MobileMe, iPhone OS 3.1: Troubleshooting Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe

Symptoms

With MobileMe and iPhone OS 3.1 or later you can locate, display a message on, remotely lock or wipe (erase) your iPhone or iPod touch. If these do not work as expected, use the troubleshooting steps below.

Important: iPhone OS 3.0 or later is required to use Find My iPhone or Remote Wipe; iPhone OS 3.1 is recommended and required for Remote Passcode Lock.

Products Affected

iPhone, MobileMe

Resolution

General issues

The Find My iPhone icon does not appear at www.me.com/account or the Map does not contain any data

This feature may not be available in all countries due to technical limitations and/or local law. If the feature is not available in your country or region, the Find My iPhone icon will not appear in the left column of Account. Google Maps data may also not be available from certain countries. Click here to see a list of countries that provide map data via the Google Maps API.  

iPhone/iPod touch does not appear at me.com/account

This can occur if:

• Your iPhone/iPod touch is not running iPhone OS 3.1. Update your iPhone/iPod touch to iPhone OS 3.1 or later.
• Your MobileMe account is not configured on your iPhone/iPod touch.  Enter your MobileMe account information in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
• Push is not enabled on your iPhone/iPod touch, and your Fetch settings are set to Manual.  Push is recommended for all MobileMe members.
• You have multiple MobileMe accounts entered on your iPhone/iPod touch.  Only one account will work with the Find My iPhone features (the same account that is using Push Mail or syncing of Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks).  Log in to www.me.com/account with your other membername(s) until your device is listed.
• You have already initiated a wipe of the iPhone/iPod touch from me.com/account. The device will not appear back on the page until it is reconfigured with your MobileMe account information.
• If you have access to your device and it appears to have an active internet connection, enable and then disable Airplane mode.  If you continue to have issues, turn the device off and back on. 

iPhone/iPod touch appears at me.com/account but is offline

This can occur if:

• Your cellular service has been terminated by your wireless service provider.  If you contacted your service provider to report your device lost/stolen before locating/wiping your phone, and they deactivated the SIM, you will no longer be able to locate, display a message on, or remotely wipe your iPhone.
• Your iPhone/iPod touch is not connected to the Internet. You can still display a message on its screen or initiate a remote wipe, and it will be received once your iPhone/iPod touch comes back online.  If you have access to your device and it appears to have an active internet connection, enable and then disable Airplane mode.  If you continue to have issues, turn the device off and back on. 
• Your iPhone/iPod touch is powered off (for example, the battery has run out). You can still send a message to, issue a Remote Passcode Lock request, or initiate a remote wipe of your iPhone/iPod touch, and it will be received once the iPhone/iPod touch is turned on and regains its Internet connection.
• Your iPod touch is asleep. You can still send a message to, issue a remote lock request, or initiate a remote wipe of the iPod touch, and it will be received once the iPod touch is awakened and connects to the Internet.
• You recently changed your MobileMe password. If you recently changed your MobileMe password, but have not updated your MobileMe password on your iPhone/iPod touch, change your MobileMe password back to its previous setting and try again.

iPhone/iPod touch appears at me.com/account but has the wrong name

This can occur if your recently changed the name of your iPhone/iPod touch in iTunes. You will still be able to successfully locate, display a message, and remotely wipe the device, even if it is displaying the incorrect name.  If you have access to the iPhone/iPod touch, you can turn it off and then back on, and the name that appears at www.me.com/account will be updated.

Previously-owned iPhone/iPod touch appears at me.com/account

If your iPhone/iPod touch was linked with your MobileMe account, it may still appear when you log in to www.me.com/account, even if you no longer possess the iPhone/iPod touch. If the device is offline, you can choose to remove the device from the Find My iPhone section of www.me.com/account by clicking Remove below the name of the iPhone or iPod touch.

Note: If your device is still configured with your MobileMe membername and password, the next time the device connects to the internet, it will be added to the Find My iPhone page again.

I removed a device, how do I add it back?

Once you remove a device, it will automatically be added again the next time the device connects to the Internet, as long as your MobileMe membername and password are configured on the device.  If this does not occur, see the "iPhone/iPod touch does not appear at me.com/account" section above. 

"Unable to process your request." alert

You may receive this alert if there is an issue with the Internet connection on the computer you are using, or if the device you are trying to message/wipe was removed from the list of devices while you were logged in.
 

Issues finding an iPhone/iPod touch

"Location is not enabled" alert

This can occur if:

• The Find My iPhone slider is not enabled on your iPhone/iPod touch in Settings > Mail, Contacts, and Calendars > your MobileMe account.
• Location Services is not enabled on your iPhone/iPod touch in Settings > General.

"Location is not available" alert

This can occur if:

• Your iPhone is currently off or not connected to a data network (Edge, 3G or Wi-Fi)  Wait a few minutes and try again.
• Your iPod touch is currently off or not connected to a Wi-Fi network. On iPod touch, Find My iPhone enables you to locate your device only when it is on and connected to a registered Wi-Fi network.
• You are living in a country where we do not offer this feature. This feature may not be available in all countries due to technical limitations and/or local law.

Location appears to be old or inaccurate

This can occur if:

• You previously located your iPhone/iPod touch, and your iPhone/iPod touch has not yet provided an updated located to MobileMe. Wait a few minutes and try again.

  Note: Your previous location will be available for seven days; if your iPhone/iPod touch comes back online during these seven days, its location will be refreshed in the map with the time and date at which it was retrieved.

Location circle is too large to be useful

This can occur if:

• Your iPhone/iPod touch is unable to provide a more accurate location.
• Your iPhone/iPod touch is still determining a more accurate location.  Wait a few minutes and refresh the map.

Issues with Display a Message

Message not received

This can occur if your iPhone/iPod touch has been offline since the message was sent.  See the General Issues section above for more information. Once the message is displayed on your iPhone/iPod touch, you will receive a confirmation email at your MobileMe email address.
 

Message received, but no sound played on iPhone/iPod touch

This can occur if:

• You are sending a message to an original iPod touch.  No message sound alert is played on an original iPod touch.  (There is no checkbox to play a sound when sending a message to an original iPod touch.)
• When writing a message to your iPhone/iPod touch, you did not select to include an alert sound with the message. The next time you display a message, you can select the checkbox to include an alert sound that will play for two minutes.
• The volume of the iPhone/iPod touch is turned down.

Unable to turn off sound when a message is received

If a message is sent with sound to an iPhone or iPod touch, the sound will play along with the message until the message has been dismissed, the device turned off, or two minutes has passed.  If the device is locked, it must be unlocked to dismiss the message (or wait for two minutes to pass). 

Issues with Remote Passcode Lock

Unable to choose a new passcode

If you iPhone is configured with a custom profile (generally done in Enterprise environments), you may have a passcode lock longer than 4 characters. If this is the case, you will not be prompted to set the passcode when locking your iPhone/iPod touch (but you can still remotely lock the device).  

Newly entered passcode is not applied

Some configurations may allow for a 4 digit passcode lock, but require that it be more secure (for example, it can’t be something like "1234"). If the new passcode lock you are attempting to apply does not adhere to the restrictions in place on your device, the passcode lock will not be changed. 

If you are not sure if the passcode lock was successfully changed, look at the confirmation email you received after locking the device. The email will confirm if the passcode has been successfully changed or not. 

Issues with Remote Wipe

No confirmation that the remote wipe occurred

This can occur if your iPhone/iPod touch has been offline since the remote wipe request was sent.  See the General Issues section above for more information. Once a Remote Wipe has successfully been initiated, you will receive a confirmation email. 

I found my phone after a Remote Wipe

If this occurs, wait for the Remote Wipe to complete (during the wipe, an Apple logo will be visible on the iPhone/iPod touch screen).  After the wipe is complete, connect it to your computer and restore from a recent backup using iTunes.

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2. MobileMe: Confirmation dialogue choices and messages when configuring MobileMe Sync on an iPhone/iPod touch
3. MobileMe: Troubleshooting iPhone or iPod touch sync issues
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