I just lost my iphone? What should I do next?

[watthong]

I probably left my phone somewhere around the mall early this evening, or it might have dropped out of my pocket inside the taxi on the way home. I only used it for the sim card, no banking or monetary app opened on it. I guess in the ios ecosystem, it is connected via find my iphone feature with other ipads/iphones I have at home, thought I don't know how to use it beside turning the feature on and off.
The sim card is on my bank records so I guess I need to alert the banks on that. Anything else I should do? Any way to trace it? Important details: it has both numeric and touchid passcode on it so I don't think anyone else can use it? Am I correct?
Thank you in advance for your advice. Much appreciated.

[HighPriority]

First thing you need to do is figure out if you should tell John that his “girlfriend” is possibly trans…

Then you can brick your iPhone, buy a new one and then reinstall to a new phone.

[richard_smith237]

53 minutes ago, watthong said:

Anything else I should do? Any way to trace it?

 

- Open 'FindMy' (link below) and sign in with your iCloud account - the App will tell you immedately where your phone is. 

https://www.icloud.com/find/

 

Though you said you don't know how to use Apples 'findmy web page' its just that simple. 

 

Thus: if you remember your  iCloud LogIn and Password you can find out where your phone is. 

Then you can 'erase' the device (if you have concerns of data theft etc - its seems you are not too concerned).

 

 

Once you know where your phone is (or even if you don't) you can call it, have a Thai speaker with you if you don't speak Thai, hopefully the person on the other end is decent. 

 

 

[watthong]

4 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

- Open 'FindMy' (link below) and sign in with your iCloud account - the App will tell you immedately where your phone is. 

https://www.icloud.com/find/

 

Though you said you don't know how to use Apples 'findmy web page' its just that simple. 

 

Thus: if you remember your  iCloud LogIn and Password you can find out where your phone is. 

Then you can 'erase' the device (if you have concerns of data theft etc - its seems you are not too concerned).

 

 

Once you know where your phone is (or even if you don't) you can call it, have a Thai speaker with you if you don't speak Thai, hopefully the person on the other end is decent. 

 

 

 

I did that, however in manage devices the lost phone is not listed (what happened?)

 

btw the sim card used in that phone is a prepaid sim card for phone call only, no internet. I just changed the password of my Apple ID that has probably been logged onto that phone. Also I can not call bank center due to not having the phone to tell them to disconnect the lost sim number.

Probably first thing in the morning is going to the mall to physically report to the banks. And also to get a new sim to use on an old windows phone (sad....) But for now I don't know what else I can do?

[novacova]

1 hour ago, watthong said:

I just lost my iphone? What should I do next?

Report it to the police. They will track who picked it up from the security cams is your best bet.

[digbeth]

from your other device, does the phone shows on the 'find my' app?

if you mark that device as lost it's practically useless for anyone

 

better to get new sim card issued first, which will makes it easier to set up the banking apps if you kept the old number - no need to worry about banking app yet as anyone would have to geuss the pass corde, biometric to get into the phone then bank apps - hopefully you've chosen the phone pin and banking app pin to not be the same 

 

[watthong]

uh oh, I have another phone used at home (no sims) for line and such. Since I just changed apple id password, it now asked me to sign in again, and then asked for verification code that comes out on my "main" ipad for two factor authentication. I entered the code I got from the ipad onto this phone and it says  incorrect code. I re entered the code and again, incorrect. Now I'm afraid to do it a 3rd less I get locked out on this phone. This one does have one bank app.

[jas007]

If there are no banking apps or other financial apps on the phone, then you need to shut down your Apple ID as a next step. If they can somehow access that, you might have trouble. Otherwise, you can only lose your phone.  In the grand scheme of things, no big deal. 

 

Make sure the phone isn't with you.  One time, I thought I lost my Apple Watch.  So I marked it s lost.  I was going all over Pattaya and it was with me all the time. I finally figured that out the next day when I found it in my pocket.  Long story. 

 

 

[watthong]

9 minutes ago, jas007 said:

If there are no banking apps or other financial apps on the phone,  then you need to shut down your Apple ID as a next step. If they can somehow access that, you might have trouble. Otherwise, you can only lose your phone.  In the grand scheme of things, no big deal. 

 

 

by shutting down you mean loggin out? from all devices

19 minutes ago, digbeth said:

from your other device, does the phone shows on the 'find my' app?

if you mark that device as lost it's practically useless for anyone

 

better to get new sim card issued first, which will makes it easier to set up the banking apps if you kept the old number - no need to worry about banking app yet as anyone would have to geuss the pass corde, biometric to get into the phone then bank apps - hopefully you've chosen the phone pin and banking app pin to not be the same 

 

 from my "main" ipad, it shows only the other iphone I have with me right now, the one with no sim. The lost on doesn't show up, maybe I have never turned on find my device of whatever on it?

 

Also no bank apps on the lost phone. I have them installed but never logging on any bank app on that phone.

Edited November 8 by watthong

[digbeth]

have you tried calling it

[watthong]

The phones I have with me right now have no sims. I'm thinking of going out to get sims from 7/11 but I don't think the staff will register/activate it for me?

Edited November 8 by watthong

[watthong]

3 minutes ago, digbeth said:

have you tried calling it

 see above

Edited November 8 by watthong

[watthong]

52 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Once you know where your phone is (or even if you don't) you can call it, have a Thai speaker with you if you don't speak Thai, hopefully the person on the other end is decent. 

 

Don't they need to enter passcode/touchidcode first in order to be able to answer the call?

[jas007]

3 minutes ago, watthong said:

The phones I have with me right now have no sims. I'm thinking of going out to get sims from 7/11 but I don't think the staff will register/activate it for me?

Can you do wi-fi calling?  Or some sort of messaging? 

[watthong]

3 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Can you do wi-fi calling?  Or some sort of messaging? 

 

the lost phone has no cellular, It will need to log onto wifi source somewhere to, say, do facetime and such. Ditto for messaging ie SMS I need to do it from a phone that has a sim card, which I do not have right now.

Edited November 8 by watthong

[richard_smith237]

52 minutes ago, watthong said:

I did that, however in manage devices the lost phone is not listed (what happened?)

 

If you can't see it on the 'findMy' app, then a couple of issues exist. 

1) Its not connected to a network (so maybe turned off)

2) You should be able to see the 'last location' if you can't - then 'FindMy' may not have been turned on, on that phone.

 

52 minutes ago, watthong said:

btw the sim card used in that phone is a prepaid sim card for phone call only, no internet. I just changed the password of my Apple ID that has probably been logged onto that phone.

 

I think you need a 'data connection' for FindMy to work...   So if you have 'Phone call only' then I don't think you can locate it.

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

12 minutes ago, watthong said:

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

Once you know where your phone is (or even if you don't) you can call it, have a Thai speaker with you if you don't speak Thai, hopefully the person on the other end is decent. 

 

Don't they need to enter passcode/touchidcode first in order to be able to answer the call?

 

No - a locked phone can be answerd, without being unlocked.

 

Thus: I does seem that your only hope is to give it a call and try - there's pretty much nothing to lose now (and try before the battery runs out).

 

[watthong]

2 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I think you need a 'data connection' for FindMy to work...   So if you have 'Phone call only' then I don't think you can locate it.

 

 

Correct. I guess I have to do some foot work, last time I had a good look at the phone was in the restroom stall at the mall. So I would eventually need to go back there and ask the lady janitor - though fat chance if it was still there for her to find it in the first place. Second place, the taxi. I might try to call the phone and supposedly the driver got it (he was a nice older man) how would he answer the phone if he can not get pass the passcode/touch id?

[richard_smith237]

19 minutes ago, watthong said:

The phones I have with me right now have no sims. I'm thinking of going out to get sims from 7/11 but I don't think the staff will register/activate it for me?

 

In many (most cases) you'll need a Passport to purchase a SIM (unless things have become more slack).

7-11 staff may help you register the SIM if they are not busy (I see them helping foreigners do that).

But also instructions are in English.

 

If all you want to do is send your number an SMS over the cell network so 'someone at the other end' might read it... You'll need to ensure that 'messages show up when the screen is locked' and you'll need to send the message in Thai.

 

Calling is probably the best option. 

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, watthong said:

Correct. I guess I have to do some foot work, last time I had a good look at the phone was in the restroom stall at the mall. So I would eventually need to go back there and ask the lady janitor - though fat chance if it was still there for her to find it in the first place. Second place, the taxi. I might try to call the phone and supposedly the driver got it (he was a nice older man) how would he answer the phone if he can not get pass the passcode/touch id?

 

A locked phone can be answered - the next step is getting the person on the other end to understand you.

Have a Thai speaker with you.

[watthong]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

A locked phone can be answered - the next step is getting the person on the other end to understand you.

Have a Thai speaker with you.

 

Thanks, will try to make that arrangement. Right now I guess since the phone apps on the lost phone are not logged in at all, what can the "bad guys " do with just the phone number itself?

[sometimewoodworker]

Once to go to your phone company you can deactivate the sim in the missing phone and your provider will issue a new sim with your old number and it will include any funds you had on the old sim.

 

if your phone is on your Apple account and you can access the “find my” from your account you can put the phone into lost mode.

this locks the phone and you can display a message. A suggestion is to offer a reward and give a number for someone to claim the reward by returning the phone. This essentially turned you phone into a brick until you unlock the phone yourself. The only value to a locked phone is for parts it is totally unusable.

[watthong]

3 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Once to go to your phone company you can deactivate the sim in the missing phone and your provider will issue a new sim with your old number and it will include any funds you had on the old sim.

 

Thanks for this info, great if I can get the old number back in use. Re find my phone, the lost phone is not showing up there, since the sim is only for calls, no cellular data, no wifi. It has only password lock and touchid lock. btw, I changed my apple ID password last night. Anything else I can do under the circumstance?

[ravip]

12 hours ago, watthong said:

 

I did that, however in manage devices the lost phone is not listed (what happened?)

 

btw the sim card used in that phone is a prepaid sim card for phone call only, no internet. I just changed the password of my Apple ID that has probably been logged onto that phone. Also I can not call bank center due to not having the phone to tell them to disconnect the lost sim number.

Probably first thing in the morning is going to the mall to physically report to the banks. And also to get a new sim to use on an old windows phone (sad....) But for now I don't know what else I can do?

Why not get a replacement SIM (for the same number). That should silence your lost SIM, for starters.

[watthong]

Just now, ravip said:

Why not get a replacement SIM (for the same number). That should silence your lost SIM, for starters.

 

Sure, will do. Did not think of that option, actually did not know that's how lost phones/sims are dealt with. Thanks for the advice.

[sometimewoodworker]

4 hours ago, watthong said:

 

Thanks for this info, great if I can get the old number back in use. Re find my phone, the lost phone is not showing up there, since the sim is only for calls, no cellular data, no wifi. It has only password lock and touchid lock. btw, I changed my apple ID password last night. Anything else I can do under the circumstance?

Regrettably nothing now. For future use the first thing to do is get the new/old phone on your iCloud account and turn on “find my” Once that is done you can disable cellular data and WiFi but it will still be on the account, FWIW all my HomePods etc are showing on my iCloud  account but of course not on find my

[richard_smith237]

22 hours ago, watthong said:

 

Thanks, will try to make that arrangement. Right now I guess since the phone apps on the lost phone are not logged in at all, what can the "bad guys " do with just the phone number itself?

 

Sell it, where it gets sent to China, opened up, un-bricked and resold (or thats where most phones end up).

 

Anyway - did you ever get round to 'option 1' and just calling it and seeing who answers ?

[watthong]

On 11/8/2024 at 11:25 PM, watthong said:

 

... Second place, the taxi. I might try to call the phone and supposedly the driver got it (he was a nice older man) how would he answer the phone if he can not get pass the passcode/touch id?

 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

Anyway - did you ever get round to 'option 1' and just calling it and seeing who answers ?

 

Absolutely. I've got the phone back now. Here's how:

I was thinking, rightly, that deactivating the sim card means putting the (physical) phone to sleep, ie if and when you call the phone after deactivation, it would be silent. I couldn't just do euthanasia  without giving it a chance to life first.

 

So from another phone, I called the lost phone in the afternoon. It was picked up on the 3rd ring, it was the kind older taxi driver that I used yesterday. My Thai was good enough to tell him who I was and he asked why I waited that long to call him. In short, he was anxious to return the phone. He was on a customer ride across town so after that he would turn around and head toward my area. He wanted to be paid for the trip, I said ok naturally. He arrived at my local Lotus, we met and I paid him the amount, plus the high way toll. And a nice tip. He handed me my phone. A pleasant, heart-warming encounter.

 

Back home, I checked the "lost phone" and the find my feature was off. The battery had 20 percent left, would last one more day. Thank you all for all your advice and I learned quite a bit from this experience. Cheers,

[richard_smith237]

33 minutes ago, watthong said:

He handed me my phone. A pleasant, heart-warming encounter.

 

Outstanding - humanity prevails. It's nice to read of a postive outcome.... 

[sometimewoodworker]

23 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Sell it, where it gets sent to China, opened up, un-bricked and resold (or thats where most phones end up).

You clearly don’t understand the security and strength of the Apple lock process. There is nothing that can be done to unlock an iCloud locked phone. The only way to do that is to know the Apple ID and password. The only thing that a locked phone is good for is to strip it for parts. A locked iPhone mother board is worth around £4.00

 

Of course if you have government class money you may be able to recover the data