How do I track my iPhone?

When you can’t find your iPhone in your bag, your desk, on the kitchen table or in the bathroom, the first question that pops in your mind is, “How do I track my iPhone?” We’re here to give you the step-by-step guide, so don’t worry. Before anything else, calm down. If you’ve enabled the right apps and services at the time your iPhone’s lost, this is going to be easy.

 

 

For preventive measures, make sure you do the following while your iPhone is still with you:

1. Activate Find my iPhone. You can download the app from the Apple App Store.

2. Make sure your data connection is always on and you’ve backed up your iPhone.

3. Register for an iCloud account so Apple can track your device.

If you managed to do all that before losing your phone, there’s little reason left to panic. You’ve just exponentially increased your chances to track your iPhone and even return it to you safely. At worst, you’re going to brick your iPhone so no one else can use it. There are two ways to track your device.

 

 

 Here’s how you track your iPhone using another iOS device like an iPad, iPod Touch or another iPhone:

1.  Open the Find my iPhone app on your separate iOS device.

2. Input the Apple ID or iTunes account that you used to set up Find My iPhone.

3. This begins the process of searching for your lost device. A compass appears while iCloud tracks your phone. If your data connection and web services are activated, you’ll find a map where all your online iOS devices are located.

4. Tap on the bubble that shows where your missing iPhone is located. Then tap ‘Actions’ at the bottom of the screen.

5. From there, you can ‘Play sound’, activate ‘Lost Mode’ or ‘Erase iPhone.’ Playing a sound lets you locate your iPhone if you’ve just misplaced it somewhere in the vicinity. ‘Lost Mode’ immediately locks the phone, continues tracking it for the next 24 hours and gives you options for recovering the phone through messages and calls. ‘Erase iPhone’ lets you remotely wipe your iPhone of all data just to be safe. This is especially useful if your phone has definitely been stolen.

6. You can also approach or go to where your iPhone is located by tapping the car icon at the top right corner. This shows you how to get to your iPhone from your current location complete with walking and/or driving directions.

    

    

 

 

 

Here’s how to track your iPhone using a web browser on a PC:

1. Go to iCloud.com and sign in.

2. Click on the Find My iPhone app icon. This starts the process of locating your iPhone. From there, you’ll see a map come up that shows the location of all your online iOS devices.

3. Click on ‘My Devices’ on the top bar and then on the device you want to locate and track.

4. This brings up a dialog box for options on the Find My iPhone iOS app. You can ‘Play sound’, activate ‘Lost Mode’ and ‘Erase iPhone’.

Keep in mind that it’s imperative that you’ve always set your data connection on and you’ve registered for an iCloud account. You must also download the ‘Find My iPhone’ app. Whenever Find My iPhone erases the device or is turned on, iOS 7 locks down your phone unless the user inputs your Apple ID and password. Good luck, and we hope that we’ve sufficiently answered your question of “How do I track my iPhone?”