In 2012, 1.6 million Americans lost a handheld device — including smartphones — due to theft. There was even one point wherein New York City saw a 40% increase in smartphone thefts in a single year. In San Francisco, smartphones remain the most commonly stolen item.
We can go on about stolen smartphones, but the bottom line is, there’s a market for them. What’s more, hackers can get into these stolen phones to steal the data in them. Yes, that includes sensitive personal and financial information.
That’s why, as early as now, you should learn how to enable Find My iPhone on your Apple smartphone. Not only will this help you track a stolen or lost iPhone — it lets you shut it down remotely too!
Ready to make your iPhone more secure and trackable with the “Find My” app? Then let’s get right into it!
Why You Should Enable Find My iPhone
The “Find My iPhone” feature is part of Apple’s “Find My” services, which lets you track all your Apple devices. When you activate these Find My services, you can track your lost iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even your Apple Watch! If ever you misplace or lose your Apple smartphone, you can use the Find My app to find out its last known location.
That’s right — the service will show you exactly where your phone is on a map, so long as it’s turned on. If it’s powered off, you’ll still see information about its last reported location.
Activating the Find My phone settings on your iPhone can also help you find a misplaced device. Misplaced phones, after all, happen to at least a third of us every week. With the Find My service, you can have your nearby phone ring or make a sound to make it easier to find.
Moreover, the Find My service lets you mark your devices as “Lost”. Doing this remotely locks the marked device with a passcode. You can also have the device display a message with your contact information on its screen.
Once you’ve marked your iPhone lost, Apple automatically suspends the Apple Pay feature. This then prevents fraudulent charges on the synced credit, debit, or prepaid cards.
An activated Find My iPhone app also locks the entire device itself. The only way to unlock it is to key in the password for the current Apple ID or iCloud account. This means that no one can sync it with any other Apple ID.
Enabling the Find My iPhone App
To enable Find my iPhone, you first need to sign in to your Apple account with your Apple ID credentials. If you are, however, a new Apple device user, you likely don’t have an Apple ID yet, so you need to create one first. You need this as it’s your gateway to multiple Apple services, such as the App Store, iMessage, and iCloud.
Create an Apple ID Account (If You Haven’t Yet)
You can create an Apple ID through the App Store already installed on your iPhone. Open the App Store and then tap your profile picture — you should see the option “Create New Apple ID”. Enter all the required details and follow all the instructions on the list.
Sign In To Your Apple Account
Once you’ve completed the set-up of your Apple ID, you can now sync it with your iPhone. To do this, tap the “Settings” icon on your phone and then tap the part that says “Sign in to your iPhone”. Enter your Apple ID credentials to complete the login process.
If you’re an existing Apple ID user, Apple may send a six-digit verification code to your other Apple devices. You’d need to enter this code on your iPhone to get your Apple ID logged in it.
Activate the Find my iPhone Feature Under iCloud
Access your iPhone’s “Settings” again. This time, you should see your Apple ID (along with your profile picture) at the very top of the screen. Tap that part to bring up the window containing your Apple ID services and then select iCloud.
On the iCloud tab or panel, scroll down to the section that says “Apps Using iCloud”. The “Find My iPhone” switch should be near the bottom of the list, under “Siri” or “Keychain”. Tap “Find My iPhone” and then slide the switch — if it turns green, then that means you’ve activated the feature.
While you’re there, activate the “Send Last Location” feature too. This way, your iPhone will notify Apple of its last location just before it dies due to a low battery.
Locating Your Lost or Misplaced iPhone
To use Find My iPhone in the event that you do lose your phone, sign in to your iCloud account using another device. Click the “Find iPhone” icon and then choose the specific device you’re looking for. This should bring up the web page with the map showing your iPhone’s current or last known location.
From here, you can choose the “Play Sound” option, which will sound out an alarm from your phone. If your iPhone is somewhere close, this sound will make it easier to locate. If the location is too far, you should place it on “Lost Mode” in the meantime.
Hopefully, you’ll never have to use the “Erase iPhone” feature, but you may have to if there’s no chance of finding it. With this option, you can delete every bit of information stored on your phone. That includes all synced credit, debit, and prepaid cards, messages, files, and apps.
Note, however, that this feature also deletes your Apple ID from the phone. Meaning, you will no longer be able to use the Find My app feature for that particular device. Think of it as a remote way to perform a factory reset on your iPhone.
Follow This Guide on How to Enable Find My iPhone Now
There you have it, your complete guide on how to enable Find My iPhone on your Apple smartphone. It’s best that you do this now so that you can make your pricey iPhone safer and more secure. If you have other Apple devices, be sure to also activate the Find My app on all of them.
Looking for more tips to keep your techy gear safe and secure? Head over to our How To section then to get access to more guides like this!
