5 Steps To Do If You Lost Your Phone

If you just got your phone stolen or lost, keep calm. These are the 5 steps that you need to do first. These few simple steps may help you to secure back your phone.

1. GIVE YOUR PHONE A CALL

The easiest thing to do once you realised your phone is no longer in your pocket to is to give your phone a call. However, this would not work if you set your phone on silent and non-vibrating. Just borrow your friends or family’s phone and try calling your phone.

For iPhone users

If you are using iPhone, you can make your phone to ring by either going to iCloud.com or use the “Find iPhone” app. You can use the “Find iPhone” app from other Apple devices such as iPad. Here are the steps to make your iPhone to ring

And if you are using Android, you can use Hangout or Skype to call to your phone from a laptop. Depending on the instant messaging application, there might be cost to call your phone.

lost iphone

2. LOCK YOUR PHONE

After you done step 1 but you still could not find your phone, you must always assume that it is stolen. Even though there is a possibility that you misplaced or left it at other places, always lock your phone immediately if you are not sure where they are.

This is a security precaution to protect your valuable confidential data in your phone. The loss of monetary value is not that significant if compared to the loss of your private confidential data in your phone. So, how do you lock your phone immediately once lost?

Here are the steps

For iPhone Users
You can remotely lock your phone by using this simple steps. You can also visit iCloud.com to do the same function.

Step 1
Tap on the “Find iPhone” app or go to iCloud.com

Step 2
Choose the “Lost Mode” option to lock your phone.

iphone lost mode

When your iPhone is in Lost Mode, you can basically Lock your iPhone and can only be open with the passcode that you have set earlier on.You can display a custom message on the screen iPhone remotely. You can type a message asking anybody who found your iPhone to return it back to you. Any credit or debit cards in the wallet for Apple pay will be suspended immediately.

For Android phone users, you can use these steps to lock your phone

Step 1
Go to android.com/devicemanager and sign in to your Google account.

Step 2
Choose the device that is lost.

Step 3
Choose Lock


3. PROTECT YOUR DATA 

So, after you have lock your phone, the next best thing is to protect the data in your phone. This must be done if you feel that your phone have been stolen and might be in the wrong hands. Here are steps you can do to protect the data in your lost phone

For iPhone, you can erase your data remotely by using this simple steps.

erase iphone

Step 1
Go to the Find iPhone App or iCloud.com

Step 2
Choose the Erase iPhone Mode

The erase process will only begin once your device is online. However, if you have erase your iPhone but you manage to found it later, you can restore the information on your iPhone using the iCloud Backup.

For Android Users, you can erase your data by following these simple steps.

Step 1
Go to your Android Device Manager at Android.com/devicemanager

Step 2
Choose Erase

Log out from your Gmail account on your phone

Another step that you need to take to protect your data is to quickly log out from your Gmail that is connected to your phone remotely. This is to protect any private and confidential data from your Gmail to fall onto the wrong hands. Follow these simple steps to log out from your Gmail account in your phone remotely.

Step 1
Go to myaccount.google.com

Step 2
Log onto your account

Step 3
Choose the ‘Find Your Phone’ option

Step 4
Choose the ‘Sign out on your phone’ option

4. TRACK YOUR PHONE’S LOCATION

After locking and erasing your phone, the next best step is to try tracking your phone’s location. Luckily, we are now in the era of smartphones and therefore tracking your phone either by GPS or IP is now possible. Here are the steps you need to take to locate your phone.

For iPhone users
The best method to track your lost iPhone is by using the ‘Find iPhone’ app that already pre-installed in your iPhone. With the iCloud environment, you are able to track where are your Apple devices are located in a map. Follow these simple steps

find iphone

Step 1
Tap the Find iPhone app or go to iCloud.com

Step 2
Choose the device that you have lost

Step 3
The app or the website will immediately shows you the location of your device if it is on or the last location it is on.

Read more on the top 3 ways how to track your iPhone here.

For Android Users
You can use Google Maps to see the Timeline of your location. The timeline tracks the device that you singed into using your Google account. Google uses your location, search and browsing info to track the location.

Step 1
Go to Google Maps and logged into your account

Step 2
Click on Your Timeline

Step 3
Google Maps will show you the route your devices have taken. You need enable this prior to using this feature

Read more here on the top 3 ways you can track your phone using Google

5. DO A POLICE REPORT

After all of that steps have been done, you then need to do a police report if you are convinced that your phone have been stolen. Important information to put in the police report are
1. Description of your phone. (Model, Colour, etc.)
2. IMEI number of your phone. Read here on how to find your IMEI number
3. Last place that you remember having your phone
4. Suspected place where it was stolen or missing
5. Show the location of the phone that you have tracked using Step 4 (Applicable only if you manage to track that phone)

So, there you have it the 5 steps you can immediately do if you just got your phone stolen or lost.

How to Turn Off GPS on iPhone

The term GPS have become a synonymous with our life and many people now are carrying one or two gadgets that have GPS enabled. GPS stands for Global Positioning System and it is one of the key component in tracking your phone’s position. This function have become a pre-requisite to any smartphones available in the market. However, manufacturers and developers will give the option to users to either turn on or turn of GPS on the phone. The GPS function have also become the key backbone for many apps that is being developed for the smartphones.

The GPS function is normally embedded as a default in many of the smartphones available in the market. GPS is basically a technology that uses space-based satellite navigation system that will allow information such as location to be distributed and accessible by a GPS receiver.

Almost all smartphones are equipped with a GPS receiver and therefore allows it to receive information on location from the satellite. However, some user probably wants to protect some of its privacy and therefore it is best sometimes to disable the GPS. So, how you can disable a GPS in your smartphones.

turn off GPS

Depends on the settings of your phones, normally the function to turn on or off the GPS is located in the settings of your smartphones. If you are using iPhone, the best way to disabled or enabled the GPS locator is by following this step:-

Step 1
Open the iPhone’s setting

Step 2
Look at privacy section

turn off gps iphone

Step 3
Tap the ‘Location Services’ and turn off the location services.

By turning the location services off, you will not be able to track your phone using the “Find My Iphone”. You can also turn off the GPS locator on each of the individual apps.

If you are using Android, the similar function can be found by opening settings and then choose location and then uncheck the GPS satellite. This will turn off the function of GPS in your android phones. But by disabling your GPS settings, you will not be able to use apps that relies on GPS such as navigation apps.