Does wipe all data from iPhone really work? - 1

Someone stole my iPhone today.
With the app "find me" I was able to track it to a building; it was not very successful because more than 500 people lived there.
My cellphone was already off so there was not point on even trying to call or message.
So after going to the police -and wasting more time- I went home and "wiped it".

I understand that the wiping won't occur until the person that took my phone turns it on. And that I'll receive an email notifying that my iPhone was wiped once this occurred.

My questions.
Does it really work?
Did someone had the same situation with the same app?
And
Until what extend does the wiping go? I already blocked the line, so they won't be using my number, but my email is there with all my contacts, do these get erased too? What about the pictures (with the places)?

I'm sorry you've had to go through this.

Yes, the wiping will occur the next time the thief connects to the internet over either Wi-Fi or 3G from the phone. The wiping does "work". An experienced hacker might be able to recover data from the phone's internal storage but I can virtually guarantee this won't happen to you.

The wiping "re-flashes" iOS to the phone. In other words, it doesn't actually delete things like your email or contacts. It sets your phone to exactly how it came out of the box. On the one hand, now the thief can't access your information - the phone has deleted all of your apps, settings, and customizations. On the other hand, now except for the serial number this phone is untracable.

Unfortunately, all of your pictures will be deleted from the phone - UNLESS you have backed these up beforehand to iCloud. If you didn't do this before the phone was stolen, you will have lost your photos.