What to do if you lost your phone or got it stolen

What to do when you lose your phone

Lost your phone? Do this first. Call or text it to see if someone answers. Then lock it remotely with Find My (iPhone) or Find My Device/Find Hub (Android) and add a message with a contact number. If recovery looks unlikely, erase it remotely, change your key passwords, report the theft to the police, and ask your carrier to blacklist its IMEI.

In this article, we will provide tips for preventing your information from being accessed by thieves, as well as steps for reporting a lost or stolen phone.

• Call or text your phone
• Lock down your phone
• Erase data on your phone
• Secure your online accounts
• File a report with the police
• Report a lost phone to your carrier

Call or text your phone

Calling or texting your missing phone is the quickest way to tell whether it's simply lost nearby or has been stolen. A phone that rings and gets answered — or that someone messages back — is often recoverable. If it goes straight to voicemail, it may be switched off, out of battery, or already in a thief's hands.

Can you track a phone that's turned off?

Yes, up to a point. Newer iPhones and Android phones can report an encrypted last-known — and sometimes live — location through Apple's Find My network or Android's Find My Device (Find Hub) network, even when powered off or offline, as long as the feature was enabled beforehand. Older models only show the last location recorded before the battery died.

Lock down your phone

Once you have determined that your phone is indeed lost or stolen, the next step is to take action to prevent thieves from accessing your personal information. The most effective way to do this is to lock down your phone. 

Here’s how to do it for both iPhone and Android:

Mark your iPhone as lost using the Find My app on iOS

Locking down a lost phone remotely stops thieves from opening your apps, messages, and accounts. On iPhone, use the Find My app to put the device in Lost Mode; on Android, use Find My Device (Find Hub) to Secure Device. Both let you lock the screen, display a custom message, and show a callback number — without wiping your data yet.

Under Lost Mode, Apple will not only secure your iPhone from hacking, but also create ways for potential good Samaritans to find you, such as all call your family or frieds.

To protect your data from thieves, here’s how to put your iPhone on Lost Mode using Find My app:

1. On another device signed in to the same Apple Account, open the Find My app. (Or open iCloud.com/find in any browser.)
2. Tap Devices, then select your missing iPhone.
3. Scroll down to Mark As Lost and tap Activate.
4. Tap Continue on the pop-up.
5. Enter a phone number where someone can reach you, then tap Next.
6. Write a short message for the Lock Screen, then tap Next.
7. Review your Lost Mode summary.
8. Tap Activate to put your iPhone in Lost Mode.

Use Find Hub app to lock Android phone

Unlike iPhones, Android phone don’t have a built-in app like Find My for their phone locking needs. However, you can use an app named Find My Device/Find Hub from to help keep your personal data safe. By locking your Android phone, you can protect yourself from threats like identity theft.

Once you’ve downloaded it, here’s how to lock your Android phone using the Find Hub:

1. On another phone, open the Find Hub — or go to google.com/android/find in any browser — and sign in with the same Google account.
2. Select your missing phone from the list. Its location appears on the map.
3. Tap Secure Device.
4. Add a lock-screen message and a contact number, then tap Secure Device to lock it with your PIN, pattern, or password.

Erase data on your phone

Remotely erasing your phone permanently deletes the personal data on it — photos, messages, saved logins, and payment cards — so a thief can't reach it. Use iCloud.com or the Find My app on iPhone, or Find My Device (Find Hub) on Android. Treat this as a last step, because once the phone is wiped you may lose the ability to track it.

If you’ve lost all hope and just want to make sure that the thief who stole your mobile won’t cause any more trouble, here’s how you can erase the data on it.

Delete your iPhone data using iCloud

If you’re keen to keep your iPhone secure from prying eyes, here’s how to delete your iPhone data remotely using iCloud.

1. Open iCloud.com/find in any browser (or use the Find My app on another Apple device).
2. Sign in with the Apple Account linked to your iPhone.
3. Select your missing iPhone from the device list.
4. Click Erase iPhone.
5. Confirm to erase.

Use Find Hub to Erase Data on Android phone

On a linked device, here’s how to erase the data in your Android phone using the Find Hub app:

1. On another device, open the Find Hub app or go to google.com/android/find and sign in.
2. Select your missing phone.
3. Tap Erase Device.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to confirm.

Secure your online accounts

Once you have erased the data from your stolen phone, you should also immediately revoke access from the device to your various online accounts. Some typical online accounts that thieves target after a theft are social media, bank, subscription services, and cloud storage.

To accomplish this, you have to check individual apps and disable access to your stolen device. If possible, you should also log yourself out of the stolen device, change the password, and inform official bodies like your bank to stop any authentication messages going to it.

File a report with the police

By filing a police report, you will receive a reference number that you can use when working with your carrier and insurance company. It is also essential to have a police report on file in case the thief tries to use your personal information to commit identity theft.

Report a lost phone to your carrier

Once you have an official reference number from the police, call your carrier and report the phone as lost or stolen. This will help to prevent someone from using your phone and racking up charges on your account.

Reporting your phone to your carrier stops anyone from making calls, sending texts, or using data on your account. Your carrier can also blacklist the phone by its IMEI number on a shared industry database, which blocks it from connecting to networks — making a stolen handset far harder to resell or reuse.

How to secure your device before theft or losing it

You can't always stop a theft, but a few settings make a stolen phone almost useless to whoever takes it. The essentials: turn on Find My (iPhone) or Find My Device/Find Hub (Android) plus each platform's theft-protection features, use a strong passcode and biometrics, back up to the cloud, and note your IMEI number. Set these up before anything goes wrong.

While it can be impossible to stop thieves from trying to steal your phones, there are plenty of ways you can secure your device:

• Know your device’s IMEI number
• Use strong passwords
• Set up automatic cloud storage
• Purchase phone insurance

Know your device’s IMEI number

An IMEI number is a unique 15-digit code that identifies your phone. By taking note of your IMEI number, you can report your phone as lost or stolen to your carrier, who will then blacklist the phone. This will make it much harder for someone to use your phone if they find or steal it. Thankfully, there are several methods you can try to find your IMEI number.

Use strong passwords

Making strong passwords is important because it helps to keep your personal information safe and help you to avoid identity theft. Thankfully, there are plenty of things you can do to create strong passwords.

Set up automatic cloud backups

If you regularly back up your phone to the cloud, you'll be able to more easily recover any lost data. You can set this up automatically, so you don't have to remember to do it manually. If your phone is lost or stolen, you'll still have a copy of your important data.

Purchase phone insurance

Should you prefer expensive phone models, it's probably a good idea to invest in phone insurance. Most phone insurance plans will cover the cost of a new phone if yours is lost or stolen, not to mention other benefits, like coverage for water damage or extended warranties.

See who's got your phone with Clario Anti Spy

A stolen phone is only worth something to a thief if they can get into it — and if they try, Clario Anti Spy can show you exactly who they are. Its Unlock catcher quietly takes a front-camera photo of anyone who unlocks, or tries to unlock, your phone and saves it with a time stamp in a private report inside the app.

Whoever picked up your device won't know the photo was taken, but you will — giving you a face to hand to the police alongside your report. It works on both iPhone and Android, so it's worth switching on before anything ever goes missing.

Here’s how to use Clario Anti Spy’s Unlock catcher:

1. Download Clario Anti Spy and set up the account.
2. Toggle the switch next to the Unlock catcher.
3. Done! Clario Anti Spy will take care of the rest.
4. Be vigilant and check your records to see if anyone has tried to unlock your phone.

Invest in security apps like Clario Anti Spy for added protection

When it comes to losing your mobile phone, it can feel a little like losing a limb. After all, we use our smartphones for everything, including navigation, messaging, baking, and more.

Thankfully, we can protect ourselves in various ways, including investing in security apps like Clario Anti Spy. With Clario Anti Spy, you can prevent any additional threats from phone theft, such as identity theft and fraud.

And if your phone does end up in the wrong hands, Clario Anti Spy's Unlock catcher quietly photographs anyone who tries to unlock it — so you're never left guessing who took it. Set it up today and turn a lost phone from a mystery into a lead you can act on.