Find My iPhone
The technology available at iCloud it's now possible to locate your device provided it still has access to some sort of data connection (cellular or Wi-Fi). This won't work if your device is not using the Find My Phone service, has run out of battery or was last seen in Airplane Mode, but it's certainly worth a shot.
Open iCloud.com, login with your Apple ID and the same password you use to authorize app purchases and click on Find My iPhone. iCloud will attempt to locate your device, if found you can take a note of whether it's moving, whether it's down the back of the sofa or indeed whether it appears somewhere entirely different to you last had it in which case, it's probably been stolen.
Using iCloud.com it's possible to initiate a remote wipe of the phone, which will cause the phone to reset itself to factory settings and preserve your data. To do this by logging in, clicking on Find My iPhone then selecting the device and enabling Lost Mode. Don't forget to leave a message and a phone number in the hope that whoever took it might actually return it.If your phone has been stolen but remains traceable, you may want to hand the information over to the police. There have been a few examples, law enforcement have used Apple's Find My iPhone location data to recover stolen devices, though be prepared that this may not be the case.
If your phone has been updated to iOS 7, you've got another safety net in place in the form of Activation Lock. Even after wiping the device, it will require your own personal Apple ID and password to be usable. Until these credentials are provided, the phone will refuse to work as intended. It's useless to the thief, and not even Apple will unlock it.
You can tell if your phone has been updated to iOS 7 first and foremost by the graphical style. Apple introduced a new, cleaner interface. You can see the difference at-a-glance in the screenshot above (iOS 7 is on the right). You can also head over to Settings > General > About and look at the number under Version.
The technology available at iCloud it's now possible to locate your device provided it still has access to some sort of data connection (cellular or Wi-Fi). This won't work if your device is not using the Find My Phone service, has run out of battery or was last seen in Airplane Mode, but it's certainly worth a shot.
Open iCloud.com, login with your Apple ID and the same password you use to authorize app purchases and click on Find My iPhone. iCloud will attempt to locate your device, if found you can take a note of whether it's moving, whether it's down the back of the sofa or indeed whether it appears somewhere entirely different to you last had it in which case, it's probably been stolen.
Using iCloud.com it's possible to initiate a remote wipe of the phone, which will cause the phone to reset itself to factory settings and preserve your data. To do this by logging in, clicking on Find My iPhone then selecting the device and enabling Lost Mode. Don't forget to leave a message and a phone number in the hope that whoever took it might actually return it.If your phone has been stolen but remains traceable, you may want to hand the information over to the police. There have been a few examples, law enforcement have used Apple's Find My iPhone location data to recover stolen devices, though be prepared that this may not be the case.
If your phone has been updated to iOS 7, you've got another safety net in place in the form of Activation Lock. Even after wiping the device, it will require your own personal Apple ID and password to be usable. Until these credentials are provided, the phone will refuse to work as intended. It's useless to the thief, and not even Apple will unlock it.
You can tell if your phone has been updated to iOS 7 first and foremost by the graphical style. Apple introduced a new, cleaner interface. You can see the difference at-a-glance in the screenshot above (iOS 7 is on the right). You can also head over to Settings > General > About and look at the number under Version.
