The first thing that comes to mind is to log into iCloud from someone else's device and see where the runaway is. And that's where the trap lies. Apple will send a verification code to that very lost number, which you can't reach. A classic: the lock is intact, the key is inside.

But panic is cancelled. There's a path that people remember last, even though it's right in front of them. Your friend's phone has long had the Find My app — the one that shows their own devices. Few people realise it can find not only someone else's hardware but also yours, without any codes.

In Find My there's a tab called "Me" and a button "Help a Friend". You open it — and you land on the iCloud login page. You enter your Apple ID and password, and, pay attention, two-factor authentication doesn't kick in. The code request simply doesn't arrive. Instead, a map appears, and on it — your phone.

A security hole? More like a deliberate calculation. The procedure is designed so that a person in trouble can quickly give search access to someone nearby. The main condition: the phone must be switched on and visible on the network. If the battery is completely dead or the connection is lost — the map will show the last known location, and nothing more.

Then it's a question of action. Find My won't go after the device itself. Someone has to walk there, call it, pick it up. Running after a location pin without reconnaissance is a real lottery.

Our technician in two-tone armour once, after someone else's "Help a Friend" session, found out that his time-tested iPhone was peacefully lying under the seat of a regular bus. The bus had gone back to the depot without it. And the phone returned to its owner with the glass intact. Because in time he found not only the location but also hands ready to check everything after the adventure.

If the device was pulled out of the bushes, dropped and survived the fall — after such a story it's better to show it to specialists. Diagnostics will tell you a lot: whether the battery is intact, how the internals are feeling, what to expect in the coming months. And it's better to go searching together, with a trusted partner and a clear point on the map.