Smartphones have become a full extension of us. They have literally become our electronic sidekicks. We should make sure that they won’t get stolen or lost. Losing a smartphone can feel that we are missing part of ourselves. However, we should be fully prepared when our beloved gadget meets this fate. Here are things that we should do to make things easier in case our smartphone has just got stolen:
Secure our data: It is important to improve the overall security of our data system in smartphones. There should be pro-active features that we should add into our smartphones. As an example, we could use the standard screen lock feature to prevent thieves from accessing our phone. We may use the standard pattern code or PIN to access. It is important to add proper PIN, especially something that’s much harder to predict, such as 0000 or 1234.
Backup information: Our phone often contains valuable information, such as captured pictures and videos. Once our phone gets stolen, the information may be gone forever. The easiest way should be to immediately back up our phone through USB cable. Even a weekly backup task would be more than enough to safeguard our data. Backup process should also be performed right after we collect important information in our smartphones. After being connected to the computer, the smartphone should act like a standard flash drive. We could drag and drop any item we want to save into the computer. Because laptops and desktop computers won’t last forever, it is also important to transfer backed up data to DVD for affordable safekeeping. We could also immediately back up our data to iCloud or iTunes. There are also apps that instantly upload photos as we take them.
Install reliable tracking software: With a proper tracking software, it should be really easy to find out about the whereabouts of our smartphone. The app can be paired with other mobile devices or computer. A message can be displayed to detect where the device is located. Once our device is identified and can be contacted, it will be locked remotely. Instead of using a third party app, it is better to choose an app that is provided by the carrier. The carrier may also have a phone locator service that can immediately determine the physical location of smartphone.
Once our phone has been stolen, it is important that we immediately report about the theft. The carrier should be notified that the smartphone has been stolen. This will allow the carrier to immediately disable the phone quickly. If we don’t report the theft, it’s possible that thief will make long distance calls and other illegal acts. We should also immediately change the password of our email, social networks and bank accounts. This will prevent thieves from doing something inappropriate. Another thing we should do is to immediately wipe the data.