Apple's 'Find My iPhone' works great, but thieves can easily disable
Apple's Find My iPhone feature is helpful, but can be thwarted by tech-savvy thieves.
(Credit: CNET)Over the weekend, Livejournal blogger HappyWaffle (real name Kevin), posted a great story about how he purportedly used Apple's MobileMe service to track down his iPhone, which was stolen while he was at a bar. By using a laptop with a Sprint EVDO wireless data card, he and his friends figured out where it was and managed to get it back from the person who had taken it. They even used Google Translate to alert the thief (in multiple languages) that they would call the police if the device was not returned.
As good as the story is, a lot of it relies on iPhone owners having certain settings flipped on, as well as the person who has the phone not knowing the right ones to turn off. For one, they can disable all of the MobileMe features by simply yanking the SIM card out or deleting the MobileMe account from the phone. They can also perform a software wipe right on the phone, which means your data gets erased, however that means you can no longer track where it is without carrier intervention.
This isn't the main thing to worry about though; it's that MobileMe's capability to locate your phone hinges on you having the 'Find My iPhone' setting enabled on the phone itself. This lets the device maintain a constant connection with Apple's servers to provide that neat-o, real-time tracking and instant receipt of messages you send it. With this and push messaging turned off, (both are changes that can be made without any sort of MobileMe, or iPhone password check) the service can no longer locate the phone.
Turning this and push messaging off can make your iPhone harder to track down if it's been stolen.
(Credit: CNET)As a side effect of this, both the capability to perform a remote wipe of all your data, and send whoever has your device a message can be put off indefinitely if push has been turned off. When off, any messages you've sent (which would normally arrive a second or two after being sent from the MobileMe site) get delivered the next time your phone does a fetch for mail from MobileMe. This means that if you've got it set to check mail manually, whoever has your phone would not be alerted with those messages until they opened up the mail application. And if you've got a pass code lock on your phone, it means they'll never arrive.
As a solution, Apple could allow users to remotely change certain phone settings, such as when the device checks for mail, or lock it down to only be able to use certain applications. Also, instead of wiping the phone entirely, it would be fantastic to enable the passcode unlock remotely. This would keep users from accessing personal data without the code.
Another key thing that needs to be changed is the way users can interact with incoming messages that are sent to the device. In Kevin's experience, he tried several times to get the thief to call a specific number by sending it in the SMS-like messages that can be sent from the MobileMe site. The problem with these, however, is that as soon as you click on the big "okay" button to dismiss them, they're gone for good. Unlike SMS messages, which get stored on the device, the only record of these comes as a carbon-copied e-mail to your MobileMe account. They also do not allow you to copy and paste text, or click on a phone number to dial it.
So do these things kill some of the utility of the Find My iPhone feature? No way. There's plenty of room to expand on them, and despite the aforementioned shortcomings, I still think it's one of the most useful features of the service, if not one of the main reasons to invest in it. It just needs a few tweaks to go beyond the all-or-nothing remote wipe solution, and outsmart tech-savvy thieves who know their way around the settings menu.
Note: Updated language on the process of wiping user data from the phone.
Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET's blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh. 
That's incorrect. To sync your iPhone with a computer, the iPhone needs to be paired with that computer. To pair your iPhone with a new computer, you need to enter your passcode on the iPhone.
I would like to test whether an unpaired iPhone works with PhoneView, but cannot find how to do this - any idea?
You mean, if you don't have a passcode on your phone, the thief can defeat the antitheft technology? Horrors!
Seriously can you tell me a phone that this is not true for? I'll bet if you put the phone in Airplane Mode, NO ONE will be able to find it!
It does. It's called a Passcode.
I wonder how they'll work out , I still haven't found any IM apps that use it BTW !
anyone using them yet ?
Of course, if you receive a lot of push messages, just like if you receive a lot of text messages, your phone would be constantly waking to process them and that will definitely drain your battery. Just like if you average more than one email every 15 minutes, push is worse than polling every 15 minutes.
There's a great story on gizmodo about someone finding their phone using mobleme
http://bit.ly/bB1mN
This is a new type of security feature and I suspect as it matures, it will "get better". One big plus is that it really is easy to activate. It is a great idea overall, and I suspect you will be seeing more of this type of stuff in other phones.
If nothing else, the associated "Find my iPhone" ability to send a beep with a message to my iPhone, even when the ringer is turned off, is great when I accidently misplace it around the house.
The find me feature is cute, but far from revolutionary, and it doesnt ad anything but a false sense of security for anyone thinking it will help anyone but the police find their phone.
I'm sure the police will drop whatever they're doing, coordinate with ATT, and rush to the spot your stolen phone is located in order to apprehend the thief...that's what all the paramilitary hardware police squads are using is for, right? Phone thieves!
In fact, I would happily PAY ATT to tell me where the phone was ($10 for a specific phone while you're looking at it) for their trouble.
not only that, each phone has a serial number (IMEI) that ATT could use to entirely disable a stolen phone for the life of the phone, but they won't do that either. That way, there would be no value in stealing a phone because as soon as it was reported stolen the phone would never work again. (and they could even coordinate with T-Mobile and others to make this more effective) I asked them to do this 3 years ago when my son's first phone was stolen.
Apple has stolen another opportunity for the carriers to (1) offer an expanded service and (2) provide better customer service. If they would lock the phone out, send it a message that "you are stolen" and the phone OS could respond by the only thing that comes onto the display is "this is a stolen phone" they could provide a huge value to their customers. Guess it takes Apple to show them that this is valuable, now maybe they'll listen.
(Oh, BTW, ATT is not alone here, I know of no other mobile phone servcie provider that does this)
The real question is how Apple can avoid this liability. I suppose there's something in the Mobile Me user agreement.
As for someone not sufficiently cautious and responsible enough to use a passcode on their iPhone in the first place -- they shouldn't expect Find My iPhone to help make up for their flakiness. Really. If you have valuable information on your phone, the LEAST you should do is lock it. Worrying about being able to activate a passcode remotely is just sad.
ATT (and a few other providers) can track the devices ESN or IMEI number - THAT's the way we should be able to track and disable our phones and wipe our data!
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/judge_puts_apples_case_against_psystar_back_on_track/
If it's a feature that you're going to promote, it should be free with the unit- not require a separate purchase of a service to make it work. At least make that clear in the promotional material. People now may feel... well, bait and switch comes to mind.
This is the iPhone features page which introduces the concept and then directs you to Mobile Me for the details:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3g-s/
It is true that they don't put it in headline letters across the top of the feature comments but it is in a pretty blue color that stands out from the normal text.
It is not a case of Apple hiding it, rather journos and others who fail to read the information fully which is understandable when there is so much new material to examine in a short time. No switch and bait here.
I just purchased mobile me from Amazon for $59.99... I will try it for a year and see how I like it.
A missing phone might get returned by a truly honest person; a stolen phone is gone and will just result in violence if you progress it. Leave it and claim the insurance. This tool is purely for surveilance and tracking folk; in a cowardly fashion. If this was any other company they'd be in trouble for even suggesting it as a 'tool'. Accept it as it is and 'm sure it has some merit... but not as it's being advertised in this article.
- by pozzy63 July 5, 2009 8:14 PM PDT
- There's a new app in the App Store that let's you perform some of the functions of Find My iPhone but doesn't require a subscription to Mobile Me.
- Reply to this comment
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(42 Comments)The app's called TapTrace. Check it out.