(Update: if you want to know how to set this up on your Apple device, simply read our Find my iPhone how-to guide)
So apparently iOS 4.2.1 is rolling out today, and it is finally giving iPad users all that multitasking goodness that us iPhone users have had for a while. Folders are also welcome on the iPad, as well as a few small changes (you can read the full iOS 4.2 rundown here). But one part thats really nice is that Apple is finally offering “Find My iPhone” as a free feature now.
In the past you had to pay $99 a year to get Mobile Me, which was the only way to get hold of Find My iPhone. Find my iPhone is really handy, and was a major reason why I got MobileMe in the past. Users can track any device that is registered to their username, so you add quite a few devices to the same user account. You can actually see the device on a map with remarkable accuracy, provided its outdoors and within cellular data range.
If you cannot seem to find your phone inside your house, you can also ask the phone to make a noise, even if it is in silent mode. Good for those times you lose your phone in between the couch cushions! Finally you can also lock the phone, let the phone display a message (e.g. Please phone xxx xxx xxxx, reward if found!), and then finally once you give up hope, remotely wipe the device.
Find my iPhone will be available for iPhone 4, iPad and the latest iPod Touch (and to older iPhones with some effort), and will be rolling out tonight as part of iOS 4.2.1, which will go live at around 7 o’clock. I would recommend you download iTunes 10.1 beforehand (you need it). Expect the servers to be hammered tonight, it will be a very popular update!
For more info on 4.2, read our review, or go look at Apple’s info page.
