Apple testing 'Find my iPhone' ahead of other MobileMe improvements

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 64
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stellaclose View Post


    I just tried out the remote wipe feature and found a bug.

    You can cancel the the remote wipe by holding down the Home & Sleep/Awake buttons at the same time as the iPhone/iPod starts up.



    How does that work? Does a remote wipe force the iPhone into a reboot, giving you time to hit the buttons before it has a chance to do its thing?



    And wouldn't that mean that a bad guy in possession of your iPhone would have to constantly monitor it for this behavior to be able to intervene?
  • Reply 22 of 64
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dblanch369 View Post


    I tested it with my 2G phone, it works as advertised. So having the GPS chip isn't a requirement, but just like the google maps, it is about as accurate as that is. Pretty damn close tho, I bet the 3G with GPS is spot-on.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Yes, I can see both of my iPhones.



    Those sound like two previously unknown features. Can you supply an image of how it looks with two phones, Postulant?
  • Reply 23 of 64
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    This article says that Apple is testing this feature right now for bugs.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rnp1 View Post


    GOOD CATCH!!! I hope Apple sees these posts!



  • Reply 24 of 64
    joeyyyjoeyyy Posts: 35member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Is this "view iDisk files on the iPhone" thing new?



    Because it seems like it really enhances the value proposition of Mobile Me.



    Actually there was a free app called MobileFiles that allowed you to do just that. I used it for a while at the time and it worked ok.



    For some reason this app is no longer available. But, I was able to find an app called Mobile Disk that appear to be quite similar, it costs 0.99 though.
  • Reply 25 of 64
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    How does that work? Does a remote wipe force the iPhone into a reboot, giving you time to hit the buttons before it has a chance to do its thing?



    And wouldn't that mean that a bad guy in possession of your iPhone would have to constantly monitor it for this behavior to be able to intervene?



    I don't know the answer exactly, but given what Phil said in the keynote it appears that wiping is "instantaneous" because of the hardware encryption on the new 3GS. It's a safe bet that what happens is the wipe just deletes the encryption key or something.



    On the original 3G I imagine it would be different, if it works at all.
  • Reply 26 of 64
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TenoBell View Post


    This article says that Apple is testing this feature right now for bugs.



    Considering that v3.0 is still only available to paid iPhone developers until next Wednesday I?d think that was obvious. \
  • Reply 27 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DimMok View Post


    Great! now I can track my cheating whore girlfriend...



    Ah ha ha!

    Gold!
  • Reply 28 of 64
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    I don't know the answer exactly, but given what Phil said in the keynote it appears that wiping is "instantaneous" because of the hardware encryption on the new 3GS. It's a safe bet that what happens is the wipe just deletes the encryption key or something.



    On the original 3G I imagine it would be different, if it works at all.



    I didn?t quite get the gist of that either. I this a HW feature or simply a SW feature like FileVault. I see nothing in v3.0 to turn on, and the only encryption I see is for iTunes in backing up your device, but that is different. Everything points to HW encryption.
  • Reply 29 of 64
    gutleygutley Posts: 1member
    Unexpectedly this also works on an iPod touch too! (1st Gen). Awesome
  • Reply 30 of 64
    I agree with a couple of the others here. Remote wipe is cool for the integrity of my data, but why should I simply hand a potential thief a clean iPhone? I know Verizon does the thing where your phone is actually paired to your mobile account such that if you sell it, you have to tell them to unpair it so the buyer can use it. Does anyone know if this is true for AT&T as well?



    I would rather have something where the iPod Function is stuck into use, such that music plays at full blast out of the speakers until you send a command to stop it. Or maybe a continuous alarm would be sufficient.
  • Reply 31 of 64
    Locator has me about 7 blocks the wrong way, but the instant message feature is pretty sweet. Still too big a coward to remote wipe it at work.
  • Reply 32 of 64
    fulldecentfulldecent Posts: 108member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DimMok View Post


    Great! now I can track my cheating whore girlfriend...



    I'm in trouble...
  • Reply 33 of 64
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DimMok View Post


    Great! now I can track my cheating whore girlfriend...



    i suppose you have already caught her and thats why are making this comment...



    why spend the extra $$$ and be locked to this feature, just kick her to the curb



    once a CHEATER always a cheater
  • Reply 34 of 64
    tonyhoyletonyhoyle Posts: 10member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cuppingmaster View Post


    I agree with a couple of the others here. Remote wipe is cool for the integrity of my data, but why should I simply hand a potential thief a clean iPhone? I know Verizon does the thing where your phone is actually paired to your mobile account such that if you sell it, you have to tell them to unpair it so the buyer can use it. Does anyone know if this is true for AT&T as well?



    I would rather have something where the iPod Function is stuck into use, such that music plays at full blast out of the speakers until you send a command to stop it. Or maybe a continuous alarm would be sufficient.



    I don't know about the US, but in Europe if you report a phone as stolen it's added to the IMEI blacklist and essentially bricked - no SIM will work with it.



    Remote wipe is only if you expect to get the phone back.
  • Reply 35 of 64
    wilcowilco Posts: 985member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bitzandbitez View Post


    i suppose you have already caught her and thats why are making this comment...



    why spend the extra $$$ and be locked to this feature, just kick her to the curb



    once a CHEATER always a cheater



  • Reply 36 of 64
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TonyHoyle View Post


    I don't know about the US, but in Europe if you report a phone as stolen it's added to the IMEI blacklist and essentially bricked - no SIM will work with it.



    Remote wipe is only if you expect to get the phone back.



    The IMEI can be spoofed. The SW unlocker/jailbreaker apps often give you that option.
  • Reply 37 of 64
    bonklersbonklers Posts: 54member
    It sounds like it NEEDS your sim card to be present in order to use Find my Iphone and remote wipe. so if someone steals it they can swap sims and use it with no problem.



    can someone test the remote wipe and find my iphone WITHOUT the sim inserted, or with a diff sim??
  • Reply 38 of 64
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Those sound like two previously unknown features. Can you supply an image of how it looks with two phones, Postulant?



    here ya go....



  • Reply 39 of 64
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I didn’t quite get the gist of that either. I this a HW feature or simply a SW feature like FileVault. I see nothing in v3.0 to turn on, and the only encryption I see is for iTunes in backing up your device, but that is different. Everything points to HW encryption.



    I don't know the details either. Phil did say that the wipe would be "instantaneous" *because* of the hardware encryption on the 3Gs though. It could be almost as fast on the regular 3G given that a standard "formatting" of the storage only changes the index, not the files themselves.



    I would bet that a techy person could retrieve the wiped files on the stolen iPhone 3G but perhaps not the 3Gs because of the hardware level encryption. If someone is seriously in need of this feature, they should probably be buying the new 3Gs.
  • Reply 40 of 64
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    So I wonder what Stellaclose was referring to?



    Is it that once an iPhone 3G is remote wiped, using the 3.0 functionality, rebooting while holding keys "undoes" something, possibly by restoring the previously erased software encryption key?



    And I guess we're thinking the 3GS sports hardware level encryption so whatever that is wouldn't work on the new models.
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