What To Do Immediately If You Lose Your Phone While Traveling

What if I lose my phone?

Yep, this is a biggie. But first…

Before departing for a trip, it’s important to take necessary precautions should the unexpected occur. “Only bring devices you need during travel and remove any unnecessary data,” said Bahman Hayat, a cybersecurity expert. “I highly recommend signing out of or deleting apps that you don’t anticipate using when traveling.” This makes it harder for someone to access platforms without your consent, if they can even get into your phone in the first place.

Washington Post 6/13/2022

I preach redundancy. This means, I NEVER travel without an electronic backup. A tablet or a laptop so that I have copies of all my digital travel information. E-tickets, my itinerary, translator apps, a back-up email address, my Contacts, my digital vaccination records and on and on. Frankly this should be the case whether you’re traveling or not. But if you lose it, here’s what to do:

What to do if you lose your phone?

Call your phone. If there’s no answer…

Text your phone with instructions on how to reach you in the event someone finds it. (This happened to a fellow traveler on a recent trip to Brussels. The phone was returned by another customer in the restaurant. Most people are kind and honest, but in case they’re not…).

If you have Find My Device or FInd My Phone, use the app. If you think your device was stolen, remotely delete the data.

1. Go to https://icloud.com/find on another device and log into your iCloud account.
2. Click on All Devices, then choose from the list the iPhone you want to erase.
3. Click on Erase iPhone.

To remotely erase your Samsung or Google phone:

1. Go to android.com/find on another device.
2. Sign in to your Google account.
3. From the left-hand menu, choose Erase Device.

After you’ve done all the above and it’s still lost or stolen, contact your provider and instruct them to disable your account so you won’t be responsible for data usage or calls after you lost it. And order a replacement. Explain your situation and have it express-shipped.

Contact the local police. They’re not going to find your phone but you might need a police report to dispute any fraudulent charges in the event whoever found or stole your phone decided to make purchases using your stored credit information or shopping apps.

Consider cell phone insurance. Many cover loss and theft as well as protection from normal mishaps.

And one more thing…about passwords. I have a password manager installed on my phone, laptop and desktop. (I use 1Password but there are several good ones).

According to Hayat, a password manager protects you from “credential stuffing attacks.” Essentially, if an attacker gets access to one of your passwords, they won’t be able to access all of your accounts. Some password managers, like 1Password, even have a specific travel mode. “Use a password manager to generate a unique password for each account,” Hayat said.

Washington Post 6/13/2022

Losing your phone is a major inconvenience, that’s certain. But don’t panic. Take these precautions, and follow the above simple steps if your phone IS lost or stolen to reduce heartburn and save your trip.