Found a phone in my garden - isolated property - shit scared

I once found a violent video in my back garden and a pair of women's underwear (both not mine). You do get drunks who stumble past in the evening. Could that be the answer?

It's probably broken and whomever owned it probably ditched it out the window as they were passing.

No need to overthink it.

I understand why the OP would be scared in this situation. Similar rural here - we found a discarded pair of gloves on the wrong side of our high fences and gate.

What exactly are you worried about. Are you a child? So what someones dropped there phone. If they come back for it and introduce themselves as the local axe murderer then maybe be alarmed. Otherwise man up.

Could have been addressed already but could it have been a postman or delivery couriers ? And they dropped it while doing a delivery ? Have you had anything delivered ?

Are you anywhere near a prison? Could be booty dropped from a drone.
If there is anything criminal happening here I would be astonished if the culprit came back given that he has now left a nice trail of evidence.

Absolutely would doubt they'll be back as they must know by now they dropped the phone and realize theres a possibly they dropped it on your property. Also if they think theres a possibility you have found the phone then this would make you hyper vigilant and likely contacted police therefore increasing their likelihood of being caught should they return to look for it. A huge risk with little gain for a burglar.
They know the police can do virtually nothing even if they do gain a name as this still doesn't prove who was actually on your property. The safest bet for them is to stay clear and swear to police the phone was previously lost should they show!
Absolutely time to get a lovely ole German shepherd Something good out of something bad an all that!
We were lucky as my sons friend got a new job and wasn't able to keep his gs pup so we took him. Best decision ever and seven years later he's an absolute pleasure and very much loved. We like you also had another dog (spaniel) and after a few days got along great.
As your kids are grown you possibly could take in a slightly older dog needing rehomed? Am certain this is a decision you won't regret

OP, hope you're all okay - I lived in the middle of a field growing up - 800 metres to nearest house (a farm) and 400m from road. One summer evening, with all windows open, we heard commotion, and my brothers and parents all ran out of the house to chase off the lads (on mopeds)... I suddenly realised I was all alone in the house with all the windows open, and freaked out that it was a trick to lure us out I was terrified!!
Next summer we were burgled whilst on holiday- they approached the house via a field of oil seed rape, smashed up the alarm box (connected to police as well, but that's a whole other story!) and ransacked our outbuildings, our cellar and everything!! Police said they would have been there several hours getting stuff (esp the big outdoor equipment they took which was chained and bolted down!) They even stole my school bag containing some coursework (the days when it was hand written) - we eventually installed cctv and signs on our boundaries which must've helped.

I was going to suggest a drone may have dropped the phone, even though that's still suspicious behaviour to send a drone over - but from your description of the iPhone, it would likely be too heavy.

Hope you're doing well anyway - just wanted to let you know, I understand where you're coming from being frightened and you did the right thing reporting it to police, if not for your sakes, for the sake of local community who may also have been visited - wonder if any have cctv footage?

Probably that’s why I couldn’t find it

Find my phone I meant to say

PMSL at "iCloud" being precise 😂😂

ICloud precise? Ha, my phone has taken long walks of the fields a mile away while sitting outside my office and even appeared to be walking into a residential area and back to the office as I checked even when I was the only one with keys to my office (it was sitting on my office)

You must live in a bloody great mansion for your iCloud to be able to pin point which part of the house your phone is in.

Mine is regularly at No 17/19/21/23/25/27/29/ 14/16/18/20/22/24/26/28/30 and occasionally it shows up at number 44 next street over.

Mine seems to think my iPad is next door and my Mac book is the other side of town.

Quite. My bil had his phone snatched out of his hand, someone who was with him called the police, they tracked it with his iPad, he went with them in the police car and they could track it to a block of flats, but not to the exact flat, let alone the room it was in.

They did crack a criminal gang though, they had a helicopter follow the motorbike that had grabbed it, and then they got them when they arrived and found loads of stolen phones and tablets.

I think the biggest mystery op is when do you sleep?!!!!

The house is remote enough that, if the phone was dropped by a person, that person almost surely had no legitimate reason to be there.

Why do people find this hard to understand? Have we lost all ability to imagine that other people don't live the same way we do?

On icloud I can see which part of the house the phones are in, it's that precise. Maybe educate yourself before you argue.

Mine seems to think my iPad is next door and my Mac book is the other side of town.

I'm still astounded by the number of posters who think OP and the police are overreacting over "a dropped phone". She's been quite clear that this is roughly equivalent to waking up to find a phone in the middle of your kitchen floor, and even if there's a plausible explanation (foxes etc.) there's a very sizeable likelihood that it's evidence of an attempted intrusion.

So was Avalanche's "story" a windup all along? Her posts reminded me of the Log Lady in Twin Peaks...

mystery solved.

Foxes are cheeky beggars
We live rurally and don't often see them as they tend to steer clear of us but occasionally they will come right up to the house and peer in the conservatory windows
They are frequent visitors though and have moved kids toys left in the garden, buried and chewed stuff as well as hunting pigeons on a regular basis. The kids footballs are regular casualties to the foxes.
I know they've been usually as I find their poop. One buried a huge dead headless chicken in our vegetable patch obviously saving it for later - the odd thing was all the people we know who have chickens weren't missing any so god knows where it got it from, it must have brought it some way to bury it, we also found various CDs it had buried in the same patch in little piles 🧐

OP 💐🌷🌻🌺💐

I think there are always people looking to cause drama. Hope it wasn't anything sinister op as imagine it is very unsettling not knowing

I’d probably be getting all ‘Home Alone’ on the garden, setting trip wires on the perimeter. Got any bells?

I don't know why people are being such arses OP.

I think it was more likely to be a person OP. Hopefully it was an opportunistic crime and they have been scared off by your dog. Rural crime is a big issue and I expect some are making the most of all those empty holiday homes.
I would invest in some CCTV.

I actually dreamt about foxes last night. Sure it was this thread!