Honesty — yes, there’s even an app for that

Data has so many purposes, but I hadn’t spent much time thinking about the way Big Data enforces honesty. Tracking? Sure. Transparency? Definitely. But data gives us something else, too, that isn’t talked about as much…honesty. The ability to instantly verify that a human being is acting in a way that we should trust.

The moment of terror

I hope you’ve never felt that gut-tightening sense of terror when you first realize that you’ve left your phone in the taxi cab, when you’re in a hotel, in a foreign country. After the initial panic subsides, the anger kicks in and keeps you from remembering that you have an app for that — Find my iPhone. If I had thought of it immediately, I have it back by now, but the fifteen minutes I spent with a frustration-clouded mind prevented that.

Once my brain cleared I was immediately able to track the phone to the taxi queue at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, where my driver was undoubtedly waiting in line to pick up another passenger. I remotely locked the phone and put a message on it to call the hotel and ask for me. I took another cab to Terminal 5, but by then the phone was offline and wasn’t updating the phone’s position. I assumed the worst. Why would someone turn off the phone unless they wanted to steal it?

Well, as it happens, I sent a location ping to the phone before I thought it through, which is really loud, repeats and is really annoying. It’s purpose is to help you find your phone when you’re nearby, not to surprise a cab driver remotely. I gave myself hope from the idea that maybe he only turned it off because of my ping. OK, maybe I did it twice.

I had the data

An hour later, a call came to my room from Sajeewa Bopage, the world’s best concierge, who had the phone number and name of my cab driver, Ian. In short order, I was on the phone with him, working out the details for how to get my iPhone back.

Before the call ended, I said, offhandedly, “I’m glad it wasn’t someone trying to keep it.” He chuckled and said, “Not a chance, not only do I know about Find my Phone, you took a photo from the back seat just before I dropped you off. I’m an honest man but you didn’t leave me much choice, either.

Before hanging up I took another look at the app, and sure enough, it was reporting its location north of London, just as he said. I clicked over to satellite view and was able to zoom in to his street and lo and behold, the picture had the very same blue cab in it, parked in front of his home.

Yes, there’s an app for honesty, too, and we can expect there to be many more in the future. Knowing who to trust is possibly the most valuable thing we can have on our side.

Lessons learned

• Make sure all of your Apple devices are registered to your account on iCloud.com
• When you first discovered your device missing, immediately use another Apple device or someone else’s iPhone to download Find my iPhone and track the device
• Don’t sent multiple sets of annoying pings
• Lock the device and put a message on it that has your phone number and current location
• Hope for someone nice enough not to pitch or try to sell your device

Follow up

This morning at 5am London time, I met up with Ian to get my phone back. He’s a nice guy and was shocked that I had a satellite photo of his home.

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Christopher Taylor