Iphone Robbed

iphone4quest

Unfortunately had my iphone 4 robbed at the weekend

Annoying thing is I'm 90% sure who robbed it but have no evidence :mad:

Biggest regret was not having it insured , but I'm more upset over the fact that I had a lot of personal pictures etc on the phone that I won't get back.

Went onto Icloud and the phone could not be tracked because it was "offline". I rang meteor and gave them the IMEI number and they say they would block the phone.

2 questions:

1 - If the iphone is powered on again with the wifi is turned on can it be tracked even though it has been blocked by meteor ?
There is also an option in Icloud "remote wipe" I am assuming this will wipe everything off the phone ? Should I do this or is it only making it easier for the robber to sell it on?

Don't really want to wipe everything off it yet in slight hope that I might get the phone back, but at the same time I don't want all my personal stuff on the phone being accessible. I understand that if I remote wipe it , it can not be tracked either?

2. The phone was open Sim which means that any network Sim will go into it. Does this mean that if the iphone is sold on, the only sim that will not work in it will be a meteor sim cause they have the phone on blocklist ? or will no sim work in it?

Appreciate all advice or feedback.

dodzy

iphone4quest wrote: »

Unfortunately had my iphone 4 robbed at the weekend

Annoying thing is I'm 90% sure who robbed it but have no evidence :mad:

Biggest regret was not having it insured , but I'm more upset over the fact that I had a lot of personal pictures etc on the phone that I won't get back.

Went onto Icloud and the phone could not be tracked because it was "offline". I rang meteor and gave them the IMEI number and they say they would block the phone.

2 questions:

1 - If the iphone is powered on again with the wifi is turned on can it be tracked even though it has been blocked by meteor ?
There is also an option in Icloud "remote wipe" I am assuming this will wipe everything off the phone ? Should I do this or is it only making it easier for the robber to sell it on?

Don't really want to wipe everything off it yet in slight hope that I might get the phone back, but at the same time I don't want all my personal stuff on the phone being accessible. I understand that if I remote wipe it , it can not be tracked either?

2. The phone was open Sim which means that any network Sim will go into it. Does this mean that if the iphone is sold on, the only sim that will not work in it will be a meteor sim cause they have the phone on blocklist ? or will no sim work in it?

Appreciate all advice or feedback.

1. Most likely that the phone is already wiped clean.

2. No. Once blacklisted, it will be useless on any irish network. But it will work
fine in other countries. It'll most likely end up on Ebay.

CathalDublin

1. Yes if it's joined to a wifi network you can track it, chances are though the thief has already wiped it.
2. If its blacklisted it's suppose to be across all Irish networks but this isn't always the case. Unfortunately I've seen plenty of iPhones blacklisted and still working on other networks, there appears to be two or three different blacklists used in Ireland

iphone4quest

dodzy wrote: »

1. Most likely that the phone is already wiped clean.

2. No. Once blacklisted, it will be useless on any irish network. But it will work
fine in other countries. It'll most likely end up on Ebay.

Thanks,

How can the phone be wiped without it been powered on tho ?

CathalDublin

iphone4quest wrote: »

Thanks,

How can the phone be wiped without it been powered on tho ?

It may have been powered on without sim, iCloud will have no contact with it.
It's also possible the thief put it into recovery mode and restored in iTunes
Track my phone is only really useful if the thief has no idea about iphones.

dodzy

CathalDublin wrote: »

1. Yes if it's joined to a wifi network you can track it, chances are though the thief has already wiped it.
2. If its blacklisted it's suppose to be across all Irish networks but this isn't always the case. Unfortunately I've seen plenty of iPhones blacklisted and still working on other networks, there appears to be two or three different blacklists used in Ireland

Thats an interesting point on the blacklisting Cathal. I thought that if it was flagged on any of them, it was flagged on all. Your experience obviously proves this not to be the case.

biko

As I wrote last year.

I was looking around Cydia and came across StyleUnlock.
With this you can remove the unlock slider so the phone cannot be opened (unless they figure out the "secret" gesture that will unlock phone).
You can also remove the red power off slider so even if they press power button the phone can't be turned off.
Home/Power just reboot phone. Thief cannot remove battery either.

Thief might just toss it into the Corrib but I'd rather have it there than sold on by some scummer.

edit, I realise there are a few more ways to disable the the phone but if the thief isn't carrying those tools this way will buy you some time to find it, if you have Find my iphone or similar tracking installed.

guil

biko wrote: »

As I wrote last year.

I was looking around Cydia and came across StyleUnlock.
With this you can remove the unlock slider so the phone cannot be opened (unless they figure out the "secret" gesture that will unlock phone).
You can also remove the red power off slider so even if they press power button the phone can't be turned off.
Home/Power just reboot phone. Thief cannot remove battery either.

All that is pointless if you put it in DFU or recovery. A girl I know go I though would be completely clueless about iPhones rang me last week after she found an iPhone. She said she googled a bit and found out how to put it in DFU and restore. The information is easily available to the thickest of people

iphone4quest

biko wrote: »

As I wrote last year.

I was looking around Cydia and came across StyleUnlock.
With this you can remove the unlock slider so the phone cannot be opened (unless they figure out the "secret" gesture that will unlock phone).
You can also remove the red power off slider so even if they press power button the phone can't be turned off.
Home/Power just reboot phone. Thief cannot remove battery either.

Thief might just toss it into the Corrib but I'd rather have it there than sold on by some scummer.

But this is only useful to have if I still had the phone right ?

Or is it possible to put it in place on the robbed phone ?

biko

iphone4quest wrote: »

But this is only useful to have if I still had the phone right ?

Or is it possible to put it in place on the robbed phone ?

Yes, sorry I should have mentioned that.
It's only as a preventative measure. Once phone is gone you can't install it.

Alt_M

Would make sense for Apple to add a extra security feature where the iPhone cannot be powered off without a PIN number. Least that way you've got until the batter dies to try find it or wipe it.