Last updated on | 9458 Views
Mobile phone thefts are on the rise these days, and losing a phone can be quite upsetting for all of us. After all, this little device is a treasure trove of a lot of information about us. So, getting it in the wrong hands can be outright dangerous. However, if you manage to take the right steps as soon as you realize that your phone is gone, you may save yourself from a lot of trouble.
This article focuses on what you should do in case you lose your phone and how you can protect the data from this stolen phone. If you need to know the same, continue to read further.
phone is lost or stolen?
If even after hours of searching, you cannot locate your phone, chances are it is not just temporarily misplaced but lost or even stolen. In such a case, it can be a wise choice to take some advanced steps towards protecting all the data and information present in it. These include:
- Report Your Missing Phone As Soon As Possible
By now, you must have tried calling your phone multiple times only to conclude that it is indeed lost or stolen. In this case, the immediate thing that you need to do is contact your mobile carrier and report a missing report. For better safety measures, filing a police report is an excellent idea, as well. In this case, if some unusual activity occurs from your device, you will not be blamed for it.
Further, as far as your carrier is concerned, it holds the power to suspend or disconnect service to your phone. This way, unauthorized cellular usage can be avoided. So, you need to call your carrier at the earliest. However, if you do not have access to a phone, you can also report your lost phone on their website merely by logging in to your account.
- Call Your Institutions
Next, call your bank and report about your phone. The same goes for credit card companies. They will block your card and account for the time, and you can protect data from the lost phone. Also, doing so will prevent any possible fraudulent charges and unauthorized account activities.
- Seek and Destroy the Important Data
As soon as you complete the above two steps, log on to your “find my phone” service. Do this from a secure device. Then, try locating your phone on the map. If it is quite far, use the erase button. Doing so will protect data from the stolen phone. However, you will lose it all. Now, if you have a cell phone spy app installed on your phone, you need not worry about the data loss. Such an application comes with a backup plan. Also, you can use it to locate your device, as well.
- Change Important Passwords
The next step to protect data from the stolen phone is to change your important passwords. For this, go to the possible nearest device and log into every account that is running on your lost phone. This may be anything – banking applications, shopping sites, emails, social apps, etc. Make sure to change all the passwords.
Things you can do to protect your mobile data before stolen
If you lose your phone, you can follow the above steps to protect your data from the stolen phone. However, you can do the following beforehand to ensure that your mobile phone always remains safe:
- Use A Strong Screen Password
Your screen password is the initial and strongest line of defense to protect data from a stolen phone. Now, for this, you can either set a 4-digit PIN, password, or a pattern lock. Usually, people prefer the pin or the pattern lock to protect their screens. However, these are not strong enough. So, you need to skip them and instead create a strong password.
Now, you may wonder how to know if it is strong enough. Well, just make sure that it is at least eight characters long and consists of a combination of numerals, letters, and some special characters. For instance, if your password, say Davis1984, is associated with you, it is a weak password. However, if you use Dav!s2619 can be much more challenging to crack.
- Always Use ‘Find My Phone’ App
Google’s “Find My Device” feature or the “Find my mobile” service of your phone can come in handy when you lose your phone and want to protect data from the stolen phone. Using them, you can not only find your Android phone’s location but also lock your phone and erase any data on it. Further, for an iPhone, this feature is called “Find my iPhone”. Thus, as soon as you get your phone, make sure to activate this feature in case you lose your phone.
- Attach A Note on The Phone
You can tap a tiny note on the back of your phone. This can contain your email address or a work number so that if any honest individual finds your phone, they can contact you to give it back. Further, some cell phones allow us to include this information on the home screen. However, if you decide to erase the data from your phone, it will be lost and no longer show on the screen. Also, on this note, avoid providing your personal number and other details. You do not want potential predators to get it.
- Make Sure to Back Up Your Photos and Videos
Your photos and videos may be important to you. However, when you decide to erase the data if your phone is stolen, it will be lost. To avoid this, you can back up these media files. This can be done on the iPhone’s iCloud and for Android phones on google drive. This way, your precious memories will never be lost.
Another thing that you can do to save your phone data is to install cell phone monitoring software on your phone. These usually come packed with a backup plan, and you can access every piece of information on their dashboard even after deleting them. Spymaster Pro is one such application that you can use. The following infographic will give you a brief idea about what this cell phone spy app actually is:
- Record Your Phone’s IMEI Number
Not many may know this, but it is possible to track a lost phone using IMEI number. Yes, you read that right. Smartphones come with a unique serial number – International Mobile Station Equipment Identity Number (IMEI Number). This number is not removable and is etched into the circuit of the phone. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to alter it. You can readily use this number to locate your lost phone.
However, the steps to do so are not that simple. And they can be quite challenging to follow in case your phone actually goes missing. In such a scenario, you can rely on cell phone spy software.
- Use A Cell Phone Monitoring Software
Mobile phone thefts are on the rise these days. Therefore, safeguarding your phone beforehand is a wise choice. While the above choices may help, the best thing you can do to protect data from a stolen phone is to use a spy app. Spymaster Pro is the best cell phone surveillance app that you can use for it. However, it is available for iOS, as well. To get started with the Spymaster Pro iPhone spy, you can just use the iCloud credentials of your phone as Spymaster Pro offers no-installation and no-jailbreak solutions for iPhones.
Conclusion – What to Do If You Recover Your Phone?
Now, if after all the struggle, you manage to find your phone, wipe it anyway as you never know if someone has installed any malicious app on it that can steal your data. So, to protect data from the stolen phone, do this even if you get it back. This way, there will be no future threats related to your phone. However, as soon as you do it, make sure to set up all the safety measures we have mentioned above. You will have to install the cell phone spy software again too.
