Preparing Your Phone for Lost and Stolen Scenarios
Consider a scenario; you reach into your pocket and realize your phone isn’t there – only to find out you left it at a friend’s house.
Next time, it can be at the mall, inside a taxi, or worse, someone can snatch it right from your bag. Although there are some measures, you can take to locate, and if you’re lucky, retrieve your mobile.
But surely, the chances of getting your device back are slim. I know you do not want anyone to access the contents of your phone.
Today, I’ll explain how to prepare your phone to cope with a lost or stolen situation.
Set up A Locator Function
Your phone may be merely resting on a café table or stuck under the back seat of your car. Either way, you need a locator function to confirm if that’s the case, or if someone has swiped your device.
1. Activate the Find-My-Phone Feature
Whether you own an Android or Apple mobile, the find-my-phone feature can instantly locate your device – as long as you have this functionality set up beforehand.
Android phones have a phone locator application called Google Find My Device, while Apple users can use Find My iPhone app.
On the other hand, there are model-specific phone finder applications such as Samsung’s Find My Mobile app. Ensure that you have the corresponding application installed, upgraded, and adequately set up.
In case you misplace your phone, you can visit the application website from any browser and log in with your account ID.
The application will pinpoint your phone’s location on a map. Once you know where your phone is, you can retrieve it. However, if it appears to be changing coordinates, it’s likely stolen.
2. Install A Phone Tracker Application
Apart from the standard pre-installed phone locator applications in your mobile, you can use a phone tracker application that uses GPS to track your phone and monitor activities.
Such location-tracking applications can guide you through a route, so you can easily trace it. The phone tracker application may also inform you right away, if your phone is lost or if someone is accessing and using your phone’s apps.
What if your phone isn’t lost, but has landed into the wrong hands? Read on to know what to do:
Protect Your Data
You hold out hope to be reunited with your precious device, and of course, there are chances you’ll get it back. Still, no one should be able to use your phone or access sensitive information such as passwords and financial details. Therefore, it’s crucial to take measures to keep your data secure. Here’s how:
1. Phone Locks
The simplest way to protect your valuable data is to use a phone lock. Advanced mobiles allow you to set multiple backup lock options, as well.
So apart from a PIN, pattern, or password, it’s advisable to use a backup fingerprint or facial recognition lock.
However, this still doesn’t fully guarantee that a thief can’t access your data – phone locks can be cracked. You’ll need to deploy other methods as well to make sure no one can misuse sensitive data.
2. Device Back-ups
It’s good practice to carry out regular backups of essential data. For instance, a cloud mobile application will keep your data secure and readily available.
If you’ve set up such an app, you can also use its remote wipe feature to erase necessary data immediately. Other applications such as Apple’s Find My iPhone and Android’s Find My Device also allow you to lock or erase your device remotely.
However, they’ll only work if you have your data properly backed up.
3. Set Secure Passwords
Make sure you set strong, unique passwords, especially for financial accounts, app stores, and e-mails. Avoid autosaving passwords, so no one can log in to your applications if they get a hold of your device.