How could it be possible with my stolen iPhone?

[von franklin]

Hi, I had a bad day and it happened so that my iPhone 5S with ios 9.3.1 slipped out of my pocket somewhere in the city. When I found out that I'm missing my device (max 10 minutes since last seen in my palm) it was already turned off which means no use of "Find my iPhone" app. My device had Touch ID activated + immediate passcode required. I had all possible stock security options up and running, and finally there is no way to use it since my device is offline. Why on earth Apple let's one to turn off the device without passcode requirement etc. The first thing after stealing an iPhone, that he will turn the device off, then there is no use of all that fancy "Find my iPhone" stuff. ITS TURNED OFF.... Ugh I'm frustrated.. Anyway, what occurred strange to me is that right now when I log on to my iCloud and check my devices, there is no sign of my iPhone?!?! Well, how could it be possible??? It had all the security stuff so no way that someone could have just deleted it from the list and turn off the tracking... Or could he?? Please tell me. Should I be concerned that all my stuff that was securely locked now is exposed to risk?
TIA guys..

had you ever used the your find my phone my phone before?

 

[lukasmmm]

had you ever used the your find my phone my phone before?

Like i ve mentioned it earlier - yes, even on that same day. Everything was just fine.

 

[kpeex]

No need to sledgehammer one... Simulate it by turning the phone off.

A device shutdown is not the same as sudden catastrophic failure of a normally functioning device.

 

[lordofthereef]

A device shutdown is not the same as sudden catastrophic failure of a normally functioning device.

Does a phone always ping apple's server with a "last known locatiOn" before shutting down? I ask because I don't know. If yes, you're on point. If not, destruction versus shutting off shouldn't make a difference in terms of attempting to locate. Right?

 

[happyfrappy]

Thiefs are sneaky. It's very possible that a pro phone thief watched you enter your passcode, and then either swiped the phone directly from your pocket or distracted you and took it while you laid it down for even a second.

With your passcode, they could then disable "find my iPhone" and log out of iCloud on the iPhone within seconds.

Hate to say it but this is starting to be very common in NYC, LA and a few other major cities in western countries. At some transit hub stations in the US there is even warnings to keep your phone in an inner coat/bag pocket as "Phone Pirates"(police term) are targeting popular phone makers by working in teams.

 

[Ugi]

Passcode=|=password for iCloud...

How often do you type your actual iCloud password in, so that anybody could see it?
I guess not that often. for the passcode, there exist the finger print to avoid typing that in

And gee, they don't need to shut the phone down.. If control centre is accessible through the lock screen they could just turn flight mode o

 

[rijc99]

Does a phone always ping apple's server with a "last known locatiOn" before shutting down? I ask because I don't know. If yes, you're on point. If not, destruction versus shutting off shouldn't make a difference in terms of attempting to locate. Right?

No it doesn't. Unless you have "send last location" on critical battery shut down turned on. But even then that's assuming it can poll/acquire gps data and ping server fast enough before the battery dies. And only under that specific condition. (I say this because if a battery has significant wear the trigger percentage might not last long enough for all that to take place before the phone dies)

So turning a phone off doesn't trigger the phone to send its location. Not enough time for the phone to poll gps and send location to server. Can you imagine how slow would shut downs be if it had to acquire gps location and transmit that info to the server once it receives a shut down request?

Therefore, shut downs are the same as with smashing it with a sledgehammer.