Why Is Find My iPhone Not Working? 10 Troubleshooting Tips
Find My iPhone is a terrific tool for locating lost or stolen iPhones and iPod touches. By combining the built-in GPS on those devices with the online services provided by iCloud, Find My iPhone helps you locate your devices on a map and, if they've been stolen, lock them to keep your information away from prying eyes. You can even remotely delete all the data from your phone. But what if you're using Find My iPhone to track down your device and it's not showing up? Here are some reasons that Find My iPhone might not work.
Find My iPhone can only locate devices that are turned on or have charge in their batteries. This is because the device needs to have power to communicate with cellular or Wi-Fi networks and send GPS signals. If you have Find My iPhone enabled, but your device is turned off or out of battery power, the Find My iPhone site will show the device's last known location for 24 hours.
The SIM card is the small card in the side of the iPhone that identifies your phone to your phone company and lets your phone connect to cellular networks. Without it, your phone can't connect to 3G or 4G and thus can't communicate with Find My iPhone. If the person who has your iPhone removes the SIM, your phone will essentially vanish from the Internet (unless it connects to Wi-Fi). More »
Believe it or not, what date your device thinks it is can affect whether Find My iPhone works properly. The date is usually set automatically, but if it were to change for some reason, that can interfere with Find My iPhone. To prevent this from happening go to Settings -> General -> Date & Time and ensure that Set Automatically is set to On/green.
This is unlikely to be an issue for most people, but using Find My iPhone requires that the device you're trying to track is running iOS 5 or higher. Assuming your device can use iOS 5 or higher, make sure to update to the latest version; not only will you be able to use Find My iPhone, you'll also get hundreds of other benefits that come with the new OS. More »
If you're running iOS 7, this no longer applies, but on iOS 6 or earlier, thieves were able to delete all the data and settings off an iPhone and make it disappear from Find My iPhone. In iOS 7, Activation Lock prevents this. That's another good reason to upgrade. More »
Find My iPhone is not available in all countries (Apple's site lists only South Korea as a country where it's unavailable due to local regulations, but I'd have to guess that there are others) and if your device is lost in one of those countries, it won't be trackable.
You may have seen that there is also a Find My iPhone app available in the App Store. You can download it if you want, but it has nothing to do with whether your device is findable or not. Any compatible device with iCloud and Find My iPhone turned on can be tracked. The app simply gives you another way to track lost devices (not helpful, of course, if it's installed on the device you need to find). More »
1. iCloud or Find My iPhone Aren't On
The most ironclad requirement for being able to use Find My iPhone is that both iCloud and Find My iPhone be enabled on the device you need to locate before it's lost or stolen. If these services aren't on, you won't be able to use the Find My iPhone website, since the site won't know what device to look for. I recommend enabling both features when you set up your device.More »2. No Power/Turned Off
Find My iPhone can only locate devices that are turned on or have charge in their batteries. This is because the device needs to have power to communicate with cellular or Wi-Fi networks and send GPS signals. If you have Find My iPhone enabled, but your device is turned off or out of battery power, the Find My iPhone site will show the device's last known location for 24 hours.
3. No Internet Connection
Because Find My iPhone requires that the missing device connect to the Internet to report its location, if the device can't connect, it can't say where it is. It might have no Internet connection due to being out of range or Wi-Fi or cellular networks, or because the person who has it turned off those features. If so, again, you'll see its last known location for 24 hours.4. SIM Card Removed
The SIM card is the small card in the side of the iPhone that identifies your phone to your phone company and lets your phone connect to cellular networks. Without it, your phone can't connect to 3G or 4G and thus can't communicate with Find My iPhone. If the person who has your iPhone removes the SIM, your phone will essentially vanish from the Internet (unless it connects to Wi-Fi). More »
5. Device Date Is Wrong
Believe it or not, what date your device thinks it is can affect whether Find My iPhone works properly. The date is usually set automatically, but if it were to change for some reason, that can interfere with Find My iPhone. To prevent this from happening go to Settings -> General -> Date & Time and ensure that Set Automatically is set to On/green.
6. Running iOS 4 or Earlier
This is unlikely to be an issue for most people, but using Find My iPhone requires that the device you're trying to track is running iOS 5 or higher. Assuming your device can use iOS 5 or higher, make sure to update to the latest version; not only will you be able to use Find My iPhone, you'll also get hundreds of other benefits that come with the new OS. More »
7. Device Has Been Restored (iOS 6 and earlier)
If you're running iOS 7, this no longer applies, but on iOS 6 or earlier, thieves were able to delete all the data and settings off an iPhone and make it disappear from Find My iPhone. In iOS 7, Activation Lock prevents this. That's another good reason to upgrade. More »
8. Not Available in Your Country
Find My iPhone is not available in all countries (Apple's site lists only South Korea as a country where it's unavailable due to local regulations, but I'd have to guess that there are others) and if your device is lost in one of those countries, it won't be trackable.
9. Tip: Find My iPhone App Is Irrelevant
You may have seen that there is also a Find My iPhone app available in the App Store. You can download it if you want, but it has nothing to do with whether your device is findable or not. Any compatible device with iCloud and Find My iPhone turned on can be tracked. The app simply gives you another way to track lost devices (not helpful, of course, if it's installed on the device you need to find). More »
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