What To Do If You've Lost Your Phone--And Before You Lose It

A decade ago, losing your Nokia 3210 wasn't a huge deal. Sure, the loss of your text message history, contacts and Snake high score might be a painful blow, but you'd be able to get a replacement and move on quickly. Nowadays, a brief look at someone's phone reveals much more; our phones are packed with our close friends, Facebook contacts, photos, location data, and tweets as well as access to personal banking, shopping and social networking tools. Oh, and that all-important Angry Birds score.

Fortunately, security advancements have kept up with smartphone development, so remote locking, tracking and wiping is an easy-to-setup reality. These apps, many of which are free, only take a few minutes to install on everything from your iPhone to the latest Windows Phone device, so we urge you to take the time to install one. Taking just a few security precautions with your phone can turn the potential disaster of a phone accidentally left in a cab into a minor inconvenience.

Read on for our tips on securing your cell phone and what to do if you lose it, and share your own tips via the "Add a Slide" tool.

 

What other tips do you have for people that have lost their phones (or before they lose them)? Share them with us and we may post them on HuffPostTech!

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PCMag recommends using another phone to text your lost phone with a message offering a reward for the device, and you can always try calling it as well. If you don't have a phone handy, you can use a service like Skype, Google Voice or fonefindr.com to ping your phone. It can't hurt -- someone may have found your phone or maybe you'll find hear it ringing between the couch cushions.

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What To Do If You've Lost Your Phone

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PCMag recommends using another phone to text your lost phone with a message offering a reward for the device, and you can always try calling it as well. If you don't have a phone handy, you can use a service like Skype, Google Voice or fonefindr.com to ping your phone. It can't hurt -- someone may have found your phone or maybe you'll find hear it ringing between the couch cushions.

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Comments

[mairs]

12:50 PM on 05/11/2011

I left my phone in the booth of a restaurant. The wait staff asked a little old lady with a cane if it was hers and she took it from them as she was walking out the door. I came back a few minutes later and they said they gave it to someone else. I called my phone over and over again from the restaurant. It rang and rang and I left several messages. It finally went dead. I never got it back. I have no idea what the old woman did with it.

[Robert s2]

10:29 AM on 05/11/2011

If you have an iPhone or other iOS device, you need the FoneHome app. It has several features that Apple's Find My iPhone doesn't, such as location history and the ability to remotely take a photo of a thief. It's an especially good deal if you have an older iPhone since you can't get Find My iPhone for free, however, even for iPhone 4 users FoneHome is a must-have app. You can never have too many ways to be able to recover your phone.

[smartypants77]

09:42 PM on 05/10/2011

A website called keepyourstuff.ca has little stickers that are unbelievably resilient (our have been wet, muddy, held and don't fade or come off). We have our home phone number on it and have stick it to the back of the phone. My phone is locked so the good samaritans called our home line when they found the phone.I am in no way affiliated with the product, so I am not selling this but the product has worked for us on 3 lost phones. You get a full sheet of 36 or so, so these stickers are on everything of our (computers, phones, starbucks cards)

[Patricia Tate Johnson]

08:19 PM on 05/10/2011

I checked up on the "Where is my Iphone App," an Iphone 4 is required' what can the 3G/3GS owner utilize?

[ButterBiscuit]

08:06 PM on 05/10/2011

This hillarious that this story would be on huffpo today. I just got back last night from Aruba where I got a little hammered on the first night and lost my phone...why I even took it with me is so stupid too, it wouldn't have worked there anyways. At least I didn't have any info on it except everyone's phone number that I know. What's worse, is that hotmail shut my 10 year old email account down with no warning a few days before I left for my trip...so it's going to be a challenge to contact anyone without their email address or phone number on hand. Lesson learned, to write it all down and store it in a safe place the old fashion way from now on.

[iamwrong]

06:38 PM on 05/10/2011

Really.. this is as insightful as instructions on how to chew oat meat

[pinkindie]

07:12 PM on 05/10/2011

I actually NEED instructions on how to chew "oat meat" ... can you elaborate? ;c)

[ButterBiscuit]

08:09 PM on 05/10/2011

lol...it all depends on how longs it's been cooked, or instant vs whole grain, etc...lol.

[praxitas]

09:53 PM on 05/10/2011

myself? i prefer oat fish

[Boobuzuela]

06:25 PM on 05/10/2011

Everyone here knows about ICE, right? "In Case of Emergency"

Put at least one good friend's # in your directory under ICE. That way when you're unconscious, and the paramedics don't know who to call, they look for ICE and.....

[Mechelle Gray]

06:31 PM on 05/10/2011

Thank you .. priceless info!

[MacDiva]

06:37 PM on 05/10/2011

Thanks for the tip!

[O K Ali]

03:35 PM on 05/10/2011

I got lookout mobile with data wipe, works pretty well.

[king soloman]

02:43 PM on 05/10/2011

i have two passwords just to use my phone. i stuck a small bit of paper in my phone with my home number incase i lose it and a rare honest person where to find it they would know where to call me. no one will ever figure out a 12 digit password including the alphabet.

[Boobuzuela]

06:29 PM on 05/10/2011

12 digits huh?

You used to work at Ft. Knox?

[king soloman]

06:14 PM on 05/11/2011

worse i use to work at apple. phones are so easy to manipulate.

[ceez]

07:51 AM on 05/11/2011

my iphone3g only has 4 digit lock code and know that most phones do to. how did you get a 12 digit lock code?!?!

[Binx101]

02:30 PM on 05/10/2011

Are you serious - This is what is passing for content here now ? How about an article entitled - Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work - but with twist for those that work in machine shop - Employees Should Wash Hands Before Touching Their Private Parts - No, No wait I got it - Do Not Check For Gas Leak by Taking Deep Breaths - oooh oooh wait - Do Not Run Into Lanes of Freeway.

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com

[jujubees]

12:13 PM on 05/10/2011

Maybe it is time I lose my cell phone for good...Obama just announced all new cell phones must be equipped with a chip that will allow your cell phone to receive text message in an emergency from the Federal government. Apparently you can opt out of most messages, except, curiously, ones from the President.

[SisterAnn]

02:22 PM on 05/10/2011

And Boehner wept again.

[PerfectTommy]

06:11 PM on 05/10/2011

I suppose there are potential downsides to this, but if the Commander in Chief ever thinks he/she needs to warn me about something that badly, I want to get the message.

[Boobuzuela]

06:22 PM on 05/10/2011

Just remember, if the message is "Don't Panic, " THAT'S THE TIME TO PANIC!!!!

[tednarcotic]

10:45 AM on 05/10/2011

I found a droid in my cab but it was locked so I could not call any of the owners friends. I have returned many phones that way. The phone was under the floor mat in the back seat and when the owner (I guess) called it it sounded like a siren. So I stopped the cab and looked for an emergency vehicle. This happened twice and the second time my passenger also mistakenly thought there must be an ambulance or something nearby. By the time I found it the phone was nearly dead but it was locked by a security code. The cab company has a drawer that is full of phones. Too bad they did not scratch a friends phone number on it.

[alreadybad]

09:55 AM on 05/10/2011

I'm just going to get the GZT650 and let it all ride, lol.

[TJ]

09:54 AM on 05/10/2011

If I had followed all these recommendations, i never would have recovered my lost phone last month.

I got it back when the person who found it (left it in the rest room) started the phone to find the owner information. they went to email, and called the person who last left an email. that person who got the call understood the situation and called my office to report it. About that time (after fruitlessly retracing my steps from the last time I used it) I happened to call my office and my secretary reported that the finder left the phone with building security (I had gone to the same security post earlier before it was turned in).

Had the finder not been able to get into my contact information, I never would have recovered the phone.

[BrianMac]

09:17 PM on 05/10/2011

I think most people are against the idea of letting random strangers access their phone directory.

[DaithiO]

06:35 AM on 05/10/2011

I leave my phone at home. That way I'll never lose it and I won't get any annoying phone calls. Win win.

[BrianMac]

09:18 PM on 05/10/2011

Cool! What happens if you experience an emergency and there are no (quickly disappearing) pay phone booths nearby?

[JeanPaul Fernandes]

04:17 AM on 06/24/2011

which kinda defeats the purpose of a mobile phone, doesn't it?