'Hey, Siri ...' Lost and Found: iPhone's built-in virtual assistant helps finder locate owner

Technology really can be impressive these days, and leading the charge are smartphones with incredible computing power, do-anything-you-want apps and, oh, yeah, they allow someone to talk to someone else from a distance.

But all the smartphone technology in the world isn't much good without the phone itself.

And that's how this story begins ...

Lost iPhone

After the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks left Houck Field and fans were departing following the March 7 football game, St. Vincent de Paul Parish School seventh-grader Max LeGrand realized he had laid his iPhone down on the hood of a truck, which was no longer in the parking lot.

Max alerted his mother, Krista Rust LeGrand, who jumped into action. Krista's dad, Jim Rust, began tracking the phone's location with his own device.

The phone was spotted close by on Henderson Avenue, by the University Center. They headed that way.

Only the phone was now on the move ... New Madrid Street.

Every minute or so, the tracking app showed the phone moving across town, finally coming to a stop 5 miles from Houck Stadium at LeGrand Brothers Transmission, owned by Dave LeGrand, Max's other grandfather.

Dumbfounded, they finally located the phone in the lockbox of the business. While searching for it, Krista found the front door to the business unlocked, texting Dave to alert him, telling him she was there looking for Max's phone.

Dave informed her he received a phone call from a man who had found a phone but assumed it was a different grandchild's phone that had been lost.

Found iPhone

Derek Nunnery was walking to his car after the Southeast game when he saw the iPhone "just sitting there" by the University Center, assuming a college student dropped it.

Seeing the phone was locked, Nunnery utilized the iPhone's built-in, virtual assistant, Siri, to locate the owner. Nunnery asked Siri to call Max's mom, then dad and eventually reached Dave.

Dave called his son Josh, the father of the grandchild he thought was the owner of the lost iPhone. Josh called Nunnery to determine whether the device is indeed one of his family's phones, asking Nunnery to drop the phone at LeGrand Brothers Transmission to be retrieved.

"I told Josh to please let me know if it's your phone or not. And if not, I'd like to get it to the right owner," Nunnery said.

Nunnery is a human resources coordinator at Saint Francis Medical Center and a travel agent for Nunnery Travels & Associates by Dream Vacations, as well as being involved with Young Life, a ministry on Southeast's campus. He believes in "valuing others' possessions" and "being a good steward."

"Everyone knows that feeling of losing a wallet or a phone, so I just wanted to make it as convenient as possible to get it back to the owner," Nunnery said.

Max is so thankful to have his phone back, vowing to never again set it somewhere unsafe. "I was scared. I was biting my nails. I was worried about my dad being mad because it is an expensive phone."

Krista praised Nunnery.

"He found the phone, then went through all of that work to return it. That takes effort," she said. "A lot of people may have left it on the street."

Set up Siri

Anyone with an Apple iPhone can allow the functionality used in this situation. Enable Siri in the settings app in order to use commands like Nunnery did.

In the case of a lost iPhone or if someone finds an iPhone, Siri offers commands to assist.

If the phone is locked, ask Siri who owns it: "Hey, Siri, who does this phone belong to?" The name, any photo and telephone number if the owner has included a landline or is on social media will appear, but the device itself will not allow calls to be made.

If that fails, do like Nunnery did, and try other questions, such as, "Call mom," "Call my brother" or "Call my husband/wife." If contacts have been identified with such relationships, the call will go through.

Another tip from imore.com is to keep the found phone charged and powered on, if possible, in case the owner tries calling it once realizing their phone is missing. Although it's odd to answer a phone that isn't yours, the caller may have information that helps locate the owner, or it may be the owner calling.

For more information on Siri's capabilities, visit www.apple.com/siri/.