“Find My iPad” and MobileMe – Is It Worth $99 A Year?

By dag | June 22, 2010 | 7 comments

Apple’s Find My iPhone service is pretty nice, and is a cool way to track your iPad if it goes missing (just like this guy). The service works via a dedicated app you can install on any iOS device, or via the web.

Besides being able to find out where your device ended up, additional nice features are offered, such as the ability to remotely:
- make your iPad ring so you can find it quickly
- display a message on your iPad screen
- lock your iPad with the password of your choice
- completely wipe your iPad’s memory, to make sure any sensitive and/or private data does not fall into the wrong hands

Problem is, even if the app is free, the service is not, as it requires a MobileMe subscription to work, something that will cost you $99/year. So is it worth the price tag? Unless you happen to use MobileMe for other features such as Storage, Address book, Calendar, Gallery or iDisk, purchasing a MobileMe subscription just for the “Find My iPhone” security features is simply way too expensive.

If you are a bit paranoid, a decent alternative is GadgetTrak, an iPhone app that works on the iPad. It’s not as fancy as Find My iPhone, but it’s free. After you set it up, GadgetTrak installs a fake browser icon on your iPad, so that your iPad’s GPS location is recorded when the person who found/stole your iPad tries to go online. GadgetTrak can be a bit hit or miss, as the app needs to actually be launched to record your iPad’s location, but it’s not much of a stretch to think that your average Joe may try to hit the icon, especially if located on your dock.

When iOS 4 is ported to the iPad, we should start seeing a flurry of much better apps able to run in the background in order to constantly record the whereabouts of your iPad. Until then, except GadgetTrak, MobileMe is the only option you have – if you are willing to pay $99/year.

About dag: Certified geek

http://www.SnapzSnapz.com Mike Irvin

mobile me also makes it to where if I add a address in my address book on the computer bam! it shows up on iphone and ipad 45 secs later or add and event on my iphone to the calendar bam! it shows up at home calendar when I get there later or if I am surfing at home and bookmark a website, then go for a drive with the ipad and want to visit that site bam its in my ipad safari bookmarks. as someone who relies heavely on my calendar and address book that alone is almost worth it. then as a photographer the online storage and file transfer is nice also I can put files on idisk then send customers a email that has a nice neat link in it.
G

There isn’t even anything to think about here. MobileMe is a no-brainer and a MUST have for iPhone and iPad. All of the other features are slick, but Find My Iphone is hands down the one that makes it all worth it. I’d pay twice that (shhh… dont tell Apple)

BTW – it doesnt have to be $99…. $71 on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/MobileMe-Individual-Updated-2009-Version/dp/B001AMLRU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1277243816&sr=8-1
Ralph

Don’t worry, there are companies working now on an iPad Find Me app to be sold at a reasonable price (4.99 to 9.99)
Chuck Hunt

This is true, it would be too expensive if that was all you were buying the app for. I think everyone who owns a Mac or iPhone should buy MobileMe as it is a good value if you look at the whole package. But the way I look at it is the fact that it is another added feature to MobileMe which I use for my email and Contacts and iCal and I use iDisk as well. So for me it a no-brainer add on.
http://www.mattlaurence.com Mattynabib

There’s another one called TapTrace that works similarly to GadgetTrak but with some more features – costs something, but not much. I’ll keep my eyes open for something more like Find My iPhone, but without the service charge.
http://www.untether.tv Rob Woodbridge

I interviewed Ken Westin, founder and CEO of ActiveTrak (makers of GadgetTrak) and they offer some pretty amazing features that MobileMe doesn’t — hard to compare the two really. The video interview is here: http://untether.tv/ellb/?p=1586 – great insight into the industry but more specifically, their success rate.

Hope this helps!
dan

MobileMe is the quintessential mac fanboy service. The only valuable app is Find My iPhone/iPad. I would really love to get that, but not for the price – over $100 for a “family” mobileme account for multiple ipads, accounts, etc. If you refuse to use anything but apple mail, apple calendar, apple contacts, apple whatever, then mobileme is a decent service (we’re not even going to get into the glitches and bugs I dealt with for the three months of free service I had). Gmail (and similar), Google Calendar (and similar), Google contacts (and similar), about a million online storage providers and plenty of online photo apps mean that you are basically paying a yearly fee for stuff you can get free from any number of other places. I love Apple and have a ton of their devices, but they ask too much for what they offer – stuff that is free elsewhere and usually implemented better as well. I can see where it would work for some people, but not most. And, in my experience, the people who vigorously defend MobileMe are the same people who would blindly defend anything outta Cupertino and think those Apple vs. PC commercials are actually accurate, fair and funny.