In order to make sure that nobody will access your personal data in case your iPhone gets stolen or lost, you should always have the feature Find my iPhone enabled. This feature allows the user to track down the device and eventually lock it when it is reported as stolen or lost.
By putting your device into “Lost Mode” you will be able to password protect the device remotely and you can also add a custom message asking from the potential finder to return the phone to the owner.
How to activate iPhone’s lost mode
Once you enable Lost Mode literally nobody will be able to reactivate or use the device without providing the proper Apple login credentials. In this short post we will explain how to activate Lost Mode on Apple’s iPhone or iPad in case the device is stolen or lost.
You can enable lost mode from Find my iPhone on any Apple device or from any browser by simply navigating to iCloud.com.
Instructions to enable lost mode on Apple device
- Step 1: On your iDevice, open Find my iPhone and login with your Apple ID. You can log in from any iDevice but you need to provide the Apple ID for the device which you want to put into lost mode
- Step 2: Once you have logged in, a map will be shown with a list of devices that are connected to your device. Select the device you want to put into lost mode.
- Step 3: Now choose Actions Lost Mode Turn on Lost Mode
- Step 4: If the device you are putting into Lost mode does not have a Passcode, you will be prompted to setup one, so type in the Passcode and click on agree. Once the Passcode is activated, you can proceed with the next step.
- Step 5: You will be prompted to enter a phone number that can be used to contact you. The number will be shown on the lock screen. Select next after you are done here.
- Step 6: Now you can enter a custom message which you want to be displayed on the Lock screen of the lost device. You can go with the default message “iPhone has been lost, Please call me” or you can set a new one. Press “done” once you are finished here.
The device that will be entered into lost mode will show a red banned at the top and the lock icon will appear on the screen. The custom message along with the phone number will be also shown on the iCloud lock screen.
In case someone tries to access the device by or to restore it via iTunes they will not be able to do anything, and the custom message will be shown.
Lost mode Deactivation
You can deactivate lost mode on iDevice in two ways: You can do it directly from the device or from Find my iPhone
You can disable the lost mode from the device by entering the proper Passcode while to disable the lost mode via Find my iPhone you will first need to access this feature, then select the device which is placed into lost mode and then tap on Lost Mode button. From here select turn off lost mode.