Our favourite App in the World RIGHT NOW: Find My iPhone
The Find My iPhone functionality of Mobile Me has been made free in iOS 4.2 for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad
So what's the catch? Well there is one: only iPhone 4 users benefit from this freebie.
Never the less this is must do if you have compatible devices. I've just set it up on our iPad and it's very straightforward, even if you do not already have a Mobile Me account (the chances of which are slim. We don't even have one. Why bother when Google Sync and Dropbox is free).
You simply need to set up a Mobile Me account on your device under the 'Mail, Contacts, Calenders' section of settings. Select Mobile Me, then simply add your Apple ID and password (that's the one you use to buy from the iTunes Store with). You may need to agree to a change in the Apple Store T&C's.
Once that's done you can pop along to me.com and voila:
Find My Ipad: But don't track me down
Amazing isn't it. And I can assure you (without revealing my address) that even without GPS, the location by Wifi was spot on. As soon as we add a 3G SIM to our iPad we will check out the accuracy from mobile network triangulation.
So what can you do once you found the location of your device online? Well here's the really cool bit. You can send it a message:
Find My iPad: Display a Message
Which then magically appears on the device!
Find my iPad: The Message on the iPad
It will also send you an email to confirm that a message has been sent to it.
Ok so that may not do the trick. Even worse is you may of not put a Lock on your home screen. Luckily though Mobile Me has thought of that:
Find my iPad: Set a Home Screen lock
But what about your precious data? Those 'private' pictures of your girlfriend? Your Home Office emails? Yep you've guessed it:
Find my iPad: Wipe it clean
A scary looking box. Which is exactly what you want if your worried about someone else getting hold of your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone 4. Even if you think your mate is about to Twitter jack you you might as well lock it to stop them.
So do not hang about with this. Follow Apple's easy illustrated instructions here
