No one would want to lose a smartphone that is as hefty as Apple’s latest iOS flagship devices, the iPhone 8 and its bigger sibling the iPhone 8 Plus. But things like this are inevitable in mobile devices given their size and how they’re being used. You wouldn’t know when it slips out your pouch, accidentally falls down, gets lost or worse, stolen. Good thing Apple perceives this possible instances and offers a free solution for owners to use. This is made possible with the availability of a dedicated anti-theft application for iOS devices, widely known as Find My iPhone. With this app setup and activated on your iPhone, it can help you track, find and retrieve your missing device. And if ever your device gets stolen or lost, you are still able to keep your information safe with Activation Lock, making it hard for anyone to use or sell your device. Aside from iPhones, this anti-theft application can also be used for other Apple devices, including iPads and Mac computers.
If you’re wondering how to use this anti-theft tool on your new iPhone 8 Plus smartphone for safekeeping, then this post will walk you through the entire process — from setup to activation of Find My iPhone on your new iPhone. Read on to learn how these things are done.
Before getting started
You will need to download and install the Find My iPhone app on your iPhone so you can use it to find your missing device. It is highly recommended to enable Find My iPhone app on each of your devices so you can locate them if ever they go missing. Once you have downloaded the app, proceed by setting it up on your device.
How to download and install the anti-theft Find My iPhone app on your iPhone 8 Plus
Follow these steps to get the anti-theft app downloaded and installed on your new iPhone:
- Tap App Store from the Home screen.
- If prompted, sign in with your Apple ID or create one to install the app on your device.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and then tap the Search icon.
- Enter or type in Find My iPhone into the search field to search the app from the store directly.
- Tap Find My iPhone.
- If prompted, tap Get then tap Install.
- Once the app successfully installed, you will see the Find My iPhone app on the Home screen or in the Extras folder on your iPhone.
- From the app, enter your Apple ID and password then tap Sign In.
Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the signing in process and use the anti-theft Find My iPhone app.
How to set up Find My iPhone on your iPhone 8 Plus
Once you have downloaded and installed the anti-theft app on your new iPhone, you are all set for setting it up. The following steps will teach you how:
- From the Home screen, go to Settings->[your name]-> iCloud or go to Settings-> iCloud. (Note: Menu options may vary depending on the iOS version your iPhone is running on.)
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen then tap Find My iPhone.
- Tap the On/Off button to turn on or enable Find My iPhone.
- Enable the option to Send Last Location as this information will be necessary in finding your iPhone if ever it gets lost.
- If prompted, enter your Apple ID to sign in.
After you have set up Find My iPhone, any paired iOS devices with your iPhone 8 Plus like Apple Watch and AirPods are also set up automatically.
How to use the anti-theft Find My iPhone on your iPhone 8 Plus
Now that you’re done setting up the Find My iPhone app on your new iPhone, you’re next probable concern (especially if you’re still new to iOS) is on how to use it. So here’s how it works.
For as long as you sign in to iCloud.com or Find My iPhone app, you can see your missing device on a map or play a sound to locate it when you have it misplaced somewhere nearby. You can also use Lost Mode to track, lock, or remotely erase all of your personal information from your device especially when it gets stolen or missing. Lost Mode is one of the Find My iPhone features you can use. Aside from Lost Mode, Find My iPhone also has Activation Lock feature that is used to protect your device. Again, Find My iPhone must be set up on your device before you can use any of these features.
You can use Find My iPhone on iCloud.com. Here’s how:
Open the browser you want to use. Make sure you are using a browser that is recommended in the Apple Support when using anti-theft Find My iPhone from a computer. This is to ensure that it meets the system requirements for iCloud.
- Go to icloud.com/find. Just enter this URL on the browser’s address bar.
- Sign in to iCloud by entering your Apple ID and password. Be sure to use the one you use with iCloud.
Notes:
- If you are using another iCloud app, you can switch to Find My iPhone by clicking the app’s name at the top of the iCloud.com screen.
- If you don’t see Find My iPhone on iCloud.com, it means that your account is only has access to iCloud web-only features. In this case, verify and ensure that iCloud is setup on your iPhone or Mac computer.
How to locate your iPhone with Find My iPhone?
Follow these steps to find the approximate location of your missing iPhone or other iOS device.
- Navigate to iCloud.com on your browser.
- Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID. Make sure that you are signing in with the Apple ID that you used with iCloud otherwise, you cannot sign in to Find My iPhone.
- Click All Devices to view a list of available devices and their status.
- If you see a green dot next to the device, it means that it’s online and that it can be located using the app. You will also see the time it was last located.
- If you see a gray dot next to the device, it means that it is offline, either it is turned off or not connected to a network. If the device has been offline for over 24 hours, the status says Offline. If the device was recently online, you will see the time when the device was last located.
- Select the device you want to locate.
You will be able to locate your device if it’s online based on the approximate location shown on the map. If Find My iPhone cannot locate the device, it will only prompt you with the last known location of your device for up to 24 hours.
- To get an email notification when your device gets back online, select the option that says, Notify me when found.
- Perform any of the following operations on the Find My iPhone app: update the location, move the map, zoom in and out, or change the map view.
- To update the location, click the green dot on the map then click the Refresh icon.
- To move the map, just drag it to a specified location.
- To zoom in, click the Zoom in button (+).
- To zoom out, click the Zoom out button (-).
- To change the map view, click the current view such as Standard, in the bottom-right corner then click your preferred view.
You can also use a different iOS device to locate your missing device. Maps and location information may vary depending on the data collection services provided by third parties. These services can change anytime and may not be available in all geographic locations. This is the main reason why some presented data on Find My iPhone app are inaccurate or incomplete maps or location information is shown.
And that covers everything in this guide. If ever you would encounter some problems and need help with Find My iPhone like when you don’t see your device in the list or see an unknown device or alert that says your device is offline, you may refer to our dedicated troubleshooting page to learn what to do. Please keep posted for more iPhone 8 Plus tutorial topics and basic walkthroughs to populate soon in our Tutorials section.