Category Archives: Lost Phone

How to Find Your Lost Phone when the Battery is Dead (Step-by-Step Guide)

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So, you just lost your phone and you fear that the battery is also dead. Your chances of finding your phone are very low. However, as the saying goes, “Never say never”. There are still many ways how you can still find your lost phone by retrieving your phone’s last location before it went dead.

However, if your phone was stolen, the last tracked location might be irrelevant as your phone can be anywhere else. But, to know where are your phone’s last location might help you are the local enforcers in tracking down your stolen phone.

Here we are going to show the options that you can take to find your lost phone even if your phone’s battery might be dead.

TRY TRACING BACK YOUR STEPS TO FIND YOUR LOST PHONE

The first thing you should do if you just lost your phone and you think the phone is not on, is to manually trace back your step. Trackback your last activities and where have you have been prior you realised that you have lost your phone. Sometimes, you have just probably misplaced in somewhere near you.

VIEW THE LAST LOCATION USING GOOGLE’S “FIND MY DEVICE”

Previously known as the Android Device Manager, Google has an application that helps track all your Android-based device. The Google platform is now called “Find My Device”.

Here are the steps on how to use it.

Step 1

Go to https://www.google.com/android/find

You can also search in the Google Search Engine by typing “Find My Device”

Step 2

If you use any phone that uses Android, it will show your phone’s last here in a map

VIEW THE LAST LOCATION USING “FIND IPHONE”

Besides Android, if you are using an iPhone, you can use the iOS “Find iPhone” to track your lost phone before the battery went dead. You need to log into your Apple account using a PC or laptop.

Here are the steps.

Step 1

Go to https://www.iCloud.com

Sign in to your iCloud account using your Apple ID

Step 2

In your iCloud account, click at “Find iPhone”

Step 3

Click at “All Devices” to see all of your Apple connected devices

Step 4

Click at the iPhone that you have lost

The location is based on the location of your lost iPhone before it runs out of power or turned off

VIEW LAST LOCATION USING CLOUD STORAGE SERVICES

If you have been using a cloud storage services to backup your file in your phone such as Dropbox, it is highly likely that your Dropbox account has the latest location of your lost phone due to the syncing process.

Here are the steps.

Step 1

If you use Cloud storage services such as Dropbox, go to the site and log into your account

Step 2

In your account, click at “Settings”

Step 3

At Settings, go to “Security”

Find devices that are linked to your Dropbox for syncing

It will show you the device last location when it wan syncing and connected before it went dead

VIEW LAST LOCATION USING YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT

If your lost phone has used any of Google product or services such as Gmail, you can track it last location using your Google account.

Here are the steps.

Step 1

Go to https://www.google.com/account

Step 2

Log into your Google account. Make sure you log into the Google account or Gmail account that you have used in your lost phone.

Step 3

Once you have logged into your Google account, click at “Security”

Step 4

At Security, go to “Your Devices”

Click at “Find a lost device”

Step 5

At “Your devices”, find the phone that you have lost and click “More details”

Step 6

At the details of the device, click at “Find device”

Step 7

At the bottom of the screen, it will show you the phone’s last tracked location

So, there you have it – Five ways how you can still find your lost phone even when the battery is dead. Please leave us a comment below on what other ways that you can use to find your lost phone even when your phone is dead.

Please read also our previous article on how to find your lost iPhone if the location was turned off.

Top 3 Things To Do Once Your Phone Got Stolen

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So, you thought it would never happen to you. You just got your phone stolen. For most people, their phone is considered one of their most precious possession. The phone is kept with them all the time. So, the thought of their phone got stolen is very far away from their mind.

However, misfortunes do sometimes happen in life. Also, when they do, it is vital that you know what to do precisely so that you can lessen trouble. In the case of a stolen phone, you can track your phone back or minimise the lost.

So, here are the top 3 things you should do once you’re just realised your phone just got stolen.

These tips are for iPhone users only

1. LOCK YOUR PHONE IMMEDIATELY

Once you realised that your phone just got stolen. Use this step immediately to lock your phone.

How to remotely lock your iPhone 1

Step 1
Go to this website
https://www.icloud.com/#find

You then need to enter your Apple ID there to use the function. However, if you forgot your Apple ID, read this article on how you can retrieve your Apple ID

Step 2
Select the Apple device that has been stolen

How to remotely lock your iPhone 1

Step 3
Once it shows you the location of your iPhone, turn the “Lost Mode” on so that your iPhone will get locked

Enter your phone’s number and message so that the thief would not easily sell your phone to other people.

However, this is optional. You may do not want to share your phone’s number with the thief if you have reasons for it.

The screen of your stolen phone will be seen like this each time it is activated.

How to remotely lock your iPhone 4


2. REPORT YOUR LOST

If you manage to track your stolen phone location, never try to retrieve it on your own. By extracting it your own, it may put you in a dangerous situation. Report it to the authorities and let the police do the retrieving of the phone.

how to report lost of iPhone

However, the police might want some details on the phone so that they will know which phone is the one that is stolen. The features of the phone that you can include in the report are
1. IMEI number
2. ICCID number
3. Phone’s model and brand
4. Colour of your phone
5. When do you last have your phone
6. The “Find iPhone” report on the last location

You can also report you’re lost to your phone’s network operator. They can block the phone from using the cell phone network. This way, you would not be billed for any unauthorised use of your cellular data.

Read here in our previous article on how you can get the phone’s details. It is essential you note all the phone’s features down earlier on.


3. ERASE THE DATA ON YOUR PHONE

However, if you know that your phone got stolen you do not want to track it, you can erase your phone immediately. This is important if you do not wish to your sensitive data such as pictures and notes in your iPhone to be used by unwanted personnel.

When you have erased your iPhone, the activation lock is still there until you can retrieve back your phone. However, you will not be able to locate it using Find iPhone once you have erased it. So, make sure the delete option is the last option you will do in case your phone got stolen.

Here are the steps on how to remotely erase data on your iPhone.

Step 1
Go to https://www.icloud.com/#find

Step 2
At the website, select the Apple device you want to erase the data remotely

How to remotely erase data on iPhone 1

Step 3
Select the “Erase iPhone” option. This will remotely erase all your iPhone’s data to the factory settings default.

However, once you remotely erase your iPhone’s data, you can no longer track it. You can restore your data if you have backup all of your data into the iCloud regularly before it got stolen.

So, there you have it. The top 3 things you should immediately do once you found out that your phone just got stolen. For Android users, the step is almost the same, but you can do it with the Android Device Manager. Read here how you can track your lost phone using Android Device Manager.

Please leave us a comment on how you find this tips helpful and if you have any experience of your phone got stolen.

Read also our previous article on the ultimate guide on how to track a lost phone.

5 Tips on How to Avoid Losing Your Smartphones

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Smartphones nowadays has become more and more important to people’s daily live. They could not seem to get through their daily life without it. When you lost your smartphone, it is not just about the face value of your smartphone but also the intrinsic value of the data and information kept in your smartphones. Based on study by Lookout, the highest value the data on your smartphones are your photos and your contacts.

So, where and when do people normally lost their phone? Based on a survey conducted by Lookout Mobile Security, 44% of smartphones were stolen once the owners forgot and left them in public places. The most common places people left their smartphones are in restaurants and nightclubs. This fact shows that you can avoid the theft of your smartphone only if you have not forgotten to put back your smartphone into your pocket or purse. From the survey also shows that only 14% got their smartphones stolen or rob from their car or in their house.

However, with risk comes also the mitigation plan. You need to be prepare and do precautious step to avoid losing your most important device. Here are five tips on how to avoid smartphones lost and theft

5-tips-on-how-to-avoid-losing-your-smartphones

MAKE IT A HABIT

Make it a habit to put your smartphones immediately in your pocket or purse after using it. How to make this into a habit? You can start forming a new habit by consciously putting your smartphones in front of your pocket for 21 straight days. This will make your action to a subconscious action in which you will always make sure your smartphone guarded consistently.

Another bad habit is by putting your smartphones on the restaurant table once you use it. This increases the risk of you forgetting the smartphones once you left the place. Make it a habit to immediately put your smartphones back into your pocket or in your purse once you have used it. Also never make it a habit to give your smartphones to your kids during your outings in public places.

AUTOMATE YOUR SILENT MODE

Another main reason people lost their phone is that could not locate it because it is in silent mode. Therefore this makes finding your phone a bit more difficult. Probably many people are not aware of this is that you can actually automate your phone’s silent mode. Therefore you do not have to worry if your phone suddenly ringing when you are in the meeting just because you forgotten to put it in silent mode. This also will ensure that your smartphones are not in silent mode each time you are in public places. You can set when your phone should be on silent mode when it should not. Read and view here on how to automate your iPhone’s silent mode.


PUT YOUR SMARTPHONES IN FRONT OF YOUR POCKET

Study made by Lookout shows that 11% of people who lost their phones through either pickpocketing or got robbed. If you are being robbed, there is not much you can do as your life is more important than your smartphones. However, you can avoid your smartphones being pickpocket by simply putting your smartphones inside your front pocket.

The one problem people have about this is that the smartphones now are getting bigger and bigger. There is also an increase of trend for people to put their smartphones on the table or just bring it in their hands. To avoid pickpockets, put your smartphones in your front pocket always especially in public places.

PUT YOUR EMERGENCY NUMBER OR CONTACT DETAILS

Study from Lookout shows that most people lost their phones in public places that eventually lead them to be stolen afterwards. However, you can increase the chances of getting your phone return back to you by putting your emergency number or contact details in your phone. This emergency number can also be seen by anyone who found your phone even if your phone is locked.

Another best practice is to put your business card inside of your smartphones cover. So, if you left your phone in public places, people who found it can take their own initiative to return it to you or they give them to the police for further action. Read here on how you can set your emergency contact for iPhone users.

BE LESS DEPENDENT ON SMARTPHONES

People have become too dependent on their smartphones and must bring it to all places that they go. Smartphones is a very recent invention but it already have altered the daily habits of people around the world. People before this have live without smartphones. Learn to live without it too often. The less you bring your smartphones around, the lesser the chance of the smartphones will be lost or stolen. The statistics shows that people usually lost their phones in public places such as restaurant and nightclubs.

So, learn not to bring your smartphones if you are going to this places. After all, the reason you go to this places is to eat and social. And if you are worried that people could not contact you if there is emergency, buy a cheap phone when you are out socialising. The advantage is that you will not be distracted so much by your cheap phone and if you lost it, the impact would not be so much affecting you.