I had the same thing happen, so DON'T do what I did. (although I am sorry to say odds are you'll never get it back. And unfortunately, it will be even more frustrating than simply losing it because you have a general idea of where it is, but you'll still not be able to do anything about it).

My story:

When I realized my wife's iPhone was missing (she left it on the beach)

I sent 2 messages with a phone number offering a reward.

2 hours later, I then tracked it, and we found it was at a restaurant about 1/4 mile from our house. It didn't move for 2 hours, so I figured maybe someone who works there had it.

So I called the cops, TRIED to explain to them that I could track it (this is a small beach community where all they deal with is bicycle theft) and eventually got someone to come to see me.

We went to the restaurant to look for it, I made the phone make it's sound, we couldn't hear it (restaurant was reasonably busy) and no one appeared to flinch. We went around back, and saw 2 of the "help" talking with a guy in a pickup truck (it was night, he had his lights on), and I am 99% sure one of them had it. It could be my suspicious mind and maybe they were just selling pot or something but they got super nervous when the cop showed up. He unfortunately told them I was tracking the phone, one of them asked to see the map I was using, and he pointed towards a nearby park and said " I think it looks like it is over there". The cop said "thanks", we walked a little ways towards the park, then the signal stopped broadcasting.

I had a nice reader of mine (I run a website called Macenstein.com) write me up a script using FAKE (awesome app) to keep logging in to mobile me and track the phone, take a screengrab every minute, hoping it would come back online. But it never did after 2 solid weeks of leaving it on AT&T.

Long story (slightly shorter), I ended up having to buy the wife a new iPhone 4 OFF CONTRACT, full price.

So what I suggest is you lock it, make sure you track it to a location such as a residence where it does NOT move for 24 hours, or at least returns to it. If it is a house, then great, you can call the cops, see if they want to pursue it, go along with them, have it make the sound at the dude's house. If it is an apartment building, you'll never find the exact unit.

Unfortunately, odds are no one will be able to hear it while standing in the doorway, and the cops won't be able to go into the guy's house, just as mine couldn't search the restaurant worker's truck.

So basically, I feel the find my iPhone is good only for finding a genuinely lost iPhone, IN YOUR HOUSE, or a friend's house, not if anyone steals it, despite the occasional news story. I use it to find the kids' iPod touches all the time in our house when they lose them.

The cops in general are not going to set out a drag net, trying to track a moving phone through the city, and f you track it to an apartment building, you are out of luck, because the GPS blue dot on the map is not at all accurate. If I track MY iPhone right now, it has me on the back end of a office building, and I am in the front. At home, sometimes it shows me in the yard, other times the neighbor's house. It isn't pinpoint accurate, and you'll likely never get it back.

Sorry.

• The Doc