suspect that someone had access to your iPhone, you should reset it to factory settings and restore it from iCloud.
Then, after you rejoice and settle down, make sure to check the aforementioned list of preventive measures.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) How can I Find My lost iPhone from another person?
As long as you know your Apple ID credentials, you can use another person phone to sign into iCloud. com and locate your iPhone. If that person is on your Location Sharing list or a Family member, you can use their device to check your location.
Make sure to act fast and there’s a good chance you’ll manage to locate your device and retrieve it.
2) How can I locate my iPhone using Android?
Just rush to any browser and sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID. Once there, you should select the Find My and immediately try to track your iPhone’s location. From there, you can mark your iPhone as lost to prevent unwanted access or even reset it to factory settings.
3) How to Secretly Track an iPhone Without iCloud?
You can use a variety of third-party apps to track an iPhone location from other devices with limited functionality. You can use Google Maps Timeline, too.
And, on that note, we can conclude this article. Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. We look forward to your questions or suggestions.
