iPhone lost or stolen? What to do

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

What to do when your iPhone is stolen or lost.
HELP! You reach for your trusty pocket or purse after a wild night out and grab and miss. 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 happened, it is an unmitigated disaster!

It is important to take the right steps when your iPhone has been lost. In this blog, we explain what to do at the moment your iPhone is lost or stolen.

1. Log in to Find My iPhone

Sign in with your Apple ID at and check under “Find My iPhone” if your iPhone has been located anywhere since the phone was lost. If so, you can use Google Maps to see what location the iPhone is in. In fact, a finder may have found the phone but have no way to contact you. This way you can then get in touch with each other. When the phone is stolen, the thief will most likely be aware of Find My iPhone’s location tracking feature and will make sure the phone is turned off.

2. Trying to contact the finder

When you open Find My iPhone, 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, then option 1 may be able to bail you out, this will feature makes your iPhone make a short “pling” sound so you can be sure it is not near you. If the iPhone is really lost then it is best to turn on “lost mode. In this process, the iPhone will display a notification where you can put a phone number or email address (other than your iCloud email) so the finder of the iPhone can contact you. If this yields nothing and you want all your data deleted then choose option number 3. This will erase all data from the phone. The iPhone is usable by NO ONE after enabling option 2 or 3. Only those in possession of your iCloud email address and corresponding password can unlock the iPhone. Apple has built this completely tight and there are no hacks or tricks by which the blockade can be circumvented. So always make sure you set a good password for your iCloud email that is not obvious (i.e. not your name, date of birth, things with 123 and so on).

3. Changing passwords a declaration

Make sure you change all important passwords to your emails and social accounts after your phone is lost. Even though finders won’t get into your phone, it’s better to be on the safe side. In addition, it is always wise to file a police report.

CAUTION

If your phone comes online and appears on Find My iPhone, iCloud will send you an email about it. There are many ways criminals use to get behind your iCloud data, including sending a text message to the phone number you provided for the finder. This SMS poses as iCloud or Find My iPhone and will ask to click on a link and log in to the relevant iCloud account. However, this is a counterfeit website to get behind your iCloud data. So do NOT click this link or log in; if you do, the finder can unlock the phone using your iCloud credentials. When iCloud has truly located your phone, you will receive an official email from iCloud and you can log in at www.icloud.com.

It is very annoying when your iPhone is lost or stolen. At ThePhoneLab, we never accept phones that have an iCloud lockout active. Also, thieves will never benefit from an iPhone that has an iCloud block on it, there is simply nothing to do with it.