Another lost iPhone story

[John Ranalletta]

We were riding west of Bloomington on rte. 48, heading to 43 when Ruth said she thought her iPhone dropped out of a pocket.  We stopped and used Find My iPhone on my phone and got an address. Someone found the phone and it was in the storage yard that's laid out like a barracks.  I walked along the sidewalk, homing in on the phone, and saw two cars parked at the far end of the storage units.  I couldn't get passed the security gate so I waited until I saw someone and started yelling to get their attention.  When I did, I yelled, "Did you find a white iPhone?"  A woman yelled back, "Yes.  How did you find us so soon."  All ended well.  A fellow walked up to the fence and handed off the phone.  Thanks to Apple's Find My iPhone and the kindness of others.  BTW, the phone was locked but there was no identifier on the exterior a finder could use to call, text or email.

 

[John Ranalletta]

PS.. we were having lunch in Bedford at 1p when our Realtor called to request a house showing at 3:30pm.   Of course, on the return trip, we experienced another "John, stop, there's blue smoke coming from the right trailer tire."  I'm tired.

[Bill_Walker]

It's great that Find My iPhone worked well for you.  You might also want to set up emergency contacts (in the Medical ID section in the Health app) in your phones.  Those can be called by anyone from a locked phone.

[John Ranalletta]

Thanks, Bill.

[Rougarou]

11 hours ago, John Ranalletta said:

  BTW, the phone was locked but there was no identifier on the exterior a finder could use to call, text or email.

 

 

I've got an ICE background on my  phone that way if anything happens, activate the screen and contact information appears, yet the phone stays locked.  It's got my name, DOB, blood type and emergency phone number to call.

[szurszewski]

Once you know the phone is gone you can also use the “find my” app (find friends and find my iPhone have been rolled into one app in iOS 13) to put a message on your lock screen. When my wife lost her phone on a trip through Tennessee a few years ago I was able to use this feature to put my number on her screen and got a call from the finder of her phone. 
 

Also, if you FIND an iPhone you can use Siri to initiate a call or text without unlocking the phone. You need

to tell Siri to whom to call, but more than once I’ve got in touch with the owner of a lost phone by using a phrase like, “hey Siri, call my wife.”

 

 

[John Ranalletta]

Thanks.  I called the phone but no one answered though the finder may not have had it on their person.  I did use FMI to put the lost phone message on mine when I lost it, but the finder (who said, "It's not my life's purpose to return your phone.") didn't respond.  They still have the phone.