IPhone – Does “Erase All Data” feature on iPhone disable “Find the Phone”

Which iPhone OS and model do you have? The newer ones encrypt the data and the erase deletes the key. The chances of DIY recovery are slim. If you pull it off, you probably can get hired for iPhone forensics and make some serious salary doing that professionally.

Older devices are more amenable to typical recovery efforts. Either way you will need a forensic tool like PhoneView to access the filesystem. Once mounted you could try something like Data Rescue. Neither tool was designed for this, so you should try the free versions first before spending money on them.

The professional data recovery houses will likely charge an arm and a leg to get your data back - but at least you can get a quote if you really need them back at all cost.

Be sure to double check your camera roll isn't backed up to iTunes or on Time Machine. It would be far simpler to restore the device to an old backup and get the photos off intact. You would lose any photos taken after the backup time, though.

If you have enabled data security (iOS 4.3 and iPhone 4 are one combination that enables this security), you're likely deep in the hurt locker. See iOS 4: Understanding data protection to tell if you enabled data protection. In a nutshell, that means the filesystem was encrypted and the erase destroyed the key to the encrypted files. You will need industrial grade forensics to get things back if the phone was powered off immediately after the erase. Using it after the erase will rapidly overwrite the scrambled data irreversably.

As soon as the device connects to the internet, Apple's servers will send the erase message to the phone. I have seen this happen three weeks after the message was sent and the effect was nearly immediate.

I don't know of any way to recall the erase message once you've sent it, and you should receive an email if the device ever registers and the erase message is sent.

All the things you did after the erase request are moot since if the phone never checks in, you can't really stop the erase and if it does ever check in, it will get erased and self remove from your list of devices.

You might open a support ticket with Apple to be sure the email will send if you erase the device (I haven't actually tested that sequence), but common sense says you might expect the email if the erase ever gets issued.