Start by staying calm
Realizing that your phone is gone is stressful, and stress leads to rushed decisions. The steps below are in a sensible order, but you can adapt them. The goals are simple: try to get the device back if it is safe to do so, prevent anyone from using it or your accounts, and report the loss to the right places.
This is general information. Exact options differ between phone makers, carriers and countries, so look for what is available on your own device rather than expecting identical menus.
Step 1: Retrace and try to find it
Before assuming the worst, check the obvious places: pockets, bags, the car, the last place you used it. Ask someone to call the number, since a ringing phone under a couch cushion is a common ending. If you left it in a shop, restaurant or on public transport, contact the business or the transport lost-property office. Many lost phones are simply handed in.
Step 2: Use the built-in locate feature
Most modern phones have a “find my device” tool, offered by the phone maker or the operating system, which you can reach from a computer or another person’s device by signing in to your account. If you turned the feature on before the phone went missing, it can often show an approximate location, play a sound, display a message on the screen, lock the phone, or erase it remotely.
A few cautions apply:
- It only works if the phone is powered on and has a connection, though some devices can still be found when offline.
- If the location points to a place that is not yours, do not try to retrieve it yourself. Going to confront someone could be dangerous. Give the information to the police and let them decide how to proceed.
- If you believe you were targeted in a theft or threatened, contact your local emergency services if anyone is in danger.
Step 3: Lock it and leave a contact message
Use the remote lock option to put a passcode on the device and, if possible, show a message with another phone number or email address where you can be reached. Avoid putting sensitive information, such as a home address, on the screen. A friendly message is sometimes enough to get a lost phone returned.
If you strongly suspect the phone is gone for good, or it holds sensitive information, a remote erase wipes the data. The trade-off is that erasing may stop you from tracking the device afterward, so some people lock first and erase later, once they decide the phone will not come back. Make this decision with your own situation in mind.
Step 4: Protect your accounts
A phone is often the key to your other accounts, because it receives codes and stays signed in to apps. Using a different trusted device, work through the most important ones in this order:
- Your email account, since it can be used to reset other passwords. Change the password and sign out of other sessions.
- Your phone maker account (the one used to locate and unlock the phone).
- Banking and payment apps. Contact your bank if you see anything unusual, and ask whether it can pause cards linked to the device.
- Social media and messaging apps, and any account that used the phone for verification codes.
If you rely on two-step verification, a lost phone can lock you out of your own accounts, so keep backup codes or alternative methods somewhere safe. Our guide on account recovery options explains how to set those up in advance. Watch for any signs of account takeover in the days that follow.
Step 5: Contact your mobile carrier
Call your carrier or use its online service, and report the loss. They can usually suspend the line so that nobody runs up charges, and can help you move your phone number to a new SIM card. Asking them to block the device is often possible too, which can make a stolen phone less useful to a thief. Ask what information they need. Many carriers use a device identifier, sometimes printed on the original box or shown in your account, so it is useful to know where that is.
If the number is the way you receive verification codes, moving it quickly to a new SIM also helps you recover your accounts. Be alert to unexpected texts and calls afterward, as people sometimes try to exploit a known loss with phishing messages claiming to have found your phone.
Step 6: Report it
For a theft, make a police report, and keep any reference number that you are given. You may need it for insurance claims or carrier requests. For a loss, a report is still sometimes useful, particularly if the phone is insured. Do not rely on the police to track the phone; they may use the information you provide, but they cannot always act on location data from an app.
If the phone was provided by a school or employer, tell them immediately, as they may have their own procedures to lock or wipe it.
Prepare before it happens
A little preparation makes a loss much less stressful:
- Set a screen lock with a decent passcode and turn on automatic locking.
- Turn on the find-my-device feature and confirm you know how to sign in to it from another device.
- Keep recent backups of photos and files so nothing irreplaceable is lost with the hardware.
- Hide message previews on the lock screen.
- Note down your carrier’s contact details and your device identifier somewhere other than the phone.
- Store recovery options and backup codes for important accounts separately.
These habits belong with the wider basics of device security, and they cost almost nothing to set up. If a phone does disappear, you will be glad you did.