Film Student Gets His iPhone Stolen To Document The Thief's Secret Life

After Dutch film-student Anthony van der Meer’s phone was stolen, he came up with a quirky idea: 'Have your phone stolen again but track it’s ‘second-life’ this time around.'

According to a report on PetaPixel, Meer installed a hidden application on his new iPhone and had it stolen. He then used the anti-theft app Cerebrus to track his phone and create a 22-minute documentary which is creepy yet engrossing.

Using Cerebrus, Meer was able to access his phone whenever it was connected to the internet and capture pictures, audio and even videos which he packed it into one surreal documentary clip.

The documentary, titled ‘Find My Phone’ begins with Meer asking “What kind of person steals a phone? And where do stolen phones eventually end up?,” He follows it up with: “‘Find My Phone’ follows a stolen phone’s second life by using spyware.” The result has Meer’s several unsuccessful attempts at having his phone stolen and then tracking the thief for several weeks after and even listening in on his conversations.

Since it was posted on Reddit, the clip has gone viral and Meer is perhaps the only one capable of raising relevant question where this social experiment is concerned: “Although you’ll meet the person behind the theft up close and personal, the question remains,” he writes. “How well can you actually get to know someone when you base yourself on the information retrieved from their phone?”

Here is Anthony van der Meer’s internet masterpiece.