How To Use Find My iPhone From A Computer To Locate Lost Or Stolen iPhone

"find-my-iphone-feature"

One of the key features that must be activated first on your phone is the Find My iPhone app. It’s a feature that helps you trace your iPhone when you couldn’t just find it. You wouldn’t know what could happen to your hefty smartphone later on so better be sure than sorry. This post demonstrates comprehensive methods on how to activate and use Find My iPhone online. If you’re still new to the iOS platform then you can make use of this post to get started in securing your new Apple handset by enabling Find My iPhone. Read on for more comprehensive walkthroughs.

Setting up this feature will likewise allow you to safeguard important data from your lost or stolen iPhone or any other Apple devices for that matter. Through this app, you can remotely wipe your personal information from your missing device hence, barring any possible unauthorized accessed and/or dissemination. Such is possible for as long as your missing device is connected to the Internet or online.

Before we proceed, if you’re looking for a solution to a problem with your phone, try to browse through our troubleshooting pages to see if we support your device. If your phone is in the list of our supported devices, then go to the troubleshooting page and look for similar problems. Feel free to use our solutions and workarounds. Don’t worry it’s free. But if you still need our help, then fill up our iPhone issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

Activating Find My iPhone on an early iPhone

Here’s a standard procedure on how to enable the feature on earlier iPhones:

  1. From your Home screen, tap on Settings.
  2. Tap to select your Apple ID header (your name) located at the top of the screen.
  3. Then tap iCloud.
  4. Scroll down and tap Find My iPhone.
  5. Toggle the switch to enable the feature.

"locate-iphone-feature" "locate-iphone-feature" "locate-iphone-feature"

Note: If you’re using earlier iPhones, the app is named Find My iPhone. Otherwise, it’s labelled Find iPhone.

Find My iPhone is now activated and set for use whenever you need to track your iPhone.

Setting up the feature on a new iOS device

The following steps are applicable to iPhones running on the latest iOS platform.

  1. Tap Settings from the Home screen.
  2. Tap Privacy.
  3. Turn on Location Services.
  4. Go back to Settings.
  5. Select your Apple ID [your name].
  6. Select iCloud.
  7. Tap Find My iPhone.
  8. Then toggle the switch to turn Find My iPhone on.
  9. Tap to enable the Send Last Location option so that your device will send its last location before it runs out of battery or goes offline.

Tracking your missing iPhone with this feature online

To test if the feature is working as intended, you can use a computer and use Find My iPhone on iCloud.com to track your iPhone. Just follow these steps:

  1. Open your browser on the computer.
  2. Navigate to iCloud.com website.
  3. Enter your Apple credentials to log into your iCloud account.
  4. Click on Find iPhone from the iCloud main menu.
  5. If prompted, enter your Apple ID and password to sign in.
  6. Then click on All Devices at the top of the screen.
  7. Select the name of the device that you’d like to track.

If a green dot is shown, it means that your device is online and therefore traceable. The time it was last tracked will then be shown.

If a gray dot is shown, it means that your device is offline and the timestamp when it was recently online will be displayed. The status will show Offline if it’s been offline for over 24 hours.

You can use some helpful in-app modes to make your search easier. Among the given options include Play Sound, Lost Mode and Erase.

  • Play sound – it works even your missing device is set on vibrate or silent mode. Clicking on the Play Sound button plays an audible tone on your missing iPhone. This is recommended if your device is just around the corners of your house/office.
  • Lost mode – this option allows you to prompt a phone number on the screen of your lost device so that anyone who’ll find your device can call that number. It also activates an audible tone to draw attention to your missing device. Just click on the Lost mode button to activate it.
  • Erase – this option is necessary when your device as stolen and you doubt that you will no longer be able to get it back. To prevent anyone from accessing your private information, you can remotely delete everything from your stolen iPhone by clicking on the Erase button. That way you’d still be able to protect your information.

ALSO READ: How to fix an Apple iPhone XS Max that won’t pair or connect to third-party Bluetooth device

Using Find My iPhone on new iPhones like iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max

If you’re using Find My iPhone or Find iPhone app on new iPhones like iPhone XR, then here’s how to use it to find your missing iPhone online.

  1. Go to the Home screen then swipe left to right to locate Find iPhone app.
  2. Tap Find iPhone.
  3. If prompted, enter your Apple ID and password to sign into your Apple account.
  4. From the Find My iPhone screen select the name of the iOS device that you’d like to locate.
  5. If the device to find is online, its approximate location will be shown. If it’s offline, you can configure Find iPhone app to notify you when the device to search is online again.
  6. Scroll down to bottom of the screen then tap Actions.
  7. Tap Play Sound to play a sound on the missing device. This will help you trace the device if it’s just misplaced in nearby corners.

You can also select other options including Lost Mode to set the missing device to Lost Mode or Erase iPhone to remotely erase or reset your missing device.

ALSO READ: How to use your Apple iPhone XS Max as Mobile Hotspot, set up iPhone XS Max WiFi Hotspot

Using the feature on other iOS devices

You can also use other iOS devices to locate your missing Apple devices through the feature’s app. To use Find My iPhone app on another iOS device, just refer to these steps:

  1. Open the Find My iPhone app.
  2. Tap Help and then;
  3. Select the option to Locate your device.

If the locate iPhone feature couldn’t track your device, you will be prompted with the last known location for up to 24 hours and prompts you with an option that says, Notify me when found. You can use this option to receive an email when your device comes back online.

If any of your family members managed to set up location sharing before you lost your device, then you can ask that member to help you locate your missing device through Family Sharing.

Need more help using Find My iPhone online? We’d be more than happy and willing to help. Just drop us an email containing the details of whatever issue you’re dealing with when attempting to use Find My iPhone and we’ll get back to you with the possible solutions. We also have a Youtube channel that you can visit anytime for more exciting video tutorials. 

Alternatively, you can report the problem directly to Apple Support so that they can assist you further.

I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your device. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!

Leave a Comment