Most of us spend a lot of time looking at our phones. Try keeping your handset in a separate room for a while and see how long it takes before you start to experience separation anxiety. Not only is it awkward to be away from your phone, but it’s also a real concern that it might get lost or stolen. Think of all the private and personal information stored on a device, from conversations with your closest friends and family members to details of your current bank balance and ways to transfer money anywhere in the world.
So if your phone is lost or stolen, it’s bad—it’s more than a minor inconvenience. If you can no longer access it for any reason, here’s what to do next to ensure that your accounts and information remain secure.
Lock your phone remotely
Whether your phone runs iOS or Android, you can lock it remotely—assuming you’ve done the prep work beforehand. On iPhone, go to Face/Touch ID and passcode from Settings to protect your lock screen, and unlock Stolen Device Protection, which means authentication is required for many features on your phone. From Settings, you should also tap on your name and then Find My so you can access your phone remotely.
On Android, on Pixel phonesopen Settings, and tap Security and privacythen To turn on the device (for lock screen protection) and Device finders (with remote access). On Galaxy phones, turn on Settings and select Security and privacythen Lock the screen (for screen lock settings) and Lost device protection (remote access to your phone). Enabling these features makes your life much easier if your phone is lost or stolen.
If you’re separated from your iPhone, find a web browser and turn on iCloud on the web. Go to Find My part: You will be able to see the last reported location of your handset and enable Lost Mode (which gives whoever finds the device some information to return it to you). You can also wipe the device remotely, which ensures that no one else can access it.
On Android, you have Find My Phone for Google phones and SmartThings Find for Samsung phones. The options on these portals are similar to Apple’s: You can lock your phone remotely if you think someone might find it and want to return it to you, or you can wipe it remotely if you think that won’t happen. You can also try to track your phone on a map, although we wouldn’t recommend you confront any thieves yourself.
Reset your account login
If you’ve followed all of the steps above, the chances of someone gaining access to your messages, emails, banking information, and other sensitive information should be slim—unless they’ve somehow managed to put together your face or fingerprints. However, it’s better to be overly cautious than complacent when it comes to the security of your various accounts.
You may want to consider changing your password for your most important applications. This will automatically sign you out of your account on other devices you’re signed in to (including your lost or stolen phone). At the same time, you should enable two-step authentication for any accounts where available if you haven’t already.
If you can’t sign in to your accounts on another device, you can usually log out remotely from all other locations from there. On Instagram on the web, for example, you can click Where you entered to log out of your devices—it’s actually a good idea to regularly check this list to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.
Google and Apple and to cover this well. For Google accounts (including Android sign-in), go to the Security page of the Google dashboard on the web and click Manage all devices. On macOS, meanwhile, open the file an apple menu and choose System Settings to see a list of all the devices you’re signed in to (and log out remotely if you need to).
Connect with important people
In addition to the steps we’ve already mentioned, contacting a few key people and companies doesn’t hurt to let them know that your phone might be in someone else’s hands. If they somehow manage to access everything on your handset, then it is a huge security risk.
Contacting your carrier is a good start because they can block your number and make sure nothing is charged to your account. Once someone has access to your mobile number, if it’s deactivated, they can use it to impersonate you in a number of ways—and they can intercept any authorization codes sent to your phone.
Then there is your bank. Almost all mobile banking and payment apps are secured with biometric authentication these days, so the risk of someone using your phone to pay should be relatively low. However, it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your money.
Last, but not least, it’s worth contacting friends and family to let them know that communications that appear to be from you may not actually be from you. It means people in your social circle can be aware of potential scams (like messages asking for money or with phishing links).
