With the new iOS 4.2 coming out yesterday for iPhone and iPad, there were some major new features. But one feature that did catch my attention that I didn’t think was going to happen was the Find My iPhone app. This is an app that was introduced when iOS 4.0 first came out. At the time it was strictly for people who had subscribed to Mobile Me. Basically the app could be used in a couple of different ways. If you ever needed to find your iPhone you could remotely send a signal to your iPhone to make a sound so you could hear the iPhone and where it would be. Or, if you lost your iPhone, you can remotely wipe the iPhone so that no data can be seen by others.
Well, yesterday, with the introduction of the new iOS 4.2, the Find My iPhone app became free and was no longer a part of Mobile Me, in that you had to pay for Mobile Me in order to use it. This was good news for all iPhone and/or iPad users as they could now use this feature and not have to pay for Mobile Me. So now that this is free, let me show you how to set this app up.
The first thing you are going to want to do is go and download the app from the App Store. Once the app is downloaded on your iPhone or iPad, the next thing you are going to want to do is set up the app. First, you need to go into the Settings and you are going to want to add a new mail account. Then, you are going to want to choose a Mobile Me account.
If you don’t already have a Mobile Me account you will be asked to fill in your Apple ID and password, which will then create a new account for you using your Apple ID credentials. When you are done with this you will be asked to read over the Apple ID Terms of Service.
The last part of the set up requires you to turn on the Find My iPhone app. When this is done, you can now go into the actual app and log in.
Then once you are logged in, you are now good to go. If you ever need to locate of remote wipe your iPhone, you can head over to me.com and log in to your Mobile Me account and use the Find My iPhone app there. You will not be charged for the rest of the Mobile Me features unless you plan to upgrade. If you have an iPad, the process is the same as it would be on an iPhone. If you have both, you just have to set up the app on one of the devices and you can just log in on the other device.
