I somewhat epically somehow managed to leave my iPad on a train…

Day one of realisation was filled with hope and positivity that some kind soul filled with Christmas spirit might have handed it in to lost property.  Day two, resigning myself to ‘it’s been taken’, my mindset changed to ‘there’s nothing I can do about it’… I know.  A year of travelling memories (thankfully photos all backed up apart from ones received from others which can hopefully be reobtained) lost in one stupid moment… All over the ‘find my iphone’ app, it was most unhelpful.  Dear Apple, ‘find my iPhone’ is not very useful on a passcode locked wifi only device. Unable to obtain any location settings, ‘lost mode’ enabling you to put a message on your lost device with your number  has been ‘pending’ until it connects to the Internet… Likewise for it making a noise to find it if it has just been misplaced.  Probably reset on Friday soon after I left the train I am pretty sure my message will never be seen… All – debate the merits of pass coding… There is of course a fine line between someone stealing your data and being able to track your missing device though… More effective I imagine for ‘stolen’ and being aware of it than losing it and not realising for a significant length of time afterwards…

Surely you have all of this backed up though I hear you say…? I know you are not going to be impressed with me and probably surprised at my ineptitude on this but I genuinely have no idea if any of this is… Being out of the country and away from my laptop, it hasn’t even been connected to itunes to sync it. I know it was getting expensive to buy more storage as my memory allowance in icloud ran out.  Why offer a 25gb plan if you sell a 32gb tablet?  I have worked and been able to pay for this but I fear that my last memory of icloud backup is one of switching it off in Hamilton thinking I’ll fix this later then totally forgot about it… Until now.  That was eleven months ago… I just assumed it was on.  I am now not so sure… To have this all magically reappear in front of me on a new tablet doesn’t seem such an expense now… I might yet get a pleasant surprise when I eventually buy another tablet and connect it with my account but I will be waiting for the kick in the teeth… No ipad and no back up… It is one thing to lose an ipad.  To lose one that you could have had backed up to the point of a couple of days ago is a whole new ball game… A very frustrating one…

Ever the optimist though, I am sure there are worse things to lose.  At least this is all engrained in my memory.  That at least can’t be taken away.   Maybe some things it has noted are best forgotten about.  My journal only backed up until the 12th December, the timing of this is significant.   The run up to Christmas much harder than anticipated, I am most hopeful that a turn in my luck is finally on the cards… Maybe it’s time for a new beginning… Always a lesson to be learnt, this one is going to be ‘pay special attention to iPads near trains and that money spent on backing up is ALWAYS going to be money well spent…’

Please don’t fall into the same mistake.  With new ipad ownership over christmas i’m sure, please:

• Ensure you have an icloud account.  Also ensure that icloud backup is on in your settings
• If you require more storage than Apple lets you have, just buy it
• Ensure that ‘find my iPad’ is on in your settings list

Some points to consider:

• If you have a passcode lock, on a stolen wifi enabled device, find my iPad will be rendered useless.  Not only will it not know where it is, the function for it to make a noise if you have just misplaced it also requires Internet.  Lets hope you misplace it in an area with wifi…
• Do not immediately change your Facebook password if your ipad is taken.  There is an accounts setting called active sessions that will tell you if the app has been accessed anywhere else.  Check this first then change it.  Not the other way around…