You put your hand in your pocket. In the bag. In the backpack. In each of the nooks and crannies of the sofa. Under the inscrutable seats of the car. No this. THAT ISN'T! You have lost your phone and a feeling of chaos and despair is invading your stomach . Stop there: it may not be that bad. If you have already searched everywhere and are sure it has been stolen or lost somewhere impossible to recover, now is the time to act . Today we want to tell you the five things you have to do immediately after losing your mobile. Calm down, there is almost always a solution.
1. Disable the SIM card.
All you have to do is call your operator's customer service, identify yourself and report the theft for the SIM card to be blocked. From that moment on, no one will be able to make calls or queries to this information. Keep in mind that this is one of the main uses after a theft or loss.
2. Completely block access to your phone.
If you have an Android terminal , from the Google Device Manager you can do several things. When accessing this page (you can do it from a computer) you will see the data of your device and its exact location. You have the option to make it ring (be careful, the sound of the phone will have to be enabled) and block it so that no one can access . If you click on the Block option , a box will open in which you can indicate the phone number they can call to contact you.
If you have an iPhone (an iPad or any device with iOS ) you can use the Find My Phone function , but you will have to have activated it before. You also have Lost Mode at your disposal , with which you can block access to your computer remotely. If you have entered credit or debit cards in Apple Pay , don't worry, because when you activate the Lost Mode they will be deactivated.
If these tools are not enough, you may be able to take a look at the so-called "tracking programs" , an option that you will have to have prepared in advance. If you are farsighted, this option may work for you. There are many applications that help you track lost devices , that make backup copies of your contents to save them in the cloud and that are even capable of recording and taking photos of the thief . Some interesting tools are: Lookout, TrustGo Antivirus & Mobile Security or Wheres my Droid. Remember, however, that in order to take advantage of its functions you will have to have installed them in advance. If you haven't, after the theft or loss they won't do you any good.
3. Delete the information remotely.
Any of the aforementioned tools offer the user the ability to remotely erase the data from the phone . If you did not make any backup before (this is a previous step that we should all take in case the flies) and you have no way to recover the phone, you will have no choice but to do a reset and delete all the information you have in the computer memory. Do it as soon as possible to avoid that nobody can access your private data and violate your privacy. If you had saved all this information in anticipation, you don't have to worry about anything . You have saved the furniture!
4. Change all passwords.
If you have taken all the previous steps, nothing has to happen, but if your phone has been lost for a long time, it would be interesting if you changed all the passwords for accessing the main services and applications. In this way, you will prevent anyone from accessing your email, Facebook , Twitter , Instagram accounts , etc. All your data will be under control and you will have made a gesture that we should all do more often: change our passwords.
5. Start to get your life back ...
There is no looking back. It can happen to all of us. The best thing you can do from now on is to start getting back to normal . If you have not been able to get your phone back, it is clear that you will have to invest in a new one. However, if you had backed up your data before losing it , the incident would not have been so devastating. It will be enough that, after acquiring the new mobile, you transfer the data from your backup to the new device. If you have not been able to do anything to recover this valuable information, you will have to turn the page and start from scratch, not before having changed passwords and having taken all the security measures that were within your reach.
And now, tell us… have you lost your mobile? Have you been able to do anything to get it back? You can share your most thankless experiences in the comments. You are not the first, nor will you be the last ...