Losing a smart phone is no less than a catastrophe as it contains all our important information and data. Which includes but not limited to those innumerable logins, your credit card details, your phone banking details, those plentiful pictures of yours and much more. Thus it is natural to panic when our smartphone get lost or stolen.
So it is a good idea to stay prepared for the calamity in case you may ever lose your smartphone phone in the future. Taking care of the following important points will prepare you amply so that you may panic a little less in case such a situation arises:
#1 Secure the Data:
Latest versions of smartphone offers plenty of options to improve the data security like screen locks, lock codes and pins that are highly helpful in ensuring nobody can unlock it. There are also third party mobile applications are available online to enhance to data security of your smartphone.
Enabling the lock screen is the basic and important feature to avoid unauthorized access to your smartphone data. Theft will have to do factory reset to access the smartphone but in that case, the entire data will be erased from the phone.
#2 Back Up: Take regular backup of important information like photographs, emails, contact book etc. If you are using android phone, you can sync the data to Google drive and the same facility is available for Apple phones. Do sync your phone with your laptop or on cloud to upload regular backup of important information. You can also use third party mobile applications like Dropbox to upload regular backup online.
#3 Install a good Tracking Software: Many advanced tracking software allow you to locate or trace back your smartphone if you have enabled location information from your privacy setting. Apple iCloude and Android device manager are few of the back example of it. There are third party apps also available in market which can intimate you when someone tries to unlock your device. Find My iPhone, MyLookout.com and Plan B are some of such software offers this facility.
Also Read – 8 Useful Mobile Applications to Simplify Your Daily Life
#4 Make a note of important device info: This may sound mundane but is actually a great idea. It is not a very good plan to stay dependent on the phone for everything. You should note down the IMEI number and your device serial number. You should also note down the most important parts like your important contacts, logins or credit card details somewhere so that you can access them whenever you need them.
These were some basic tips to avoid major issue but there are few important things you will have to do immediately after you lost your smartphone. Here are those 7 important tips for you:
#1 Call your smart phone immediately: Calling up your number using someone else’s phone is the most logical thing to do since you never know someone might have it and wants to contact you to return the phone. If you get it back than you are the luckiest person!
#2 Locate your phone:
In case you cannot trace your smartphone within a few minutes of losing it and if you have tracking software installed or any other inbuilt apps on your phone then use it immediately to get the location history of your phone. In case of you have an iPhone; you may use the Apple iCloud ‘Find my iPhone’ app that will allow you to locate your phone from another Apple device. You can even erase all data from your smartphone using this facility or even can lock the phone.
Android Users can track their phone using Android Device Manager platform. This information will help you to identify the place where your phone is lost. Immediately rush to that location and see if you can find the phone.
#3 Contact your operator: If above two options doesn’t work, you will have to block your sim card immediately to avoid any misuse of your smart phone. So call up your cellular operator immediately and block all the services. This will prevents misuse of your phone and would take some burden off your head.
#4 Change all online passwords: Changing the passwords of all your online accounts including the banking applications, social media sites and any other important logins that were using from your Smartphone. You should also change the passwords of your cloud storage platforms that you synced from your Smartphone. The most important step would be to secure your financial and sensitive information.
Here i would also suggest changing security questions and their answers to avoid any recovery options for the theft.
#5 Remotely Wipe Data: Many tracking software’s or applications allow you to delete all the personal information from your Smartphone so do it first. This option will only work if you have implemented this app or software facility for your smartphone.
#6 Report as soon as possible: It is always advisable to report stolen or lost phone complain as early as possible. Take all your recommended documents to the police station and report complain about your stolen / lost phone. This can be helpful in-case if your smartphone has been used for illegal purpose by theft in the future.
#7 Inform all your family members and friends: They must be worrying about you when your phone went unanswered or switched off. If you are away from town and lost your phone somewhere then first make a call to your family members or friends.
Be smart and use smartphones smartly.
Have you ever experienced any of such situation where you lost your smartphone and did not recover the same using first two options? If yes, what action you took after loosing your smartphone? Do share your experience here by comment.