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What Should You Do When Your Phone Is Lost Or Stolen?

Lily Katz / Android Authority

Losing your phone or having it stolen can be devastating. There are the obvious ramifications that'll affect your wallet, but there are plenty of other things to worry about, too. Your passwords, photos, personal correspondence, and credit card information could easily fall into the wrong hands.

If you've had your phone go missing, there are some key things you must do as soon as you realize it's gone. And if your phone isn't missing, make sure to take some of these steps to be better prepared if you lose it at some point.

QUICK ANSWER

The first thing you should do upon losing a phone is check your phone's Find My Phone function. Google and Apple both have native Find My Phone options that are on by default. Failing that, your best bet is to report your phone lost or stolen to your carrier so the IMEI can be blocked, and then try to track it down as best as you can.

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What to do after your phone goes missing

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Okay, so your phone has gone missing, and now you're here to figure out what to do. Take a breath because there are some things you can try. The first thing we recommend is checking out your phone's Find My Phone functionality. Both Apple and Google have it, both are baked into the operating system, and both are on by default. We'll show you how to use each one.

Use Find My Device on Android

Click this link to go to Google's Find My Device website.

Assuming your phone is still on, the website will show your phone's general location so you can track your phone in real time from the map.

From here, you have three additional options.

Play Sound — Play Sound will ring your phone at maximum volume, and it even works if your phone is on silent. We recommend using this one when you're in the same vicinity as your phone to help pinpoint its location better.

Secure Device — This option locks your device with a PIN or password. It prevents people from getting at your personal information. We recommend using this option as soon as possible to keep people out of your personal information.

Erase Device — Erase Device factory resets your phone and removes any personal information from it. We only recommend this option once you've deemed your smartphone lost forever.

Pro tip — Even if your phone is off, Find My Device can usually still show you the phone's last known location. It's worth checking, even if you suspect your phone isn't on.

Use Find My Device on iOS

Click this link to go to Apple's Find My function on iCloud. Log into your iCloud account if necessary.

If your device is still on, you'll see it listed along with its location on a map. You can use this tool to track your phone to wherever it is.

From here, you have three buttons that do different things.

Play Sound — Play Sound will ring your phone at its maximum volume, even if the phone is set to silent. We recommend using this when you're near your phone on the map to pinpoint its location further.

Lost Mode — Lost Mode locks your Apple device and prevents people from getting into it. We recommend using this immediately.

Erase "Device" — This factory resets your device to delete any personal information. We only recommend this option once you have deemed your device lost forever.

Pro tip — Apple's Find My function stores your phone's last known location. Thus, even if your phone is turned off or the battery is dead, it's still worth checking to see where the last known location was.

This, and the Android version, should work for most people. Both platforms have fairly robust Find My Device systems in place. Only folks with very old phones or folks who manually shut off the Find My Device will need to try something else.

Other things you can try

Okay, so let's say the Find My Device methods are a bust. Maybe you have an older smartphone, and it's not enabled by default, or the websites are having some sort of technical difficulty. There are some other things you can try in order to find your phone.

Try using your smartwatch

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Both Wear OS and Apple Watches have a function that lets you ring your device. If your phone is close enough and your watch is still connected, you can ring the phone immediately using a smartwatch.

On Wear OS

From the watch face screen, swipe down to get to your quick settings.

Find the Find My Device toggle and tap it.

The phone will start ringing at its maximum volume, even if you had the phone set to silent.

Pro tip — Some smartwatches may have different icons for this. We tested this method with a Galaxy Watch 5, which uses a vertical rectangle with a magnifying glass. Your watch may be different.

On Apple Watch

Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority

Open the Find Devices app on your Apple Watch.

Tap the Play Sound function.

Your phone will ring at its maximum volume, even if you have the phone set to silent.

We've found this method useful for a lot of instances when you've lost a phone, including minor ones where you've left your phone somewhere in your house and can't find it. This is also, by the way, an excellent reason to own a smartwatch.

Text or call your own phone

Joe Hindy / Android Authority

Look, a lot of people get their phones stolen, but sometimes phones do just fall out of your pocket at that restaurant you were at. Try calling or texting your phone. We recommend texting first so that if anyone sees the text, they know to expect the call, and they know it's from the phone's owner.

People who answer such phone calls will likely help reconnect you to your phone. The only downside to this method is getting someone to pick up the phone when you call. Some folks simply won't out of respect for the phone's owner.

Retrace your steps

Adam Birney / Android Authority

If the above steps aren't working, your next best bet to find a lost phone is the old-fashioned method of going where you were before and checking to see if your phone is at a previous location. Maybe it fell out of your pocket at that restaurant you ate at, or it may be lying under a theater seat.

Yes, this isn't a technologically advanced way to find your phone, but with all of the tech-focused methods out of the way, that means it's time to do some legwork. We recommend tracing back your steps in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent spot. We also recommend checking in or under your car since my phone falls out of my pocket all the time.

Report the loss to the police and your carrier

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

There are a ton of reasons to do this. For starters, your carrier will blacklist your phone's IMEI, making it useless. If anyone stole your smartphone, you'd be able to render it useless to everyone short of shipping it overseas, which most thieves won't do anyway. Plus, the thieves won't be able to use your phone to place calls or texts if they get past the safeguards.

Your IMEI should also be on or in the box your phone came in. Barring that, you should be able to get it by visiting a carrier store and asking.

Additionally, the FCC recommends reporting stolen smartphones to the police. The police won't launch investigations for just one stolen smartphone, but pawn shops and similar businesses often check the IMEI to ensure the phone isn't stolen and that it's paid off. If someone tries to hock your stolen smartphone and the IMEI is in the database, there's a decent chance of recovery.

Double check Find My Device

Yes, we recommend trying to Find My Device multiple times. An enterprising thief may read an article like this and immediately turn the phone off in order to prevent its location from being tracked. However, they have to turn the phone again someday. Otherwise, they have a useless brick.

As soon as that phone gets turned back on, it'll start broadcasting its location again. You may catch the thief with it a few days later after they assume that the heat has died down and you've given up. Even if the thief only turns it on for a couple of minutes, it may update the last known location for Google and Apple's Find My Device services, giving you a clearer picture of where your phone might be.

The police won't launch an investigation for your phone, but they may accompany you to your device's current location to recover it if you ask nicely.

Accept the loss

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

If nothing works, it's time to move on. There are some things you need to do once your smartphone is considered a lost cause. You'll need to do a handful of things to ensure your data remains intact.

Deauthorize your phone — Netflix, Spotify, Google, Microsoft, and most banking apps let you log out of your device without needing the device on you. There are too many to list here, but at the bare minimum, you should sign out of your device from your Google, Microsoft, and banking accounts so bad actors can't get in.

Change your passwords —  A lot of folks use password managers these days, and a thief with your phone can still log in to a lot of stuff with a password manager. Thus, the only way to keep people out of your phone is to change as many of your passwords as you can.

Monitor your accounts — That includes login attempts, bank accounts, and even your credit report. Some apps, like Credit Karma, let you do it for free. Someone else has your whole life via your phone, so you'll need to keep an eye on your whole life for a while to ensure it's still safe.

Purchase a new phone — Buying either a new phone or a used phone is an important step. It lets you log into your apps again to ensure everything is there. Plus, your Google account uses your most currently active phone for 2FA purposes, so you'll need to get a new phone to ensure the thief isn't walking around with the only way to get into your Google account.

It's tough to lose a phone, and if you did, you have our condolences. However, following the above steps helps minimize the damage.

Prevention for next time

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

There are some things you can do to ensure this goes more smoothly next time. After all, having a lost phone for any reason is a random occurrence, but you can still plan for it in advance. Here are some tips and tricks to ensure your phone is easier to find next time.

Ensure Find My Device is turned on — Modern Android and Apple devices have this on by default. However, folks walking around with older smartphones may want to double-check and make sure it's turned on.

Set a strong passcode with biometrics — Every smartphone owner should lock their phone with a passcode of some sort. Many folks use biometrics, which works pretty well. A PIN, passcode, pattern, or other method is nice to have as well. Someone can't steal your data if they can't get to it.

Consider getting insurance — Insurance is a weird topic. It's one of those things where you don't know if you need it until you need it. So we don't push this too hard, but it's something to consider. Samsung (Care Plus) and Apple (Applecare) have insurance plans. Carriers often have insurance plans, and Best Buy's Geek Squad does as well. Square Trade is another popular option.

Use a secondary Find My Phone app — There is more than one way to skin a cat. Some third-party Find My Phone apps have features that Google and Apple don't. Some examples include the ability to use your front-facing camera to see where your phone is and can even display messages on the screen with a phone number to call if someone finds your phone. We have a list of third-party Find My Phone apps if you want to browse.

FAQ How can I track my lost Samsung phone?

There are actually two ways. All modern Android phones have Google's Find My Phone enabled by default. Additionally, Samsung phones have Samsung's Find My Phone that you can access by going to findmymobile.Samsung.Com. You do need to be logged into a Samsung account on your phone for the second option to work.

Is there a way to track my phone if it is switched off?

Not really, no. Google and Apple's Find My Device options typically store your device's last known location, which can be helpful sometimes. You'll have to wait for someone to turn the phone back on to track its location again.

How can I find my lost phone for free?

Google and Apple's Find My Phone are both free services. Additionally, reporting your IMEI stolen to your carrier and the police costs nothing, and if the phone is ever found by the police, they should return it to you.

Can I track my own phone using its IMEI number?

You can, but it's not very reliable. Most sites will ping your phone's location, and privacy settings on your device often give such websites bad information. There are free IMEI trackers online if you want to try it, but we didn't get reliable results from any of them, so we don't recommend it.

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Lost & Found: How To Find Your Missing Android Phone

Techlicious editors independently review products. To help support our mission, we may earn affiliate commissions from links contained on this page.

You know the panic you feel when your phone goes missing? Fortunately, numerous methods are available to help you locate your missing Android device quickly.

I use Google's Find My Device website when I want to find my Android phone or one of my kids' phones. But there are a few other options that are worth considering. I explore the best techniques for finding your lost Android phone, including your phone's built-in tracker and third-party tracking devices.

Use Google's Find My Device website

All Android phones can be found using Google's Find My Device website. This feature is integrated into Android and is connected to your Google account. Your device must be connected to the internet and have location services enabled.

Find My Device offers real-time location tracking, remote locking, and even the option to erase your device remotely to protect your data. You can access it through a web browser or the Find My Device app on another Android device.

Ensure your device has an active internet connection and location services enabled.

Visit the Find My Device website or download the app on another Android device.

Log in using the Google account linked to the missing phone.

You will see all devices linked to your Google account on a map.

Once you've found your Android phone on the map, you can play a sound, secure the device, or erase its contents remotely.

Use Samsung's Find My Mobile website

If you own a Samsung Android phone, you can access an additional tracking service called "Samsung Find My Mobile." To utilize this service, you must be signed in to your Samsung account on your phone.

Samsung's Find My Mobile provides similar features to Google's Find My Device, including real-time tracking, remote locking, and data backup and restoration options.

Sign in to your Samsung account on your phone.

Enable the "Find My Mobile" option in Settings.

If your phone is misplaced, visit the Samsung Find My Mobile website.

Log in using your Samsung account.

You'll be shown the last known location of your phone.

Once you've found your Samsung phone, you can remotely lock, ring, and back up the data for your phone.

Use your smartwatch

If you own a WearOS watch and an Android phone, simply swipe down on the watch face and choose "Find my phone". The phone will start ringing, even if the ringer is muted. For Samsung Galaxy phone and Samsung Watch users, open the "Apps" tray, select "Find my Phone", and tap on the spyglass icon to make your connected phone ring.

Your smartwatch must be paired with your phone, Bluetooth must be turned on, and the two devices must be in range.

Use a physical tracker

Physical trackers made by Tile and Chipolo employ Bluetooth to help you locate your Android phone. Once you've paired a tracker with your phone, you can use it to ring your Android phone – even if the ringer is off.

Tile makes a range of water-resistant trackers. The Tile Mate ($25) is a small keychain device with a range of up to 250 feet. For more extended coverage, the Tile Pro ($35) will stay connected with your phone up to 400 feet but is bulkier and more suited to tagging larger items like backpacks. And if you want something to slip in your wallet, there's the Tile Slim ($35), which has a range of up to 350 feet.

Chipolo has two trackers you can buy now to find your Android phone. The Chipolo One ($25) is the company's keychain device. The Chipolo CARD ($30) is the company's wallet tracker. Both devices have a range of up to 200 feet, and neither is waterproof.

Coming soon: Google's Find My Device network

As discussed on Google's official blog, the Find My Device network will allow you to find your phone's location even when it's offline. When available, if your phone goes missing, other nearby Android devices, even those owned by strangers, could detect its signal. These devices would then send an encrypted, anonymous location update to the Find My Device network, aiding in your device's recovery. Given the enormous user base of Android, the Find My Device network could offer increased chances of locating devices, especially in populated areas.

You can pre-order physical trackers that use Google's Find My Device network. Chipolo's ONE Point keychain device and CARD Point wallet tracker will start at $28. Pebblebee's Tag for Android, Card for Android, and Clip for Android will start at $30.

Losing your Android phone is a common and often distressing occurrence, but if you take the steps outlined above, you can significantly improve your chances of recovery. Ensure you have these tracking methods or physical trackers set up in advance. Regularly check that they are active and functioning correctly. By doing so, you can protect your Android device and increase the likelihood of its safe return if it goes missing.

[Image credit: Screenshots via Techlicious, Tile, phone on the floor of a cafe concept via Adobe Firefly]

Josh Kirschner is the co-founder of Techlicious and has been covering consumer tech for more than a decade. Josh started his first company while still in college, a consumer electronics retailer focused on students. His writing has been featured in Today.Com, NBC News and Time.

Lost Your Samsung Phone? Here's How To Find It

Many of us have put our hands into a pocket or bag and got that sinking feeling of not finding our phone where it should be. If you've frantically searched everywhere around you without success, you've still got some options. In this guide, we'll show you how to locate your Samsung Galaxy phone in case you've lost it.

QUICK ANSWER

You can locate a lost Samsung Galaxy phone using SmartThings Find. Go to https://smartthingsfind.Samsung.Com/, sign in to your Samsung account, and you'll see your phone on a map if it can establish a connection. You can also choose to track the location of the phone with regular updates.

Alternately, you can use Google's Find My Device service. Go to https://www.Google.Com/android/find/, sign into your Google account, and you'll see your phone.

JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

How to find your Samsung phone by using SmartThings Find

Samsung phones ship with a feature called SmartThings Find, formerly Find My Mobile. This makes use of your Samsung account to locate, ring, or remotely wipe a device.

You can trigger these commands via a web browser, whether you're on a computer, tablet, or a spare phone. Your lost phone does of course need a working Internet connection in most circumstances, although on newer models, you can sometimes locate your phone when it's offline.

Finding your Samsung phone through SmartThings Find

We're assuming here that you've already set up Find. If you haven't, check the rest of this article, where we'll guide you through the process.

To locate a lost Samsung Galaxy phone, follow these steps:

Go to the SmartThings Find webpage, located at https://smartthingsfind.Samsung.Com/. You can use a desktop PC or any other device with a web browser.

You'll see all of your Find-compatible devices listed in the left pane. Spot the entry for the device you want to find and click on it.

The website will then display your phone's last known location on the map.

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

If you think your device might be on the move, you can enable the Track location feature. This will send you an automated update on the phone's location every 15 minutes. Note though that this feature will trigger a notification on the phone, and increase its battery drain, so you might want to exercise restraint if you know your phone is low on power. Tracking history is stored for 7 days.

If your phone is dead because of a low battery, SmartThings Find will tell you the last known location if it can. You should enable the Send last location feature, which sends a device's location to Samsung servers when its battery reaches 20%.

How to locate a Samsung phone even when it's not connected to the internet

SmartThings Find has an Offline finding feature. With this, you can locate a device that's no longer connected to the internet (but still powered on) by making use of other Samsung devices around it that have consented to the feature. Essentially it creates a mesh of devices which communicate with each other using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

The big catch here, naturally, is that the system depends on other Samsung devices being nearby. It's going to work well in a major city like Seoul, Berlin, or New York City, but not so much in rural Alabama.

Other features on SmartThings Find

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

SmartThings Find has a bunch of other features you can take advantage of:

Ring: Your phone will ring for 1 minute at maximum volume, making it easy to track if it's in the same room. Your phone will ring even if it was left on silent or vibrate.

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

Lock: When this is activated, your phone will display an emergency contact on the lockscreen along with an optional message. Features like Samsung Pass, Samsung Wallet, and Samsung Digital Keys will be locked down, and it won't power off. You'll need to enter a separate PIN to exit the lockdown state.

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

Track location: This will send you an automated update on your phone's location every 15 minutes.

Erase data: If you're worried your phone is in the wrong hands, and you want to maintain data security, you can remotely erase everything on your phone and perform a factory reset. Note that you'll lose access to SmartThings Find after this step, so it should always be a last resort.

Back up: Before issuing an erase command, you can try to back up some key data from your phone to your Samsung Cloud account. This includes your call log, messages, contacts, and calendar events, as well as settings, your homescreen, installed apps, and voice recordings.

Retrieve calls/messages: This will present to you the last 50 calls and messages recently received on the phone.

Unlock: This unlocks your phone by deleting your PIN/password locks and fingerprints. It's helpful in situations where you forget your device PIN, but still remember your Samsung account info.

Extend battery life: This puts your device into power saving mode, which may give you more time to retrieve it. Note that cloud backup won't work if this is on, since uploading gigabytes of data is inherently power-hungry.

How to set up SmartThings Find on your Samsung Galaxy phone

To use Find, you need to enable it before anything gets lost. We suggest you do this as you're reading this guide, to ensure you don't forget about it later.

On your Samsung phone, open the SmartThings app. It should be preinstalled, but you can always re-download it from Google Play.

Accept any location permissions the app asks for.

Select the Life tab at the bottom of the screen.

Find and tap on the SmartThings Find card.

Install any add-ons if asked to do so.

Choose devices you want to see on the map, then hit Done.

To enable Offline finding, toggle it by tapping the More options (triple-dot) icon, then going to Settings > Allow devices to be found.

You may want to encrypt offline location data. If so, tap Back, then Encrypt offline location. You'll see a toggle for your phone. Flip it, and enter a 6-digit PIN when prompted.

Optional but recommended: Setting up multiple 2FA methods for your Samsung account

As mentioned, SmartThings Find makes use of your Samsung account. When you first create an account, Samsung will prompt you to turn on two-factor authentication (2FA).

This defaults to sending a 2FA prompt to the same device you're probably trying to locate. As a result of this oversight, it's possible to lock yourself out of your Samsung account right when you need it the most. We recommend adding multiple methods for 2FA as soon possible.

To add multiple 2FA methods to your Samsung account:

Go to Settings and tap on the top banner, which should lead you to your Samsung account settings.

Go to Security and privacy > Two-step verification.

Here, you can set up multiple methods for two-factor authentication.

We recommend choosing an authenticator app as your primary means, but we also advise that you generate offline Backup codes. Stash these codes in a secure place so you always have them as a fallback.

How to find your Samsung phone with Google's Find My Device

In case you missed out on setting up SmartThings Find, or you forgot to set up a backup for two-factor authentication and are now locked out of your phone, you can still make use of Google's Find My Device.

Go to https://www.Google.Com/android/find/ on a web browser. You can also use the Android app if you have another device.

You'll be asked to sign into your Google account. Sign into the same one active on your phone.

Select your device from the left pane.

Find My Device will display the location of your device on a map.

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority

As you can see, Find My Device has additional options:

Play sound: Your phone will ring for 5 minutes, even if it was set to silent or vibrate.

Secure device: Similar to the Lock mode on SmartThings Find, this will lock your device. A message and phone number will be displayed on the lockscreen, while the rest of the phone will be logged out of your Google account.

Erase device: Wipes the device to its factory settings.

When you trigger any of these commands, they'll run the next time your device connects to the internet via Wi-Fi or mobile data.

You'll notice that Find My Device supports fewer actions than SmartThings Find. But if you have devices beyond the Samsung ecosystem, Find My Device may be more useful overall, and there's no extra setup involved. The feature is automatic on devices with Google Play Services that sign into a Google account.

While you're here, take some time out and learn how to back up your Samsung phone in non-emergency situations. We also have advice on what to do if your phone gets stolen. On the flip side, if you suspect that you're being tracked via your phone, here's how you can tell if you're being spied on.

FAQs Can I track my Samsung Galaxy phone even when it's switched off?

No. Even the offline finding feature requires some power to operate Bluetooth Low Energy. You can, however, identify your phone's last known location before it powered down.

Can I track my Samsung Galaxy phone even if it's offline and not connected to the internet?

Yes, if you previously enabled offline finding. This makes use of Bluetooth Low Energy on your device, and those of nearby Samsung users who've also consented to the feature. The problem, of course, is that one of those users has to pass within BLE range of your phone, so if it's only surrounded by non-Samsung users, you're out of luck.

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