Thanks Apple! My son’s stolen iPhone is found in a few hours

So my freshman in high school calls me at work around 3pm today to tell me that he thinks his iPhone was lost/stolen. I should put stolen in quotes as he isn’t 100% sure that it didn’t fall out onto the floor in English class and get dropped there. He had it in his pocket at the start of first period and went and transferred it into his backpack.Maybe someone from school found it and is planning on returning it, he says. He wants to think the best of the other kids at school.

As a fully tech savvy 14 year old who is obsessed with Apple products (the “apple” doesn’t fall far from the tree), he has already done all the right things. He borrowed his friends phone and used the Find My iPhone app to locate it. It isn’t at school. It’s in a neighborhood about a mile from our house. He has already locked the phone and put up a message asking for a call and to have it returned if found.

No callback by time I left work. I had checked the location from my phone and determined that it was in a field/woods between a pair of different streets. It hadn’t moved in a few hours. I wasn’t sure of the GPS resolution, but on Apple maps it is usually accurate to 10s of feet.

So, on my way home, before it got dark, I decided to see if it was lying out there in the field/woods. Probably not the best move, but it’s a safe neighborhood not far from my house, and I held out hope that it was just lying there where someone dropped it. Not like what happened to David Pogue’s iPhone that ended up in the bad MD suburbs.

I parked and went right to where the satellite map showed. Just at the edge of the grass and into the trees. I had Find My iPhone have the iPhone make sounds and hoped that they’d be loud enough to hear. In fact, Apple did a good job there. It was quiet out, with no one around and no outside noise. I did keep checking to see if anyone was outside or watching me, but I didn’t see anyone. I kept hitting the sound button as I hear a faint beep. I was able to narrow it down to a pile of leaves at the base of a tree. As I dug down, I found it. A plastic Baggie with two white iPhones in it. The beeping one was my son’s with his message still on the lock screen.

Realizing that it absolutely had been stolen, I quickly headed back to my car. I was pretty sure that there was no one around. Within a few moments I was home and he was thrilled to see his iPhone again. Apparently withdrawal sets in at age 14 within a few hours.

I reported the theft to the police so that they could return the other phone to its owner. And maybe find whoever took the phone. I don’t know what’s the minimum level for them to deal with.

So, thanks to Apple and it’s Find My iPhone technology I’ve got one happy camper. And there will probably be a second one if the other phone makes it back to its owner. I’ve been an Apple fanboy since my first Mac in early 1985. And now I’m pretty sure my son will be one too. Thanks Apple for the happy ending!

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