iPhone lost or stolen? What to do

iPhone lost or stolen? What to do when your iPhone is stolen or lost.

HELP! You reach for your trusty pocket or handbag after a wild night out and misplace it. In a panic, you haul everything over heaps and search the most unlikely places to see if your smartphone happens to be there. After about 5 to 10 minutes, your spirits sink and you come to the conclusion that your phone has been stolen or lost in some unusual way. In whatever way this has happened, it is an unmitigated disaster!

It is important that you take the right steps when your iPhone is lost. In this blog, we explain what you should do at the time your iPhone is lost or stolen.

Steps in this blog:

• 1. Log in to Find My
• 2. Trying to contact the finder
• 3. Taking additional security steps
• 4. Changing passwords and reporting

1. Log in to Find My

Log in with your Apple ID using the “Find My” app on another Apple device or at www.icloud.com and check if your iPhone has been recently located. If so, you can see where your device is located on the map. The location is displayed via Apple Maps.

Nowadays, the Find My Network works even when your device is offline or even off, as long as the feature was previously enabled. Other Apple devices nearby can then help locate it anonymously. If the phone is stolen, a thief will most likely try to disable the phone or block tracking. Still, it pays to check the location regularly.

2. Trying to contact the finder

When you open Find My, you have three options you can select:

1. Play sound
2. Lost mode
3. Erase iPhone

If your iPhone happens to be in another bag or in the pants of the person next to you, Option 1 may be able to bail you out. This feature lets your iPhone play a loud sound even if it is on silent. When the iPhone is really lost, the best thing you can do is turn on “Lost Mode. This will cause the iPhone to display a notification where you can enter a phone number or email address so the finder can contact you. If this yields nothing and you want all your data erased, then choose option number 3. This will erase all data from the phone.

Note that even after deletion, the iPhone remains locked to your Apple ID via “Activation Lock. This means the iPhone remains unusable by others. Only the person with your Apple ID and password can unlock the device.

Never remove your device from your Apple ID until you have physically recovered it. Doing so would disable Activation Lock.

3. Taking additional security steps

Contact your provider to block your SIM card or eSIM immediately. This will prevent misuse of your mobile number.

If necessary, also ask for blocking of the IMEI number. This makes the device unusable on mobile networks.

In addition, verify that two-factor authentication is active on your Apple ID. This prevents someone from accessing your account with just your password.

4. Changing passwords and reporting

Make sure you change all important passwords to your emails, social accounts and banking apps after your phone is lost. Even though finders won’t just get into your phone, it’s better to be on the safe side.

In addition, it is wise to report it to the police. This may be important for insurance or IMEI blocking purposes.

CAUTION

If your phone comes back online and is visible in “Find My,” Apple will notify you via email. Criminals cleverly take advantage of this by sending fake messages. For example, they send an SMS or email on behalf of Apple or Find My, containing a link to a fake website that looks like iCloud.

Never click on such links. Always go manually to www.icloud.com to log in.

Don’t blindly trust the sender name of an e-mail. Criminals can forge this.