This is a complete guide on what to do if you lost your android phone.
A misplaced/lost android phone or stolen phone can be upsetting in many ways. There are the evident repercussions that’ll affect your bank balance, but there are a bunch of other things to worry about such as your passwords, photos, and credit and debit card data that someone could acquire which is not safe for you or your wallet.
If your phone isn’t missing then don’t worry, here are some things you should do as a precautionary measure because we don’t realize just what will happen next.
If you are unfortunate and had your phone stolen or misplaced, I have listed some steps you should do as soon as you realise that it’s gone in order to minimise the risk of putting your confidential and personal data on the loose into the hands of a stranger.
What to do in case you didn’t lost your android phone?
We wish to never lose our phones.
Between the risk of it falling out of your pocket or being stolen by somebody else, it can happen to the most cautious of us. Instead of panicking after it’s taken off, you should have been taking the sufficient precautions so the harm from losing it will be minimised.
1. Install the Find my device app from Google play store.
You should enable Find my device in settings so you can make sure that you can actually find, remotely disable, and wipe your phone if it goes missing. This step will make it easier for you to recover your precious device, thus saving you a ton of headache and money.
To enable Find My Device on Android you need to:
- Go to Settings.
- Select Security.
- Select to Find My Device.
- Confirm that the toggle is turned on.
2.Backup Your data
Depending on what you keep on your phone, you’ll probably want to backup your all data. There are lots of ways you can do this and any of the prominent services will allow you to restore your data onto your new device without any headache.
The process of backing up your data is a must as it ensures your data is not only limited to the hardware of your phone,i.e.even if you lost the phone, you can be free from worrying about your data which will be readily available when you shift to a new device. Google is now providing a free mobile backup within the Google one app even for the free members so do check it out. There are many other third-party services which will give you backup and restore service but what’s better than the service offered by the same company which made Android.i.e.Google itself.
3.Set a secure and strong lock screen password
You should set a strong password, pin or pattern lock on your phone. That means not using 1234 or 1111. If somebody finds your lost or stolen mobile phone, the first thing they’re going to perform is to try to unlock it with a simple code, and that can lead to a bunch of dangers that you don’t wanna take risks with.
To enable this on Android, do this:
- Go to Settings.
- Click Security.
- Choose Screen lock under the Device security section.
- Choose the screen lock style you want.
- Enter a new PIN or pattern whatever you like.
- Note:-In-display optical Fingerprint and software-based face unlock are not secure.
The steps listed above are based on Google pixel devices, stock Android and Android one running phones. If you are using an Android from another OEMs, then the steps may be slightly different for you because of custom Android skin but the basic idea is same so you won’t have a problem finding these settings.
What to do if you lost your android phone?
If unfortunately your phone is stolen or lost, then don’t panic we got you covered. Follow these few steps to minimise the damage and with a little luck, you can track it too. Some of these steps might help you get it back, and some will make it so you don’t have your personal information stolen should you have lost hope and enough time locating the lost or stolen phone. For this make sure to make use of Google Find my device service, of course, you should have it enabled before it was lost or stolen.
1. Make it play a sound.
If you have enabled find my device as explained above before it got stolen or lost then you can play a sound on it through the find my device app from your laptop/pc or any of the friend’s device. Because sometimes the phone is just below the mattress and you think it is lost so this feature could come in Handy.
Here’s how to use this feature for android.
- Go to android.com/find.
- If prompted, sign in to your Google account.
- Click on your device.
- Click Play Sound.
2. Track your phone.
Another feature of this finds my device service from Google is that you can track your phone via GPS.(provided you have turned on the GPS tracking already in your device, then it could come in handy).
If you suspect your device is stolen, running off to the location shown could be dangerous and is inadvisable (you should report to the police instead). But if it’s just lost, tracking it via GPS might lead to wherever you misplaced it.
3. Try to contact your device.
If it’s really lost, someone may have found it and is trying to return it to you. If the person isn’t attempting to steal your phone, they probably can’t unlock it, but they will be able to answer a call and hopefully be able to meet up with you to return the device. It’s important to do this as soon as you realize it’s missing because once the phone’s battery is dead, the person who found it won’t be able to answer anymore.
Now if you are not able to contact your phone and even unable to trace it via GPS then the only option remains is to secure your data. The question is how? It’s simple you can do that by some of the methods listed below.
4.Lock your device
This process you should do when you are sure that your android phone is stolen and you don’t want your device data to be compromised by the thief as it will ensure no sensitive data is stolen. To do this, you will need to have enabled the feature before your phone went missing which you would have done already because it’s from the same service find my device from Google itself.
To do this, you need to follow the following steps.
- Go to android.com/find.
- If prompted, sign in to your Google account.
- Click on the device you want to disable.
- Click Secure device to lock it.
If you have your Android device activated and integrated on your Google account, you’ll be able to remotely disable it via the steps mentioned above.
5. Completely wipe out the data from your device.
After trying all the methods, when you are sure that you will not be able to recover your Android device then you should erase or wipe all the data from your device remotely. This will ensure that even if the thief manages to unlock the device then that person could not have access to your personal data. This process is necessary if you are sure that the device is stolen.
Follow these steps to completely wipe out your data remotely.
- Go to android.com/find.
- If prompted, sign in to your Google account.
- Click on the device you want to erase.
- Click Erase device.
Note:-Keep in mind that if you do manage to recover or find the lost or stolen phone of yours after performing this erase data step, all of the data on it will be erased and you may not be able to access the data. That’s why it is important to back up your device beforehand, as it’ll make your life much easier and will also help in setting up your new phone.
6.Inform your Telecom service provider
As soon as you are sure that the phone is stolen and is in wrong hands then inform your telecom service provider to hotlist your sim card and get you another one when you place a request so that the thief could not use your phone number to get your bank information and whatnot.
This will make it so the person who has your phone can’t actually use it. You probably don’t want them to be able to call and text your contacts if they manage to get through the security measures offered by your phone. Informing your carriers will keep your number and related information safe.
7. File a police complaint.
Filing an FIR when you lost the phone will give you proof and if fortunate enough you could even get your phone back. The FIR copy will also help you in getting a new sim card without much hassle.
When you are done with the above-given steps do follow these small steps which may come in handy.
- Change passwords for any accounts that are logged in
- Log out of all accounts remotely (bank, social media,etc.)
- Contact bank or credit cards if you use your device for payments to suspend that device usage to revoke access.
- Keep a close eye on all accounts for suspicious activity after it’s lost
I hope this will help you for sure, the methods and steps listed above are only for android devices. The steps for apple devices will be available soon. Stay tuned.
Do comment your thoughts and your queries below in the comments.
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