Naija Guide: How to find your lost smartphone
In the age of social media and digital transactions, your smartphone becomes a part of your life. Everything is in there from your contacts to your personal information. That’s why it’s important to have it with you at all times. However, what happens when you lose your phone?
Thanks to the various technological advancement in the digital sphere, you can access your phone anywhere in the world with Google’s find my phone setting. Every Google account holder has an option to set this up once you’ve connected your phone to your email address.
Whether you’re an android or an iPhone user, you can utilise this feature in these easy steps:
- Go to your phone’s settings menu
To make sure that the Find my Device option is activated, open the Settings app and go to Security and Locations. Once you’re there, look for the Find my Device option and see if it’s turned on. If it isn’t, all you have to do is click and turn it on so that your phone’s activities are connected to your Google account.
- Set up the Secure and Erase option
In case things go south and you won’t be able to retrieve your phone, go to a site called android-dot-com-slash-find. Select your phone and click the set-up. You’ll receive a notification on your phone that will redirect you to a page where you can finish the setup process.
- Find your phone
You can find your phone using any device as long as you’re logged into your Google account. Go to the android website and you’ll have three different options on how you can find your phone which are:
- Play sound – Your phone will ring for 5 minutes even if it’s on silent mode.
- Secure device – Your phone will be locked and your Google account will be signed out for protection. Through the map, you can locate the phone but you can also choose to display a message and a contact number for other people to reach out to in case they find it.
- Erase device – If you are sure that there’s no other way to retrieve your phone, you can opt for this feature. This erases the entire contents of your phone so that no one can access your personal data even if they have the device. However, you won’t be able to locate the device anymore once you do this.
What to do when your phone is stolen
It’s unnerving to lose your phone because it contains all of your personal data. When they get their hands on this, your safety is compromised.
However, once your phone is stolen, there’s no getting it back. It’s best that you erase all the data in your phone remotely rather than locate your phone and confront the thief. You can also contact local authorities to help you out.
