A woman whose iPhone was stolen in Southend, Essex, just couldn't stop laughing when she narrated how she was able to retrieve her smartphone from her Apple-pickers. Because her iPhone had been subscribed to Photo Stream and iCloud, she was able to literally identify her thieves right from the photos they took using her smartphone.

"I'm guessing these "gentlemen" aren't quite aware of how iPhones work," Becky Brinklow, a 27-year old nurse, said.

"They decided to take my phone down to the beach to have a lovely day and use it to take many, many pictures, unaware that my photo stream and iCloud were both turned on."

iCloud functions by streaming photos, contacts and other information on an iPhone to an online account. Even without the actual smartphone unit, these are readily accessible from a laptop or other device.

Instead of immediately reacting with anger, seeing those photos gave off a hilarious moment for Ms Brinklow who viewed them along with her boyfriend.

"It was actually quite comical looking through the pictures and me and my fiancé Tom ended up laughing about the men and all their posing."

"It was funny seeing these strangers down to just their pants - they certainly liked posing for a picture."

Taking the iPhone with them to a beach at Southend, Essex, the still unidentified Apple picker thieves were seen in their photos stripped down to their boxer shorts, in lots of embarrassing pictures and 'selfies,' or self-portraits.

Ms Brinklow immediately worried for the dozens of photos stored in her iPhone when it got stolen. Good thing she had insurance so she was able to receive a replacement unit. Then she immediately went online to access all her pictures, most specially that of her 16-month-old son Henry, and transfer them to the new one.

"I went online and thought "this is strange" - there were all these pictures of these men and their friends at the beach."

Her iPhone, according to her fiancé, was stolen last Wednesday while eating lunch at Varsity, in Chichester Road, Southend.

Eventually, Ms Brinklow blocked the iPhone and wiped it dry and clean, rendering it useless to the Apple-picking thieves.

Then, "we used the 'Find My iPhone' app to find out roughly where they live."

All the information and images have now been passed to police.