Have you ever used "Find My iPhone"?

[ruadisneyfan2]

So my elderly father can't find his phone. He has an itunes/apple account. We have his passwords all written down but he never logs in. Actually, rarely uses the phone at all. When I try to log in to use the find my phone feature, it wants to send a verification code TO THE PHONE. All of the options involve something with using the phone itself such as changing the settings or wait until you're able to look up the code on the phone. So we can't log in to even try to use this feature. When I search apple.com about using Find my phone, it takes me back to saying log into apple account. I am going in circles here.
Any ideas? I'm losing my mind.

 

[descovy]

There’s an option to do “find my phone” remotely. It might help? But if it’s dead (you say he rarely uses it) none of this may help. You may need to old-school look for his phone.

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/use-find-my-app-guest-ios/amp/

 

[wenrob]

Do you know if he was signed into his iCloud account and had Find My turned on? If he wasn’t, logging in now won’t help.

You should be able to log into Find My from your phone (if you have an iPhone) or other Apple device with his credentials to help locate it (if it’s activated). Find My app>Me>Scroll down to bottom>Help a Friend

If it’s that you don’t have the correct password you’re pretty much out of luck. You can try giving Apple a call but they have a pretty hard line on this.

 

[China Expat]

I was able to use Find my Phone when the ping went to my apple watch....

 

[kdonnel]

Unless he has the recovery key or another device that is logged in to that account already you will have to go to https://iforgot.apple.com
And try recovery mode.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

There’s an option to do “find my phone” remotely. It might help? But if it’s dead (you say he rarely uses it) none of this may help. You may need to old-school look for his phone.

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/use-find-my-app-guest-ios/amp/

I don't know that it's dead. He keeps it on the charger probably longer than he needs to but it's less than 1 year old so that battery has a long life. I am trying to do it remotely from the icloud website but to log in, it requires me to enter a 6 digit security code that they texted to the phone. I will check out your link. Thanks!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Do you know if he was signed into his iCloud account and had Find My turned on? If he wasn’t, logging in now won’t help.

I'm not sure. He has an iTunes library in his desktop which is synced to his phone. As far as settings go, it is probably set on whatever the default setting is. I should really look into this on my phone while we're at it.

You should be able to log into Find My from your phone (if you have an iPhone) or other Apple device with his credentials to help locate it (if it’s activated). Find My app>Me>Scroll down to bottom>Help a Friend

I will try this! As a last resort, I was going to contact our wireless provider. We are all on the same plan so that might help.

If it’s that you don’t have the correct password you’re pretty much out of luck. You can try giving Apple a call but they have a pretty hard line on this.

It's the correct password. We keep a little book of all of his passwords. Probably they are asking to verify security code because he never logs in. I guess it's just being safe.

Thank you!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Unless he has the recovery key or another device that is logged in to that account already you will have to go to https://iforgot.apple.com
And try recovery mode.

What is the recovery key? It's the only device under that account. He inherited it from my mother. He is not so techy but her old phone battery was going bad so when ATT offered the SE for only $5/month last Christmas, we got him one.

I was able to use Find my Phone when the ping went to my apple watch....

Lol. He can barely operate the basic phone features. The watch would be way too complicated and small for him. That is a great idea for the rest of us though.

 

[Mamabun]

Try going to iCloud.com/find - don’t log into iCloud.com first - go directly to this specific site iCloud.com/find. And if possible do it on a computer that has never tried to login to iCloud.com or any other apple website with your father’s id.

This a known issue with apple two factor authentication. Two factor auth is enabled for all accounts created in the last couple years and Apple has sneakily turned it on for many old accounts, and once turned on you can’t turn it off. If you have two factor auth, you often can’t use find my iPhone to find your phone unless you have another apple device logged into the same account and set up to receive the two factor auth codes. It’s absolutely ridiculous and I say that as a person who otherwise really likes apple products.

 

[wenrob]

Thank you!

You have to turn on Find My on the phone under privacy settings. It’s the only way to do it. It sounds like he probably doesn’t have it on. My advice for if/when you find the phone is to go in yourself and make sure it’s on then make a Family group under iCloud on your phone. Add him to it. Then YOU will be able to see his device and ping it from YOUR phone any time you need to. If I were to show you the Items list under that screenshot I posted there’s a crazy list of phones/iPads/earbuds belonging to myself, DH and all the kids. We can find/ping all the things in the family group.

Try going to iCloud.com/find - don’t log into iCloud.com first - go directly to this specific site iCloud.com/find. And if possible do it on a computer that has never tried to login to iCloud.com or any other apple website with your father’s id.

This a known issue with apple two factor authentication. Two factor auth is enabled for all accounts created in the last couple years and Apple has sneakily turned it on for many old accounts, and once turned on you can’t turn it off. If you have two factor auth, you often can’t use find my iPhone to find your phone unless you have another apple device logged into the same account and set up to receive the two factor auth codes. It’s absolutely ridiculous and I say that as a person who otherwise really likes apple products.

You have to okay and agree to two factor, they don’t just arbitrarily turn it on. I think a lot of time people just hit “okay” as they’re setting up a phone (or having a phone set up) not realizing they’re activating it. My DH has a permanent “finish setting up your phone badge” because he won’t activate it.

 

[Imzadi]

When I try to log in to use the find my phone feature, it wants to send a verification code TO THE PHONE. All of the options involve something with using the phone itself such as changing the settings or wait until you're able to look up the code on the phone. So we can't log in to even try to use this feature.

You have to turn on Find My on the phone under privacy settings. It’s the only way to do it. It sounds like he probably doesn’t have it on.

Yes, it sounds like it hasn't been set yet. That's why it's asking for verification from the phone.

 

[kdonnel]

What is the recovery key? It's the only device under that account. He inherited it from my mother. He is not so techy but her old phone battery was going bad so when ATT offered the SE for only $5/month last Christmas, we got him one.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208072

A recovery key is an optional component of Apples 2 factor authentication. Sounds like he would not have created one.

If it were me I would go down the iforgot.apple.com path.

Find my friends defaults to on so it is more than likely on. iOS 15 will send its last location just before the battery dies.

Good luck.

 

[bcla]

It has to be turned on at the device level. I always have it enabled on my iPhone or iPad. The only time I ever turn it off is when I want to do a complete wipe and recovery from a backup to recover storage space. For some reason there's this "other" storage space that balloons and doesn't just automatically purge itself.

They also renamed it "Find My" because it applies to most devices, although I can't figure out how to do it with a Mac. I can figure out how to start a search from iCloud.com.

But if your dad never enabled it, you're not going to be able to set the alert. I use it simply when I can't find where it is in the house. I can also figure out where it might be or the last place it connected to Apple. The map isn't that precise. When I've left my iPhone in my [edit] car, it usually claims that it's in my house.

It has to be turned on (with an iPhone) via Settings > Apple ID > Find My > Find My iPhone where there will be a slider to turn it on/off. Turning it off will require entering the Apple ID password, but turning it on doesn't require a password.

 

[kdonnel]

This a known issue with apple two factor authentication. Two factor auth is enabled for all accounts created in the last couple years and Apple has sneakily turned it on for many old accounts, and once turned on you can’t turn it off. If you have two factor auth, you often can’t use find my iPhone to find your phone unless you have another apple device logged into the same account and set up to receive the two factor auth codes. It’s absolutely ridiculous and I say that as a person who otherwise really likes apple products.

The Apple help page for Two-factor authentication clearly states how to setup your account if you have only one Apple device.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915

You should also consider verifying an additional phone number you can access, such as a home phone, or a number used by a family member or close friend. You can use this number if you temporarily can't access your primary number or your own devices.

Consider verifying an additional trusted phone number other than your own phone number. If your iPhone is your only trusted device and it is missing or damaged, you will be unable to receive verification codes required to access your account.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Update:
We found my dad's phone. It was on the passenger seat of his car, got buried under other papers, and somehow was shut off (not due to dead battery) which explains why it kept going straight to voicemail and we could never hear it ringing when we tried to call it.
I will definitely follow the advice I was given here so that we don't have to stress about it next time.
Thank you everyone!!

 

[DeeBee3]

Update:
We found my dad's phone. It was on the passenger seat of his car, got buried under other papers, and somehow was shut off (not due to dead battery) which explains why it kept going straight to voicemail and we could never hear it ringing when we tried to call it.
I will definitely follow the advice I was given here so that we don't have to stress about it next time.
Thank you everyone!!

P.s. You can also put your email address as part of the 2-step authentication so the code could go there in the future. Just an FYI (used with my own mom

 

[bcla]

Update:
We found my dad's phone. It was on the passenger seat of his car, got buried under other papers, and somehow was shut off (not due to dead battery) which explains why it kept going straight to voicemail and we could never hear it ringing when we tried to call it.
I will definitely follow the advice I was given here so that we don't have to stress about it next time.
Thank you everyone!!

After turning on Find My iPhone, you'll be able to find the current approximate location, or at least the last location where it pinged to Apple. This works for Find My with other devices (like iPads) that don't have GPS using Wi-Fi locators. You'll be able to access this from any computer or device that can access iCloud.com by signing into the Apple.

There might be some times when it might not get an accurate lock on the last location, and where the last known location is way off. I've seen this before when my phone was left in my car, but when I looked it up the last known location was miles away. But I then set it up to give an alert once it connected, and within a minute or two it had connected to my phone and was making the noise. I suspect that sometimes making that request speeds up when the next connection to the server happens.

 

[wenrob]

Update:
We found my dad's phone. It was on the passenger seat of his car, got buried under other papers, and somehow was shut off (not due to dead battery) which explains why it kept going straight to voicemail and we could never hear it ringing when we tried to call it.
I will definitely follow the advice I was given here so that we don't have to stress about it next time.
Thank you everyone!!

Great news! Once you get him set up with Find My don’t forget to set up Family Sharing so you can use your phone to locate his. Your email as a recovery email is a good idea too.