Find My iPhone is a new feature in the upcoming (June 17 2009 release) iPhone OS 3.0. You need to also be using Apple ‘s MobileMe service in order to use it. I am currently running the final ‘Gold Master ‘ pre-release version of iPhone OS 3.0 and have an active MobileMe account, so I thought I ‘d offer up a quick how-to on using this clever new feature.
It ‘s very easy to use this feature. Here ‘s how:
You need to have your MobileMe account setup on the iPhone. You do not have to turn any of its sync options on if you don ‘t need them. I have mine all set to off, with just the Find My iPhone setting turned on.
To ensure that you can make full use of Find My iPhone, you ‘ll need to ensure that Location Services are turned on, on the iPhone. You do this by going to the Settings app, tapping on the General button, and tapping on ‘On ‘ next to the Location Services entry.
Next, you need to go to your MobileMe home page in a web browser “ and make sure you switch to the ‘Account ‘ section (the little person icon to the far right of the listing of section icons). Then you should see Find My iPhone listed at the bottom of the left-hand pane of the screen
If you ‘ve done the things mentioned above, then as soon as you click on Find My iPhone MobileMe will begin locating it “ and after a few minutes (or less), it will show your phone ‘s current location on its Google Maps area. You can switch between standard, satellite, and hybrid map views.
Just below the Google Maps view in the right-hand pane, you have options to send a message to your iPhone (useful if you ‘ve misplaced it somewhere round the house or office) and to trigger an alert message sound for two minutes as well “ so you can track your phone down if it ‘s close by. To do this, just tap the ‘Display a Message ‘ button and enter your message, and tick the check box if you want an alert sound to play.
If you fear your iPhone was stolen and have confidential information on it, then you can use the Remote Wipe button to permanently delete all media and data on the iPhone and restore it to factory settings. Obviously, this is an irreversible operation and one you ‘d want to handle with great care.
And that ‘s about it “ that ‘s the Find My iPhone feature.
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TAGS: iPhone how-tos
