Many Happy Returns: ID your iPod, iPhone
10:31 am, January 8th, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
Say you lose your iPod or iPhone and some good Samaritan finds it, but there’s no way for them to get it back to you because there’s no contact info on it.
If you’ve got an iPod Touch or iPhone, enter an $0.99 USD app called DogTag, which adds an ID icon and allows you to put the contact info of your choice.
Even If you’ve got a passcode, the info is still accessible as a DogTag wallpaper. The brainchild of Ian Cinnamon, who has been programming since age seven, the app was released a few days ago, and so far the handful of reviews are mostly positive.
For older iPods, one quick way is to name your device with an email address (my iPod nano and older pods support the “@”). This way, if the iPod is plugged in, your contact info pops up on the desktop and in iTunes.
You can also add your info to “contacts” or “notes” on iPods, too so they don’t have to plug it in to go looking for you. (Although if they really dig, the name information you assign will come up, too, in the settings>about screen).
I hit on naming mine with an email address after spending a frustrating 20 minutes at the gym trying to convince the guy at lost and found that yes, the iPod containing, among other things, just the contralto part of “Lacrimosa” and three cover versions of “Mah Na Ma Na” was, in fact, mine.
Have you devised a good way to ID your iPod or iPhone? Any luck with getting it back?
Sharing is caring, let us know in the comments.
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in How tos, iPhone 3G, iPod, iPod Touch | Comment on this article
“enter a free app called DogTag”, though the free is actually 59p (UK) which makes it $0.99 US. Nice idea, but not free.
MJ, on January 8th, 2009 at 11:40 am
At least in the german app-store the app is not (longer?) for free, but costs 0,79 Euro.
dirk-muc, on January 8th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Just the contralto part of Lacrimosa and three “Mah Na Ma Na”s!? I just can´t come with a better way to ID and iPod. If somebody else comes to claim it with that answer, she deserves to get it, don´t you think?
Now seriously, you can also put your contact info in several Playlists like 1 – Name, 2 – Address, and so on, and better yet, laser etch it with you name and e-mail.
Anyway I’ve never got lucky with it; I’ve “lost” 2 iPods and 1 Macbook Pro and even they were properly ID´d nobody returned them.
Javier Canadillas, on January 8th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
MJ & Dirk: the app was still free when the post was written — thanks for the head’s up, I’ve updated…
Javier — LOL, anyone who could’ve guessed those tracks would’ve earned the iPod.
Thanks for the contact ID in playlist tip, it’d be an obvious place to look if one were inclined to return the lost iPod…
Nicole Martinelli, on January 8th, 2009 at 11:02 pm