A user loses their phone in Texas, 3 years later the iPhone appears 9,000 kilometers away in China. This surprises the owner, who has been unable to locate their device for years. How the device ended up there, they do not know, but their account is still on the device today.
What happened to the user? The user explained on Reddit that they had rented a car. Whether for a short trip or a holiday, they did not specify. During the trip, their iPhone 11 slipped into a gap in the vehicle. However, they couldn’t find the phone despite futile efforts.
But even when returning the vehicle, they could not get their hands on the phone again, because the rental company took the car on a road trip shortly after. And here, the phone fell out of the car, as the user reports:
The person went on a road trip and the phone fell out during the drive and ended up in an apartment in San Antonio, Texas. I put it into lost mode and tried to erase it, but it was never connected long enough to be completely erased.
Then the phone was turned off and they could no longer locate or connect to it. Until now.
The iPhone reappears 3 years later, 9,000 kilometers away in China
When and where did the phone reappear? In 2025, after 3 years, their phone turned back on, and they can locate it again. The location works, by the way, because their phone is still registered in Apple’s
“Find My” network. AirTags work in the same way, allowing lost luggage to be found when an AirTag is in the suitcase.
And they were surprised where their phone showed up: In China and, according to the app, 5,600 miles away from their current location. That’s about 9,000 kilometers.
This is how the user explained, surprised and slightly amused:
Now it has turned on for the first time in three years and is in China. I can’t even imagine what kind of journey this phone has been on.
What about the user’s data? They then asked a bit worriedly whether the person who now has their iPhone could do something with their device. After all, their data and Apple account are still connected to the device.
The community reassured them and explained that they should not worry and under no circumstances should disable their iPhone from iCloud. Because as long as the device is connected to their account, nobody can do anything with it and cannot really resell it. However, if they deactivate their account, then that person would gain full access to the device (via Reddit.com).
This also applies if you lose your iPhone or it gets stolen: Even if strangers put pressure on you and threaten that they have your data on the phone, under no circumstances should you give up your device. Because the potential thieves have neither access to your data nor to the iPhone itself.
The German YouTuber MegaLag conducted an interesting experiment. He equipped three packages with an AirTag and wanted to find out if his packages could really make it to North Korea. In a second video nearly a year later, he also showed DHL’s reaction: A German YouTuber wants to send packages to North Korea – A little gadget shows him how DHL tricks
