How-To: Remotely Wipe an iPhone Using MS Exchange Server

Keep Prying Eyes Out of Your iPhone

In a corporate environment, the loss of a device  is a major ordeal. Apple has touted the MobileMe remote wiping capabilities, but what if you don’t use MobileMe?

If you are in a corporate environment, you probably connect to an exchange server for mail most of the times. Using OWA (Outlook Web Access) you can remotely wipe your lost or stolen iPhone/iPod touch and breath easy knowing your data is safe.

Source: The Apple Blog

This all relies on using the Exchange email push functionality in the iPhone OS

First thing all you have to do is access your company’s web mail using OWA (Outlook Web Access)

1. After you successfully login, click on the Options button in the top right.
   
2. Now click on the Mobile Devices option in the left-hand menu.
   
3. You should now see your iPhone or iPod touch device listed. Click the radio button next to your device and the click Wipe All Data from Device…
   
4. You will get a confirmation dialog to confirm you really want to do this. After you confirm, the Status will change to Pending Wipe.
   
5. The next time your iPhone/iPod touch has an internet connection and checks in with Exchange, a secure wipe is initiated. This is what the screen looks like to the user.
   
6. After the wipe has been started, the status for the device in OWA will change to Wipe Successful and you can remove the device from the list.

Please note that it will take about an hour to wipe the device so you can’t use it during that time

After the wipe, you can restore from a backup in iTunes. Since this is done in OWA, you don’t even have to bother about  your Network Admin.

Tagged as: click, device, Exchange, iPhone, ipod-touch, left hand menu, microsoft, outlook web access, OWA