So, last night I paid a visit to a new client. After working on her computer and chatting away with her for 2 hours, I left but made a stop at the store on the way home for some essentials, (wine and ice cream).
As I was checking out, I realized I did not have my phone with me. Certain I left it in the car, I happily paid for my essentials and headed to the car. A thorough search revealed my phone was not there.
Of course, I could not call her to find out if she had my phone (the thought quickly did fly through my head). I decided to do the next best thing. Because I do run a technology company, I usually have two pieces of technology with me most of the time. I pulled my iPad out of it’s bag, fired it up, and opened up the Find My iPhone app.
The app first wanted me to log in with my Apple password. After doing that, it showed a map of the area I was in. I tapped on the Devices button in the upper left corner, and was shown a list of my devices. I tapped on DivaPhone, and it was located on the map. It was still at my customers home.
I decided to put my iPhone in Lost Mode. Once I tapped on that option, I was given an opportunity to type in an optional phone number where I could be reached. This is useful when you have a home number you can type in, just in case a good samaritan finds your phone and wants to contact you.
You are also given the option to type in a passcode so that your phone is locked and cannot be opened unless you tap in that code. I put in a code, and then typed the message: “I am on my way to pick up my phone”. This let my client know that I was indeed a dufus, left my phone at her home, and would sheepishly come to retrieve it.
You also have the option of wiping the phone clean of all data, if you think the phone has fallen into the hands of some unscrupulous character.
This feature is available to all IOS 5 and above devices, and optionally any Mac utilizing OS X Lion or above. On the device, you would simply go into Settings, then iCloud and make sure that “Find My iPhone” is turned on.
If you have lost a device, you can go to any computer and log into your account at http://www.icloud.com to see where your lost device is.
It’s nice to know that there is an app to save yourself when you are a dufus.