Table of Contents
Introduction
Losing a phone, it’s a real risk and can happen to anyone.
We all have lost a phone at some point, and it’s essential not to panic at the moment and take proper steps to keep your data secure.
In this blog, we are providing you, with essential things to do immediately, if you lost your phone.
Following things to do when your phone is lost or stolen
Try Calling Your Number Immediately
The first thing you should do in case of a lost phone, calls it from another number. Maybe you have not lost it yet; perhaps you have replaced it with someone’s phone or mistakenly left it at a store. If your phone is not on silent, you can still hear it and find it.
Lock Down Your Phone
It is always suggested for Android and iOS users to keep their phones locked with patterns i.e face-recognition lock, fingerprint, voice-recognition lock, passwords, etc.
You can lock your phone Android device remotely;
You can use the Android Device Manager and look for the recent location of your device with the Find My Device option with the same Google id. you also get a chance to secure your device to start displaying a message on the smartphone. You can even erase your device remotely with Android Find My Device
Track Your Phone Using GPS when Lost my Phone
If calling does not help, try to locate the phone using your phone’s GPS.
For that, you have to activate your phone’s GPS from the start. if you haven’t activated your phone’s GPS from the start, this method won’t help you at all.
Your Android devices come with an inbuilt location tracking service that tracks the activities you do with your mobile phone.
For example, you can log in to your Google account from another device and go to Google Location History to track your lost phone’s current location.
And with the help of Android Find My Device for Android or Find My iPhone and can check the recent location of your smartphone.
Erase all the Data Remotely
If the person who took your phone, maybe he got it took out the battery and sim card as well. that is the reason GPS is not enough to know your phone’s location.
In that case, you can erase all your data from your Google account or iCloud, but remember that this won’t let you track your device again. But if you had kept a backup of all your data before you lost my phone, you can restore it
File a Report Your Stolen or Lost Phone
If you think you have not lost your phone, maybe it was stolen, then report it as soon as possible to the police Though the chance of getting your phone back is nearly zero, you can at least show the reference number to demand your insurance. First, however, you need to make sure that your phone is stolen and not lost.
Deactivate your SIM card
As soon as you find out that your phone is not receiving any calls from you, contact your service provider to ask them to suspend your SIM card. Of course, this will not get your phone back, but you can at least prevent the misuse of your number.
Moreover, if your mobile wallets are linked to your phone number, then the person who stole your phone can rob your account, as the OTP will be sent to your phone number during a purchase. This is a stressful situation.
Secure Your Online Accounts
The moment someone finds your phone or steals it from you, that person can quickly look into your social media accounts and pretend to be you. They can access your Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and other networks and text people. To prevent this, change your passwords from all accounts, including Google and other emails you have.
Unlink Your Accounts
Change your password: if changing passwords does not give you that mental satisfaction, you can manually unlink all your cloud accounts. Unlinking your cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc., can also stop the syncing process, making your accounts safer. You can do this from your desktop or another mobile device by going to the account’s security page and removing your lost device from the list.