Should the unthinkable occur and a treasured Apple item is lost, you’ll want to be as prepared as possible to get it back.
Enabling Find My iPhone is a crucial preventative step if you lose you device later.
To enable Find My iPhone on your iOS device, navigate to Settings > iCloud, and turn on the setting for Find My iPhone. This will register your device with your iCloud account and allow you to track its whereabouts. To do the same thing with your compatible Mac running Mountain Lion, navigate to System Preferences > iCloud, and check the setting labeled Find My Mac.
Find My iPhone will also let you view compatible Macs from the iCloud website.
One of the ways to keep a check on the location of your gadgets is by logging into www.iCloud.com from any computer with a web browser. After logging in, open the Find My iPhone web app. Once there, you will see a listing of the devices linked to your iCloud account on the left side of the screen. Clicking any of the devices in this section will display a popup on the map giving you the options to Play a Sound or Send Message, Remote Lock, or Remote Wipe.
Remote Lock will let you specify a passcode and will lock your device using the passcode provided. Remote Wipe will completely erase all of the data from the device. Once you complete a Remote Wipe, your device will no longer send location data to the Find My iPhone services in iCloud, so use this option if all hope is lost and you need to protect the data stored on the device.
All the same Find My iPhone options are available in an iOS-friendly app.
You can also track your devices using the freely available Find My iPhone app from the iTunes App Store. Using this app, you can sign in with your iCloud account to see all of your devices on a map. Select any of your devices to get the option for sending an audible alert with message, remote lock, or remote wipe.
johntheeditor
August 14, 2012 at 12:08pm
I'm testing the service on the Mac itself; Wi-Fi isn't currently turned on, so I guess that explains that. (I'm accessing the Internet through my tethered Verizon iPhone 4S.) Now—six hours later—it "finds" my phone "located 4 hours ago," at a location about a mile southeast of where it's actually been. I remain mystified.
johntheeditor
August 14, 2012 at 8:01am
When I access iCloud, it says my iPhone and my Mac have "no location," although Location Services are turned on. What good is that? How do I enable iCloud to track my devices' locations?
jknowlton
August 14, 2012 at 11:45am
John,
If you MAC is sleeping then I have found no location will be found. Once there is WIFI activity, it will find the location. Check Location Services and make sure it is enabled.
As for your iphone, ensure the Find My Iphone is on, and Location Services has it "allowed" to use location services.
