How to:Find lost or stolen smartphone

Be prepared for the worst

Since modern smartphones have long been more than just a device for communication, before considering ways to find a lost or stolen phone, we should say a few words about precautions that will minimize the likelihood of your personal information falling into the wrong hands.

So, it is very important to have reliable protection on your smartphone. Be sure to enable password and fingerprint authentication on your device. Many information security experts do not recommend using face recognition function due to the fact that it can be bypassed with your photo. It is worth noting that improving face recognition algorithms is going on and the latest devices are less prone to this problem. If you are sure that the person who finds your lost device won't be able to get hold of your photo in any way, you can safely use this authentication method. However, password or fingerprint authentication are still more reliable. It is clear that scanning a fingerprint or entering a PIN code every time you want to use your phone may be inconvenient, but think about the fact that someone completely unfamiliar with you may have access to your photos, banking applications, email and the rest of your personal information.

Finding a lost or stolen smartphone will be much easier if appropriate applications are installed and correctly configured on it. It is also important to note that you should always have the IMEI and serial number of your phone written down (not on that smartphone). You will need these data if you have to contact your service provider or the police. You can easily find out the IMEI number of your phone by dialing *#06#.

How to find lost or stolen iPhone

To pre-configure your iPhone, you should do the following:

• open settings;
• click on your name at the top of the screen;
• click "iCloud";
• scroll to the item "Find my iPhone" and turn it on;

You should also enable the option "Send last location", which will send the location of the iPhone until the battery of the smartphone is depleted.

Now, if you lose your smartphone, you will need to go to iCloud.com and log in to your Apple account. Next, open "Find iPhone" and you can see the last location of your smartphone on the map until the battery is depleted (or the current location if the battery is still charged).

In addition, this Apple's service allows you to:

• make your iPhone play sound — this function will be useful if you know for sure that the phone is somewhere nearby, but forgot where exactly it is;
• block the phone;
• send a message to your iPhone, can contain, for example, a contact phone number to call if the phone is found;
• completely delete all your data from the iPhone, so that the smartphone would be more difficult to sell or use in case of theft.

How to find lost or stolen Android device

To pre-configure your Android smartphone, you should do the following:

• open Google Play Store;
• find and install "Find My Device" app from Google (or you can follow the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.adm to download this program)
• open this app and log in to your Google account.

Now, if you lose your Android smartphone, you will have to open https://myaccount.google.com/find-your-phone in your browser, log in to your Google account, select the missing device from the list and click "Find", and the phone will appear on the map. In addition, the Google service allows you to:

• check the system for suspicious logins;
• lock the phone;
• make a remote call on the phone;
• remotely log out of your Google Account;
• contact your operator;
• remotely delete all your data from your Android device.

Important notes:

In order to correctly detect your smartphone, the location function should be enabled on it; If your phone is stolen and you find out its location, but don't know exactly what kind of place it is, you had better report the theft to the police rather than take a risk. Don't act on your own – pass the info about location of your device to the police.