Find My iPhone Review

Have you ever accidentally left your iPhone on a bar stool where mischievous hoodlums could steal it? We know that Apple has, and if that impenetrable fortress can lose its precious gadgets, so can you. Luckily, Apple has made it easier to track your missing devices, send messages to the finder, or wipe the device if stolen.

Find My iPhone is quite the misnomer; the app does let you locate your iPhone, yes, but also any iPod Touches or iPads you have MobileMe set up on. That's right: MobileMe, that $99/year subscription you're probably not paying for. It may be good for syncing your e-mail, contacts, calendar, and photos across multiple devices, and it provides some storage space in the cloud, but doesn't Google offer the same thing for free. Yes, but Google won't help you track down your missing iDevice.

So, the costs of MobileMe aside, if you actually do subscribe, this app is an invaluable tool. Once you set up your device to be found (a simple enough process), all you need to do is open the app, plug in your login information, and choose a device. Within seconds, the app locates it, and you can view it overlayed on a map, satellite picture, or hybrid. For security purposes, it does not save your login information, and you are logged out after 15 minutes, but these are minor inconveniences for the sake of keeping your location secure.

Devices with 3G (the iPhone, some iPads) will give you more accurate results, but it also located our iPod Touch and Wi-Fi iPad within a few yards of their actual locations. Beyond finding missing devices, it's also a good option for keeping tabs on wayward children or wandering spouses who have their phones with them and turned on.

Should it go missing, the app lets you sound an alarm on the device for 2 minutes, even if the volume is turned all the way down. You can also have it display a message, such as instructions for how to return the device to you. And if you suspect it has been stolen, you can alternately lock it with a new passcode or completely wipe the device to protect your sensitive information.

Thankfully the app is free, as it is really just an extension of the MobileMe website's functionality, which is not available on the iPad (strangely enough). However, you have to pay $99 for the service to make it work. Given the high cost and our belief that MobileMe should be more competitively priced (or even free), we can't give it our full recommendation. But for existing subscribers, this is a must-own app that could save you a lot of techie heartache.