Personal Experience: Does Find My iPhone really work? For me, it does.

Having some Apple products, I read lots of news regarding the products or the company like product updates, rumors, etc. One of them is about the story about stolen/missing products. Today, I almost lost my New iPad. I was lucky to have in back within hours. How?
Today, it was just like regular day. I went to the office in the morning. Since I’m now in Jakarta, I take taxi almost everyday to reach the office. I like spending my time reading using Flipboard, checking Twitter timeline using Tweetbot, or reading emails. After few hours, I just realised that I didn’t have my iPad with me. I was panic. The first thing I did was remembering the taxi number. Usually, I remember the taxi number, or even taking its picture. But, today I completely forgot about it. The only thing I remembered was taxi company. It was Express Group.
There are many opinions regarding Express Group services. I also have my experiences with this company. In most cases, I have positive experience with them. For today, I have a good and nice service. Thank you, Express Group!
Screen-Shot-2013-04-08-fmi0
The first thing I did was opening Find my iPhone app on my iPhone. I tried to locate my iPad. And, I found its location. Nice. But, I was not sure whether it was still with the taxi driver, or someone already had it. I located and activated the “Lost Mode” from iCloud website, and created a message asking to contact me. I gave both my cell numbers. I also hit the “Play Sound” button.
Screen-Shot-2013-04-08-ipadmsg

Searching…

I called the customer service number, and explained the situation. I told the operator about the situation. After that, I refreshed Find my iPhone on my iPhone. When I was in the taxi, I told the taxi driver — still from the same company — that I left my iPad. When I checked my iPad, it’s not far from my location. I asked the taxi driver to drive me to my iPad location. I was sure that the taxi driver kept it for me. I kept thinking positive. Almost every minute, I always check the latest location. And, it was moving. The “problem” with checking the position from mobile device is that it’s not real-time. So, within 30 seconds, it was moving from one location to another pretty fast. Especially, because the traffic was good.
So, how’s the location history? See the screenshot below.
Screen-Shot-2013-04-08-fmi1
When I tried to reach a destination, I realised that the taxi (which brought my iPad) was passing. Taking another turn? Way too late. At least I tried. Again, I only hope that: the taxi drive had my iPad, he kept it with him, and — more importantly — he would bring it back to the station and contacted me. I decided to go back to the office after knowing that the taxi went to Sudirman area.
I checked again from my MacBook Pro. It’s still moving. I had to admit that I was amazed with the location report.
Screenshot iPad Lost
I tried to hit the “Play Sound” again. In the next few seconds, I got a phone call. I picked it up. And, he asked me whether I was the one who left something in red case in the taxi. Voila! The taxi driver called me telling that he had my iPad with him!
I talked to him, asking about his position — of course I already knew it from my iPad’s location. I quickly asked him about the taxi number. It was: BC 5713. I told him whether he was able to drive to the office, and I also told him to keep my iPad with him. He agreed to bring it after his lunch.
I was happy. I am happy, of course.

Lessons learned

It was the first time I used Find my iPhone feature — and I hope I don’t need to use it again! — in real case scenario. Here are few things I learned:

  • Turning Location Service on the device is useful. Yes, it consumes more battery power.
  • Apple Maps did a great job.
  • Checking the device location from iPhone does not give you the real-time location info. But, from my MacBook, I have almost real-time respond. That’s what I found. Not sure whether it happens this way, or not.
  • Turn Auto-Lock ON.
  • I have to be more careful.

When I was in the meeting, the taxi driver called me. I run from the second floor, and met him. He handed me the iPad. I promised myself that I would give him something for his effort and honesty. He said sorry because it took time for him to arrive because of the bad traffic. I said thank you. I gave him some money. He refused to accept it. But, I insisted.
Few minutes later, I texted him to say thank you for his kindness. Then, I called the taxi operator asking for information about the taxi driver’s name, and his station. I also told the operator about the good experience — especially about the kind and honest taxi driver. Thank you Pak Heru!
Happy ending? Yes. Want to be in the same situation again? Definitely not!


Comments

10 responses to “Personal Experience: Does Find My iPhone really work? For me, it does.”

  1. Yessss… awesome

    1. Iya Mas. Selain bahwa fitur Find My iPhone itu bermanfaat, juga fakta bahwa ternyata ada (dan saya yakin banyak) orang baik dan jujur :D

      1. LifeHacks

        bener banget

      2. Orang baik dan jujur sebenarnya masih banyak, Bung Thomas. Saya
        pernah mengalami kejadian serupa, hanya saja bedanya yang tertinggal
        adalah tas milik ibu saya :)

  2. Inspiratif bung Thomas!

    1. Terima kasih untuk feedback-nya. Pertama kali menggunakan Find My iPhone dalam kejadian yang sebenarnya. :D

    1. Begitulah… Apalagi dilanjutkan dengan kontak-kontak dengan pengemudi taksi tersebut setelahnya :D

  3. Paulus Binsar

    Hard to find someone like him (taxi driver). Well, GBU for you both!

  4. pupung budi purnama

    Wah… keren euy, selama ini find my iphone cuman dipake isengin ponakan yang suka streaming di ipad, ngabisin bandwidth aja :D