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

[ScarredBunny]

Name changed for this - Sorry if this seem trivial, I know people are dealing with far bigger things at the moment.

I found a phone lying on the ground, about 5 yards from my house.

We live in an isolated property about a mile away from the first road. We have not have any visitors , maintenance people for many weeks (obviously). Delivery drivers, yes, but they would not have any reason to go to this part of the garden/couldn't access it during daytime without us seeing something.
At first I assumed it belonged to one of us, but no!
Phoned the police, have a ref./case number, etc. but they're busy and will get back to us when they can.
The police said to take the phone indoors and wait for their call/visit.

I am worried that the next visit is going to be from whomever the phone belongs to.
The phone is dead as a dodo but I assume it still can be found?

What should do?

It could be a fox, they can be buggers for nicking stuff

I don’t understand how if it’s outside your price bracket you thought it belonged to one of you and you have a charger for it.

Have you got teenagers in the house whose friends might have been covertly visiting to chat to them through a window?

Do you have teenagers/young adults sneaking in boyfriends or girlfriends?

Very strange!

Emeline, Pernicious: yes, I think so too.

I will try that now, Handsoff and if it works I want to find out about the owner, I don't give a fig about kindly notifying them off their phone's whereabout. It is a little sinister.

DH was super keen to notify the police, never seen him like this.
Kids would be thrilled to own a phone like this! I don't think it's a secret phone really.

Perfidious we're very boring, no drugs, crime, the road is 2 miles away.

Sorry not helpful but I would be concerned too given that you are so isolated. Can you set up a camera or at least put up security flood lights?

a fox is the first thing that comes to mind. doubt it's anything sinister after all it's a cell phone not a gun.
i'd dry it (in a bag of rice) and possibly plug it in. interesting not frightening.

Police just turned up i'll be back

I would be a bit worried too. I think its something you only really 'get' if you've lived somewhere isolated as all the normal possible solutions don't work.

I would try and try it out and charge it.

so when was the dog barking? at the area you found it in? is it near door/window/shed ?

Hope it gets sorted

I see someone else has already suggested birds might have picked it up and dropped it. I've lived in two places where the seagulls have been pretty terrifying - and some birds of prey can pick up rodents and even small dogs, so you might be surprised. I was also going to suggest the fly tipping thing, based on the fact the battery's dead. I'm sure the police will help you all they can. Could it have been one of the delivery drivers?

As others have said, check your doors, windows, etc, make sure you've got a phone handy, maybe draw your curtains at night if you don't already and make sure there are lights on? Have you got a security light on that part of the garden?

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Ohhh, I just had a thought. If a bird did take it, or something, maybe someone has posted about it on social media?

The last location of a switched off iPhone is only visible for 24 hours, so if it’s been there longer than that ‘Find My’ would not show a location when checked. The likelihood of anyone trying to break in to look for their phone are pretty much zero. Don’t worry over nothing.

Keep us posted, OP! I'm invested in the phone mystery now.

Do you live somewhere someone might be walking? DH lost his in a woods a couple of weeks ago. No idea how. Battery died before we could track it.

what sort of dog have you got...nice big barky one that might have scared someone off??

I used to get apples dropped down my chimney along with other things

If a bird can carry an apple then I guess they could carry a phone

This might be ridiculous but could it have fallen from a drone? I know people can film via a drone but I'm not sure how it works. I'm imagining a little clip to put the phone into and maybe that's come loose? Or do drones have their own recording camera?

I wonder whether someone decided to go for a walk nearby because you are so isolated so they thought they would be safer, and dropped the phone?

Who are all the people voting YABU? I'd be scared too OP.

How expensive are the phones? Our kids have an iPhone 6 each. They don't have a sim or contract they were my sisters when she upgraded so they just play games on them. Maybe someone in your family bought it second hand?

However if it was a "secret" phone surely they would have retraced their steps to look in the garden?

If you leave a damp phone in a Tupperware with uncooked rice (I’d wrap it loosely in a tissue) that often dries it enough to work again. Works with hearing aids too but take out the battery!

I googled it and apparently there is still a signal for location even on a dead phone. If that's the case I don't really want someone to try and break in to get it. Anyone knows about this sort of things?

With no power, how can there be? The only location information will be for where the phone last connected to the phone network and it needs power for that. Of course, it could have gone flat in your garden.