This is the twenty-fourth article in the series App of the Week series.
You ever lose your iPhone and freak out? Did you spend minutes, hours, or days trying to find it? Afraid someone stole it? This app is here for you specifically, but the point of it is you set it up right now and forget about it, so that when something crazy does happen, you can find it. It is not for when the crisis happens because you will not have anything to install it on.
The Good
What makes this app great, makes it the reason you have to download it now.
- Minimalistic in Functionality I need an app that will help me find my iPhone when it is lost. I do not need a Find My iPhone + Flashlight or + Screensaver, or any other combinations. It’s simplicity is what makes it great
- Shut It Down The ability to not only find your iPhone, but put it in “Lost Mode” and “Erase iPhone” is a great feature for when you fear the worst.
- Play Sound My wife is CONSTANTLY losing the iPhone in the house and the map is useless at this point. Using the “Play Sound” feature makes an hour long search turn into a one-minute search.
The Bad
This app is perfect for certain people, but there are several things that need to be added to make it perfect for everyone.
- Only One iPhone A constant complaint I hear is that Find My iPhone requires another mobile app to find it. Why can’t we go onto a desktop with iTunes and find the iPhone?
- Lost Mode Improvements How perfect would it be to take photos with the camera (front and rear facing) and emailing it to the login account when in Lost Mode. This would help to decide who has it if it is stolen or clues if it truly is lost.
- Too Easy To Get Stolen There are too many ways to sidestep this app and one of them is that the theft could turn off the iPhone when not in use, making it unable to avoid going into Stolen Mode.
What do you like or hate about Find My iPhone on iOS?
Matt Hoag says
FYI- you can locate your phone from any computer by logging into iCloud. you can also trigger your device to “lock” and set a password that will execute as soon as it is online (should the thief turn the device off). this step will also notify you once the device is online again.
And added feature in iOS7 (scheduled for this fall) is that should you need to remotely wipe the device, it will remain locked until the user id / password is entered. rendering it useless.
seventy8Productions says
While I understand that you can lock the phone and it will engage this when it connects to the internet again, sometime getting out of cell phone and wifi range and then disabling the app is a super easy way to bypass that issue.
As for the iCloud and future iOS 7 updates, thanks for sharing. I love that they are stepping up their game!