Locating stolen iPhones is only half the battle

Following on from your story about a thief at a music-festival who was caught with 130 smartphones as a result of revellers activating Apple’s ‘Find My iPhone’ feature, I’d like to relate my own experience with the feature.

My neighbour was robbed of an iPhone and iPad at around 6am one morning about six weeks ago. They informed the police and then thought to activate the ‘Find’ feature, which instantly located the items in a house immediately behind theirs. On contacting the police a second time and informing them of the items’ whereabouts, they were told that the police didn’t have anyone who could check it out — end of story.

Two hours later, the items moved uptown to another address, so the police were contacted again, with the same resulting story. The next day, the items again move about 15km north to a shed behind a house. Police are again informed; still can’t do anything.

Then the items popped up on eBay. My neighbour contacts the seller looking for them to be returned. Items disappear from eBay.

Six weeks later and there’s been no further hits for their location — although my neighbour did receive a survey letter from the police looking for feedback. Hah! [ TONY REDMOND ]

Ed replies: We had a similar experience with the Find My iPhone feature when one of our colleagues found themselves the victim of a burglary. By using the feature, they were able to pinpoint their stolen laptop to a suburb in southwestern Sydney; however, after contacting the police, she was informed that, since the pinpoint was between two houses, the police were unable to get a warrant to search both properties, despite the fact one of the properties had a suspicious looking shed out the back. Luckily for our colleague, she was fully insured and backed up, but it does make you wonder how useful the Find My iPhone feature can truly be in the fight against crime... well, in Australia at least.