Last updated: July 3, 2022
Who has never lost their phone at least once in their life? This feeling of "lack" linked to an object that we use on a daily basis is very unpleasant because nothing is more annoying than losing or having your item stolen. iPhone.
Inside the latter, are all our photos, our contacts, our means of payment, our messages; in short, a large part of our digital life is held in the palm of our hand. So when we happen to lose it due to lack of attention or worse, to have it stolen, it's panic.
Fortunately, Apple has thought of everything, and offers us many solutions by default allowing us to locate our iPhone, even offline !
You will see different steps, such as setting up and preparing your phone first, and different ways to locate it later.
Let's go !
Part 1: How to configure your iPhone to then be able to locate it, even offline
Activate the geolocation service:
You will first need to activate the geolocation service if you want to be able to find your iPhone via the function “ Locate ».
To do this, here is how to do it in a few steps:
- Go to " Settings ».
- Then in " Policy ».
- Press on " Location services And activate it.
- Scroll down a bit and tap on the app “ Locate ».
- Configure it as in point number 5 of this screenshot.
Setting up the Locate app
Before you can then search for your phone, it is important to ensure that the “Find” function is activated on your iPhone. It may be that “by default” the latter is indeed deactivated and if this is the case, then you will not be able to find your iPhone with iCloud.
- On your iPhone, go to “ Settings ».
- Tap on your name or your account image (If you are not logged in, you will of course have to perform this action before going any further).
- Finally, press " Locate »
- You must have all 3 options selected, as in the image: locate my iPhone "," Network locate "," Send last position ».
You are not required to activate the "Locate Network" feature, but be aware that since iOS 15, this will allow you to find your iPhone up to 24 hours after being turned off.
The option " Send last position » meanwhile, will send Apple your last location from the moment the battery charge becomes too low.
Part 2: Use iCloud.com to locate your lost or stolen phone
If you have lost your iPhone and the battery is flat or if it was stolen from you here's how locate his phone:
In case of loss :
You can go to iCloud.com, log in with your credentials, and access the " Locate ».
Then wait for your iPhone is located, it should only take a few minutes.
Once it is found, you can click on the icon representing your phone on the map and this opens a menu:
From there, you have the choice:
- To ring your phone, a ringtone will start to ring slowly then louder and louder
- Activate the " Lost Mode »: You can block your iPhone remotely, leave a message for whoever will find it and even ask them to call you at another number. Payment with ApplePay will also be disabled.
- « Clear theiPhone » will erase theiPhone.
In case of theft :
As Apple clearly states, don't play the hero and go to the police instead to file a complaint. The police will be able to find him.
Part 3: Find your iPhone through a friend or another phone
You also have the option of using theiPhone from one of your friends or a passerby for example in order to locate your phone.
Here are the steps for that:
- Ask someone to launch the Find My app on their iPhone.
- Press on " help a friend at the bottom of the screen as in the image below:
- Enter your iCloud credentials.
- You can now access the same search tools as for the previous part about searching with iCloud.
Part 4: What if your iPhone was off?
Since iOS 15, you should know that Apple has added a functionality allowing you to find your iPhone despite the fact that it is turned off or even if it has run out of battery.
How is it possible ?
Well, if you have correctly configured the “Locate” function on your iPhone, the latter will send its last position to Apple's servers just before it runs out of battery at all or you turn it off.
You will therefore be able to find it using the methods seen previously and its last location.
Conclusion
You were able to see through these different parts how to configure and find a iPhone. This is a really useful feature built into all iPhones for several versions of iOS.
Recently, version 15 of iOS added the possibility of finding a iPhone even if the latter is offline thanks to Apple's “Network Find”.