We use our phones pretty much all the time, from the moment we wake up to turn the alarm off, up to looking at it before we fall asleep, and many times throughout the day. It is said that every person spends at least two hours on their device every single day, and if we calculate the country-specific numbers, we can see that in some parts of the world, people are known to spend more than five hours on their phones every single day. It is safe to say that most of our important information is on this device, starting from our pictures, up to sensitive data like passwords, credit card numbers, and we are logged on all social media profiles.
We’ve all misplaced these devices at least once in our lives, and we know how stressful that is. However, when we cannot find it for more than five minutes, that is when our serious panic kicks in. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you cannot find your missing device, you should not panic. Here, we are going to give you some tips on the things that you can do if you are trying to locate your lost phone.
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1. Call yourself
The first thing you should do if you cannot find your device is to call yourself. More often than not your phone is just stuck under the sofa, or it is somewhere in between your pile of clothes, so you can easily find it if you just ring it. By doing this you will see if it is somewhere near you, if you can hear it, or if it is not at the same location as you are. Note that you may have forgotten it at home, or at work, so contact your family or coworkers to check.
2. Use another Bluetooth connected device
If you are alone, and if you don’t have someone next to you that will give you a device so you can call yourself, you should not worry. Today, we are surrounded by Bluetooth-connected devices, and you can use them to find your missing phone. If you have a smartwatch or Bluetooth earbuds, you can use them to just ring your phone. Pretty much any wearable that is connected to your device can be used to alert your phone so that you can hear it if it is in close proximity.
3. Use your computer
Now let’s talk about what happens if you don’t have a Bluetooth device or if you don’t have anyone near you that will let you call yourself. The only thing you need is a computer or a laptop. Depending on the type of mobile you have and the OS, you can easily call yourself via Google, you can see the location via your email, and you can track it. Both Android and iOS users can track their devices via their accounts, and you can sign in to the account on any computer, tablet, or laptop.
4. Get a tracking app
Your safest bet is to use a tracking app. These platforms are amazing because they will give you the location of your missing device at all times. You can choose if you want to get an app that you can install on your mobile, or you can just use your number to locate it.
On websites like find-my-phone.org, you can easily locate your missing device just by adding your number to the site. This means that no matter where you are, no matter if you are in your country, or traveling, you just need to put the digits in and you will get a notification on where your mobile is currently.
5. Call your provider
Sometimes all the things that we mentioned previously won’t work. For most of them to work, you need to have your GPS on, or your Bluetooth or just the device needs to be either online or just on. If these requirements are not fulfilled, it may be difficult to track your mobile on your own. If this happens, and if you tried everything else, but it was to no avail, you should not give up.
You should just let your provider know so that they can track if there was any activity on your device, if there were any outgoing or incoming calls, and they can give you information about its location.
The last thing we are going to talk about is contacting the authorities. If you don’t think that your mobile was just misplaced, and if you believe that someone actually stole it, then you should not wait. You need to contact your local police department, and you should let them know about your missing device. If you still have the box where your phone was when you bought it, you should check the device number, different codes, and information that would help them locate it with ease. You should tell them about your whereabouts when you last had it, and you should collaborate with them so that you can be reunited with your mobile as soon as possible.
It is said that prevention is always better than looking for the solution, so you should always be alert and you should always pay attention to your device no matter where you are. If you want to be able to easily track it, you should make sure that your location is on at all times. If you have any wearables, then you should turn the Bluetooth on as well. Currently, there are a lot of ways to connect your mobile with your laptop and other devices, and that is usually done just via your email. To be extra secure, you should download and install a tracking application that will give you information about your device’s location at all times. Don’t forget to add different types of security and encryption on it, so that even if someone steals it, they cannot access your sensitive data. These are some of the things that you can do to ensure the safety of your device so that even if it gets misplaced, you can find it with ease.