Smartphones are the devices that spend the most time with us throughout the day, so we can be careless and lose sight of them at any time. But what do I do if I lose my phone or can’t find it at that precise moment? First of all, try to remember where you last left it to be lucky enough to find it, but if not, you should immediately apply some security methods so that no one steals your personal data.
Imagine that you are walking down the street and you need your cell phone to check a notification or make a call and when you feel in your pocket or bag you realize that your smartphone is not there and it is time to get alarmed and think about the worst. It is one of the worst sensations in our daily lives and to prevent an outsider from being able to access all your personal data, whether because your terminal has been stolen or you have lost it, it is best not to lose your cool and act as soon as possible by putting A series of security measures are in place to lock your smartphone.
What to do when I lose my phone?
ESET, one of the most important companies in terms of cybersecurity, explains that there are a set of guidelines in case you have lost your smartphone and you are worried that all your personal and confidential information could be stolen.
Lock the SIM card
First of all, what you should do is contact your Internet provider to block the SIM card and prevent anyone from making calls or contacting your friends or family through chat applications.
Next, you must contact everyone you know to inform them that you have lost your cell phone and that they should not answer calls or messages from it because your identity may have been stolen.
Lock your mobile
Next, regardless of the brand of mobile you have, you can lock your mobile or beep to find it if it is in a location near you:
- In the case of Android, you can enter this link to select your terminal to view the first and last connection of the phone, as well as other actions such as playing a sound to locate it, locking the device and deleting data from it.
- For its part, iOS has a similar way of locating your devices. To do this, go to the iCloud website and log in to select your device from all those you have registered in the list that will appear on the screen. There you can look at the last known location, but you can also lock it and update its status in lost mode, thus disabling all its content.
Use physical trackers
You can use GPS trackers to put them in suitcases, bags or purses, but also on cell phones and other electronic devices to keep you informed of their location at all times.
For example, you can purchase a small Apple AirTag or Samsung SmartTag tracker, which are small enough to fit on a mobile device. Thanks to their Bluetooth and ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, these tiny accessories operate using a secure frequency enabled by the company and that you can manage through Apple’s Find My or Samsung’s SmartThings Find applications.