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Health & Fitness

Safeguard your iPhone, iPod, or iPad Before it Gets Stolen!

A step-by-step guide to installing an app that will allow you to track down your device if it goes missing.

Hey, everybody. My name is Raphael Snagg-Hazell and I am 16yrs.old. While checking up on all the things going on in my area in Propsect Heights, I've noticed that people's . I have never owned my own personal cell phone before, but I hope it's an iPhone. Because I consider myself a professional techie and have expertise in Apple products, I will show you how to get back your iPhone, iPad, & iPad if it ever gets stolen.

First: Make sure you have iOS 5 installed on your device and have iCloud installed. You can check what Software version you have hooking up your device to iTunes on your computer. If you already have iOs 5/5.1.1, you are fine. On your iPad, iPhone, or iPod, go to the App Store and search "Find my iPhone". Download the app (it's free). After that, you should get a prompt telling you the app would like to use your current location. Click "Allow" or "Yes". If it doesn't prompt you, go to General in the Settings app and scroll until you find "Location Services". Once you click on Location Services, their should be a "Find my iPhone" selection. Next to it, choose "On" so the app can use your location.

Second: Go to your desktop computer, laptop, or tablet and open the browser (Chrome or Safari preferred) and go to iCloud.com. When your reach the site, you'll have to type in your Apple ID and password you use for all iTunes and App store purchases. After you log in, you'll see a Mail. Contacts, Calendar, Find My iPhone, and iWork apps. Click on the "Find My iPhone" app. It is going to then take a few seconds to locate the iPod. iPhone, or iPad. When it locates it, you"ll see a blue dot on a street map. That blue dot is your device. Next, to that blue dot is a lowercase"i" in a circe. Click on that "i" and the options to Lock the device, Remote Wipe it, and Play a Sound & Send a Message. From there, you can lock your device with a passcode so no one can go on the device, "Wipe" the device, which allows you to erase EVERYTHING on the device and set it back to factory default, and Play a Sound/Send a message so you can listen for the device if someone has it hidden somewhere and send a message to the person. I usually play a sound and lock it because the sound won't stop playing until the phone is unlocked. 

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The only bad part about all of this is that your device has to be connected to WiFi or cellular signals. The iPhones have a better chance of being recovered because if their is no WiFi available, the AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, or any carrier you have, their signals will be available. If you have a 3G iPad (1st, 2nd, or 3rd version), make sure the Cellular Data is On if your outside the house or on the road. The iPods (all Touch versions) can only be connected to WiFi. iPods MUST be connected to WiFi to be tracked. If not, your screwed. All iPad WiFi-only models follow the same way as the iPod.

As long as Location Services and Find my iPhone is enabled and turned on on all your mobile Apple products when your on the move and you have iCloud, your in good hands With all of this being said, this is how you can recover your iPad, iPhone, or iPod is lost, misplaced, or stolen. If you have any questions or need assistance with the whole process, my e-mail is rsnagg@aol.com/rsnagg@me.com. I hope I help/helped alot of people get their Apple devices back. 

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