Applying the “Find My iPAD” App

On Saturday, June 13, 2015, I attended the Philippine Embassy-sponsored “Talakayan”. Senator Alan Cayetano was the guest of honor. I was interested in engaging the Senator for a discussion as I have been watching almost all the Senate Subcommittee hearings on the Makati overpricing scandals that involved VP Binay. I brought my iPAD that contains some materials relevant to whatever discussions that may take place.

I did not need the iPAD. There was no exchange of views. I got to ask only one question which I had to give in advance, and which the good Senator even almost forgot to answer.

After the event, Filipino food, the second best food in the world according to a CNN poll, was served. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/cnn-poll-phl-world-2nd-000000105.html 

When it was time to go, I called for my ride. While waiting I sat down and I started using my iPhone 6 plus and put down my IPAD. While busy surfing and browsing the Internet, a disabled Filipina in crutches who attended the same event needed my help to open the door. I got up while holding my iPhone to open the first door, went farther to open the second door, and even farther outside to open the gate.

When my ride arrived, I proceeded home only to find out that my iPAD was missing. I went back from Virginia to DC hoping to recover the device at the Philippine Embassy. The gates and the doors were already closed when I got there. My calls to the embassy were understandably unanswered.

At home, I thought of the “Find My iPAD, iPhone, iPod, and Mac” App that I set-up with iCloud using the same Apple ID for all my devices, earlier. Going to the iCloud website, and accessing by entering my ID and password, I clicked on Find My iPhone, reentered my password, clicked lost mode, and left a message to call me when my iPAD is found. Of course, I gave my cell number.

Unlike my iPhone, the missing iPAD was completely off and offline. The App could pinpoint the exact location of my iPhone but not the iPAD. To be sure, I went to the Apple store to explore other ways. The “genius” showed me the same thing that I already did.  Since the iPAD was off, the built-in GPS could not locate it. I tried another remedy – I called Verizon’s customer care to locate the missing iPAD using the cellular network. Because the device was off, Verizon could not pinpoint the exact location either. But it was estimated that the device was within DC covered by their cellular tower.

Now convinced that it must still be at the Philippine Embassy, I decided to send an email to some embassy officials on Monday. The fast response came from Ms. Jali Fernando (Public Diplomacy Assistant). Cultural Attache Maricor Jesalva displaying good and honest service found it.

I went to pick it up and showed much appreciation and thanks.

As soon as I got home, I recharged it and turned it on. Almost immediately, the iPAD was ringing with the message on the screen, “Lost iPAD found!” Where? At my HOME!

This was followed by an email from Apple’s Find My iPhone Support saying the device has been found.