The 5 Best Methods to Track a Lost or Stolen iPhone 6 Plus

The 5 Best Methods to Track a Lost or Stolen iPhone

Summary: Lost your iPhone? Don’t worry, here we tell you how to track lost or stolen iPhone using various techniques. Also, learn how to erase your iPhone data permanently to prevent it from reaching in wrong hands or misuse, using Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone.

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Q. I cannot live without my iPhone. It was stolen yesterday and can’t recall where I lost it. It has been switched off. Can I track the location of my iPhone? Is there any way to track lost iPhones?

A. Don’t panic. Log in to ‘Find My iPhone’ via iCloud.com and set it to ‘Lost Mode’. To know what else you can do now to track the iPhone location, read this post.

Losing an iPhone (and for that matter any smartphone) is tormenting. Besides the upfront costs, there’s an incredible amount of personal data at stake. Today, smartphones not only store personal photos, videos, and music libraries but might also contain an incredible amount of sensitive information in the form of browsing history, social data, app traces, etc. So the apprehension of exploitation and misuse of the data stored in a stolen or lost iPhone is but real.

So, as soon as you discover that your iPhone has been stolen or lost, first, try to track the location of your missing device and lock it.

How to track a lost or stolen iPhone?

Try out the following methods

Use Find My iPhone
Track through Apple’s Family Sharing
Use Google Timeline
Try Google Photos
Use location-tracking apps

Method 1: Use Find My iPhone

If Find My iPhone is enabled on your stolen iPhone, you can do the following:

Locate your mobile phone
Protect your iPhone data by choosing Lost Mode or erasing the data remotely

How to use Find My iPhone when the phone is missing

Sign in to icloud.com on your computer.
Click on the Find My iPhone link at the bottom.
On the Find My iPhone’s map interface, select your lost iPhone via the All Devices drop-down menu. The app starts tracking your iPhone location on the map.

As you see the location of your device you can choose to do the following

Play sound (if your iPhone is nearby, you can trace it with sound)
Activate ‘Lost Mode’ (this locks your device and still tracks it)

What does Lost Mode do to your device?

Remotely locks your device
Displays a message with your phone number on the missing iPhone’s Lock Screen
Keeps track of your device location.
Erase iPhone remotely (with this action you won’t be able to track your iPhone but data is prevented from slipping into the wrong hands)

How to erase iPhone data remotely?

Choosing to erase the iPhone remotely deletes the complete data from it.

Note: Always remember to copy important photos, videos, music, and other data on iCloud backup before remotely erasing the iPhone.

Use a trusted and safe data recovery solution such as Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone to restore lost files from iCloud. The software allows the recovery of specific data rather than recovering the entire data.

If you have set up Family Sharing, use it to track your iPhone. Family Sharing helps the members to know each one’s device location. Ask another member in the Family Sharing group to trace your iPhone via the Find My iPhone app. The member can also sign into iCloud.com to locate the missing iPhone.

Is your missing iPhone switched off or offline?

If the missing iPhone is switched off or showing offline in Family Sharing, you can still activate Lost Mode or remotely erase its data via Find My iPhone.
Note: The iPhone’s last known location remains only for one day. In case your device is offline for over 24 hours, you cannot trace its last location.

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What to do when ‘Find My iPhone’ is NOT enabled or the missing iPhone is offline for more than one day?

Change your Apple ID passwords to prevent anyone from accessing your data.
Change your social media and other Internet account passwords like Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Report the device as missing to the authorities.
Report your network carrier to disable the services like calls, messages, or data use.

Method 3: Use Google Timeline to find lost iPhone

If you have turned on Location Services and Location History on your iPhone, Google’s Timeline will record all the locations of your device.

When an iPhone goes missing, access the location information on a map and find the last location. Remember, Google Timeline records the location only when the iPhone is switched on with an internet connection.

How to see the last location of a lost iPhone in Google Timeline

Visit <com/maps/timeline> on your computer.
Sign in to your Google account.
Click Today or select Date.
Scroll down to see the last reported location of your iPhone.

Along with the location, note the time when your phone was last connected to Google. Taking clues from the location and time information, you can find your lost iPhone. If needed, take the help of cops.

Method 4: Take location clue from Google Photos

If anyone has captured a photo from your lost iPhone and you have the Google Photos location-sharing option enabled, then luck is on your side.

Visit <photos.google.com/>. Check, if any new photos were uploaded and view their upload location.

Method 5: Location tracking apps

If you have installed any location-tracking app such as GPS Location Tracker, CocoSpy Cell Phone Tracker, or iTrack on your missing device, use it to track the lost or stolen iPhone. These apps share the real-time location of your device on your computer or other connected devices.

Conclusion

Apple’s Find My iPhone feature is the best way to track the location of a stolen or missing device. If Find My iPhone is not enabled you can try Google Timeline or Google Photos. Other than these methods, third-party apps can also help track a lost iPhone, but only if you have installed them before the phone was lost.

Nevertheless, ensure that you copy the iCloud backup of the stolen iPhone before taking any of the above steps.

A smarter way is to filter out the data that you want to keep, with the help of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone.

Is this post helpful? Share your experience in the comments below, how you managed to track and get back your stolen iPhone.

How to Restore Contacts on iPhone (4 Methods)

Summary: Many of the users have been wondering about the ways to restore deleted contacts. In this post, we shared the best methods to restore deleted contacts from your iPhone series 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, XS, XS Max, XR, X, 8, 7, 6, and 5.

Losing contact names and numbers from the device all of a sudden is not new for iPhone users. Sometimes contact names are missing with only the random numbers visible, or the contact list is altogether empty. Mostly, the incidents occur after updating to a newer version of iOS, a bug in the device, accidental deletion, or else formatting of the iPhone.

You can always restore from iCloud or iTunes backup, but sometimes even those attempts might fail to recover deleted contacts. This can be because of wrong user names, passcodes, or device settings.

In such cases, the best way to restore only the missing contacts is to use iPhone Data Recovery Software by Stellar**.** Read on to know the four solutions to recover deleted contact on iPhone below.

If you have synced your iPhone to iCloud backup, restore missing contact names and numbers with this method.

Go to your iPhone Settings > iCloud > Contacts (iOS 16 & 15 users follow: Settings > User Name > iCloud)

Toggle OFF and turn ON Contacts again

It asks what you would like to do with the previously synced iCloud contacts on your iPhone. Select Delete from My iPhone.

You will get back lost contacts on the iPhone. Those accounts are also displayed in your group lists if you have different Cloud accounts like Gmail linked to your device. You can check and uncheck the group to view or hide, respectively.

This works only when you have backed up your iPhone to iTunes.

Connect your iPhone to the PC
Launch iTunes
Select your device from the Device list and pick the most recent backup entry date of your iPhone from the Summary page

Click Restore Backup

You can get back the lost or deleted contacts from your iTunes backup. But the drawback of this method is that with iTunes, you do not have a choice to restore only the lost contacts on your iPhone selectively. This means that complete data from iTunes will be restored on your device, replacing existing iPhone data.

All current media photos, videos, messages, etc., on your iPhone will also be replaced by the iOS backup files. If you want to restore only contacts from iTunes backup, use a safe third-party iPhone data recovery application.

The best way to overcome the iTunes drawback and selectively restore only the missing contacts is to use iPhone Contact Recovery Software by Stellar.

This secure & do-it-yourself software recovers lost or accidentally deleted iPhone contacts, call history, etc., regardless of the cause of the loss.Experience the Free Trial version NOW!

The free demo version of Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone allows you to scan and preview files from iPhone, iCloud, and iTunes backup, and to save them, you need to register the software.

Stellar Data Recovery offers three ways to recover iPhone contacts missing on your device:

1. Recover from iPhone

There is a possibility that your device has all the contacts, but they are not showing up—select Recovery from iPhone to view the hidden iPhone contacts in this case.

Connect your iPhone to the computer and launch and launch the software
On the home screen, choose “Recover from iPhone”, select “Contacts and Call Logs,” and click “Next.”

It will show you the iOS devices connected to your system. Select your device and click Scan

After scanning, select Contacts on your left pane; all the contacts will be displayed in the right pane.
Then, Select All or particular items by clicking on the associated checkbox.
Click on Save and browse the desired location to save the recovered contacts.

2. Restore from iCloud Backup

Recovery from iCloud Backup allows you to selectively recover deleted contacts from your iPhone rather than restoring everything from photos and videos to messages. Follow the below steps:

Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable
Launch Stellar Data Recovery from iPhone
Choose Recover from iCloud Backup, Select Contacts and Call Logs and click Next

Enter the Apple ID and Password to get the list of available backup files.

Select the backup file and click Scan

After scanning, select “Contacts” on your left pane, all the contacts in the selected backup file will be displayed in the right pane.

Then, Select All or selective items by clicking on the associated checkbox.

Click on Save and browse the desired location to save the recovered contacts.

3. Restore from iTunes Backup

If your iPhone contacts are synced with iTunes backup, use Recovery from iTunes backup to recover missing iPhone contacts.

Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch the software
On the home screen, choose Recover from iTunes, select Contacts and Call Logs, and click Next

The software analyzes your system and lists all the available iTunes backup files, as shown below. If you cannot find the desired backup file, you can click on Add Backup to manually add the backup file from the system. Now, select the file and click Scan

After scanning, select “Contacts” on your left pane, all the contacts in the selected backup file will be displayed in the right pane.
Then, Select All or particular items by clicking on the associated checkbox.
Click on Save and browse the desired location to save the recovered contacts.

Minor changes in the iPhone Settings can also help restore deleted contacts. Try the below Setting changes and check if they work for you:

Change Contacts’ Groups Settings
Reset the Network Connections
Change Default Account in Settings back to iCloud (works for iPhone 8/7/6s)

1: Change Contacts’ Groups Settings

Go to your Contacts, tap into Groups
Uncheck All iCloud
Select All on iPhone

Click on Done (top right)
Check if you got back all your contacts

2: Reset the Network Connections

Under Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings

Enter your passcode
Choose Reset Network Settings to continue ignoring the message that this action will delete all your network settings.

This action will clear your current saved networks and Wi-Fi passwords, but you can always re-enter your network passwords later. So give this a try to retrieve lost contacts.

3: Change Default Account in Settings back to iCloud (works for iPhone 14, 13, 12, 11, X, 8, 7, 6)

Go to your iPhone Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Contacts
Click Default Account
Select iCloud instead of On my iPhone
Check if your phone’s missing contacts recovered

To Wrap-up

Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone intelligently restores your missing or accidentally deleted contacts without causing loss of iPhone’s existing data, unlike iTunes or iCloud Backup recovery methods. Changing the iPhone settings can also help you get back missing contacts. So now no need to worry about the contacts list loss. Instead, try the above methods and recover deleted contacts on your iPhone.

Have you ever used any of the above methods for restoring missing iPhone contacts? Then, do share your experience in the comments below.

Solved: Photos Disappeared from iPhone Suddenly

‘I noticed that over 500 old photos from iPhone 11 have disappeared and now only the recently shot pictures are showing! I lost almost all of my best memories saved in my phone. I am sure I did not delete them. Where did the pictures disappeared from iPhone? How do I get back photos missing from iPhone? Please help.’

Photos suddenly disappearing from iPhone or random photos missing from Camera Roll or Gallery is a common complaint. Usually, photos get disappeared after iOS update, iPhone reset/restore, or when the device storage is full. You may also lose pictures after installing any new software, or jailbreaking. Sometimes, running an iPhone cleaning software without checking what it is deleting on your iOS device can also result in loss of photos.

The situation is stressful, even more when you don’t have any copies or backup of lost photos.

So how to recover the missing or lost photos on iPhone? This post shares the effective methods to get back the missing photos from Camera Roll, Gallery, or iCloud on your iPhone.

In any such sudden photo loss situation, the best solution is to use a secure photo recovery tool for iPhone that can recover photos lost due to any reason. Besides, there are free methods that might restore disappeared photos from iPhone, which you should try once.

Method 1: Restart your iPhone

If your photos suddenly disappeared from iPhone, first restart the iOS device. Then open the Photo app, Camera Roll, or Photo Stream to see if the missing photos are showing or not.

You can check here the steps to restart your iPhone model .

Method 2: Restore photos from Recently Deleted folder on iPhone

You might have accidentally deleted the photos on iPhone. Check and recover the photos from the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder of your Photos app.

Steps to recover photos on iPhone from ‘Recently Deleted’:

On your iPhone, click to follow Photos > Albums.
Scroll down to Utilities and click Recently Deleted.
Look for your missing photo, tap on it and choose Recover. If there are multiple photos, click on ‘Select’ followed by ‘Recover’.

Note: Photos deleted on iPhone stay in your ‘Recently Deleted’ folder only for 30 days, after which they are permanently removed from the iOS device.

Method 3: Unhide photos on iPhone

Photos disappeared from iPhone can be in the hidden folder in Photos app. Simply, check the Hidden folder on your device and unhide the required photos.

Open Photos app on iPhone.
Click on Albums.
Under Utilities click on Hidden folder. In case you don’t see the ‘Hidden’ folder, go to ‘Settings’ of your iPhone. Click on ‘Photos’ and toggle on ‘Hidden Album’.
If you see the disappeared photos, select and click on the ‘Share’ button (the arrow icon).
Next, tap Unhide to move the pictures to their original location on iPhone.

Method 4: Enable iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos store images in iCloud and syncs them to your iPhone, iPad, iCloud.com, iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV. This means that any changes done to pictures library on one device will show up on your other iOS devices as well. If the photos are disappearing from iPhone only, may be the iCloud Photo is not synced or turned on. So enable iCloud Photos to get back the disappeared pictures on iPhone.

Steps to enable iCloud Photos on iPhone:

Turn on Wi-Fi of your iPhone.
On iPhone, navigate to Settings.
Click on your name and tap iCloud > Photos.
Toggle on iCloud Photos.

Now check if the missing photos are showing up on iPhone or not.

Method 5: Recover iPhone photos from iTunes backup

If you have created iTunes backup, restore the disappeared photos on iPhone from it. However, this will replace your existing iPhone data with iTunes backup data.

Steps to recover photos from iTunes:

Connect your iPhone to computer.
Launch iTunes.
Select your iPhone under the device list and click on Summary.
Click Restore Backup.
In the Restore from Backup box, select the backup date that contains your photos.

Click Restore. Wait until the process finishes and your iPhone restarts. All your disappeared photos will be recovered on iPhone.

Method 6: Restore photos from iCloud Backup

You can restore the previous iCloud backup that has the missing photos. However, like iTunes, this method will also replace the current data on your iPhone.

Steps to recover disappeared photos from iCloud:

On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Reset.
Click on Erase all Contents and Settings. In the dialog box, choose Erase Now.
On the Apps & Data screen, click Restore from iCloud Backup. Enter your Apple ID. In case you have forgot your Apple ID, click here to know how to recover it.

Select the recent backup and click Restore. The lost photos should now appear on iPhone.

Method 7: Recover lost photos with an iPhone data recovery software

The advanced iPhone recovery software — Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone, can restore photos lost, deleted, or missing due to any reason. Whether your photos disappeared from iPhone after update, due to low storage, or any other reason, the software can recover in all situations.

The biggest advantage of using the software is that it doesn’t remove your existing iPhone data. Further, the software shows the preview of the recoverable photos. Hence, its easy to select and recover only the required disappeared pictures from Camera Roll, iCloud Photo Library, Gallery, or those shared on chat messages, etc. Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone is compatible with the latest iPhone 14/13/12/11, iPad, and iPod touch. The software supports recovery from the latest iOS 16 and older versions.

Quick steps to recover disappeared photos from iPhone:

Download Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone on PC or Mac.
Connect your iPhone to computer.
Launch the software and select Recover from iPhone option from the left panel.

Select the Camera Roll or Photo Stream from where the photos have disappeared and click Next to the start the scanning process.
Now preview the recoverable photos, select them, and click Save to restore on iPhone or computer.

Note: You can also recover the lost photos from backup by choosing Recover from iCloud backup or Recover from iTunes backup , options in the software.

Conclusion

When you find suddenly photos disappearing from iPhone try any of the above 7 methods to get back the lost pictures. However, of all we recommend solutions Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone software is quick and easy to use. It is also of great help when you don’t want to recover from iCloud or iTunes backup that removes the existing data on iPhone.

How to Recover Deleted Photos, Videos & Music Files from iPhone

Summary: Learn how to recover deleted photos, videos and music files from iPhone using the best recovery software —Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone.

There are zillions of tutorials one can find on how to take incredible photos with the A10 fusion chipped smartphone; however, few know how to recover deleted photos from iPhone. As a coin has two sides, through this post, we will explore the other untouched, unexplored side.

iPhone has been the epitome of perfection ever since it entered the smartphone realm. With stellar features and functionality, iPhone has become the highest selling property. There are some hidden iPhone camera features that users can utilize and take amazing photos and videos which leave a lasting impression.

Get Started Here!!!

Recovering deleted photos from iPhone is a straightforward process and do not involve much complexity, provided the right steps are implemented in the right manner.

Without much ado, you can recover deleted iPhone photos or videos with these simple steps. Let’s delve into it in detail.

Solution 1:

Apple has made it easy to recover deleted iPhone photos. Here’s what you need to follow:

Go to the Albums and access your photos.
Scroll down and select ‘Recently Deleted’ folder.
In this folder, you will find all the photos that have been deleted.
Simply tap the photo you want to recover and press “Recover.”
To permanently delete a photo, press “Delete”.

Figure 1 represents how to recover photos from Recently Deleted folder

**Important: In the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder, you’ll find photos, video & music files that have been deleted within the last 30 days only. To recover them before that period, either you have to restore from iTunes or iCloud backups or use iPhone photo recovery software .

Solution 2:

iCloud Photo Library to Your Rescue:

You can recover iPhone photos or videos through iCloud Photo Library. iCloud Photo Library securely stores your photos and videos on iCloud. It automatically saves all your photos and videos in iCloud so that you can access the library from any device.

Follow these steps to turn on the iCloud Photo Library:

Go to settings < [your name] < iCloud < Photos, then turn on iCloud Photo Library (iOS 10.3 or later).
In iOS 10.2 or earlier, go to Settings < iCloud < Photos.

**Important: Ensure that you’re signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID as on all of your devices. Things can be complicated as iCloud Photo Library is synced with your different Apple devices which means there could be multiple copies and if a photo, video or music file is deleted from a device, it will not be available on the other devices as well. Deletion sync across all the devices.

Solution 3:

iTunes Backup is there to recover all your photos.

Click File menu, select Devices < Restore from Backup.

Open the iOS device’s Summary tab. There are two ways to access this:
Click the device button in the upper right corner.
In iTunes tab, click the View menu and select Show Sidebar. Select your iOS device in iTunes under Devices.
Click the Restore Backup button.

Solution 4:

Use Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone:

iPhone Data Recovery Software by Stellar is an ideal tool to recover lost data from your Apple devices. Utilizing its advanced algorithm, you can scan and recover data (photos, videos, calendar, notes, messages, call history, etc.) from your device. Furthermore, you can recover data from iCloud and iTunes backup as well.

Connect your iPhone to your system and launch “Stellar Data Recovery for iPhone” software.
Select “Recover from iPhone” and the software will scan your device for the contents.
Click on any file to see its preview.
Finally, click “Save” to save the recovered file to the preferred location.

The Final Word

Apple reflects perfection in its design and innovation; therefore, it constantly thrives to provide its consumers with the best platform. One such feature is that iOS can back up your photos on cloud services automatically so that you have access to them at any given time.

Moreover, there are iTunes backup, iCloud backup options available along with iPhone Data Recovery Software as well; but, it is advisable to backup your iPhone photos or videos timely and manually to avoid unnecessary issues.

TechiDaily

The 5 Best Methods to Track a Lost or Stolen iPhone 6 Plus | Stellar

The 5 Best Methods to Track a Lost or Stolen iPhone