The first thing to do is try and locate your phone. If it’s an iPhone, head to Apple’s iCloud Find Devices My website, or open the Find My app on another trusted Apple device. If you’re on Android, navigate to Google’s Find Hub website or open the Find Hub app on another Android device that you’re logged into.
Sign in to your Apple or Google account, and you should be given a list of your registered devices, along with their location on a map. Click on the device that has been stolen.
Lock your device
The first thing Apple users should do here is to select the stolen iPhone, press the “Lost iPhone” button, and follow the instructions. This will immediately prevent the thief from accessing and making changes to your device, requiring a face unlock to access again.
Android users can do the same by tapping on the stolen device and selecting “Secure device”.
Notify the police and your mobile network
We’re operating under the assumption that you know your phone has been stolen, rather than merely lost. As such, you should never attempt to track down your phone from this map. Instead, you should report it stolen to the police.
If you’ve been hurt in the theft, you still feel unsafe, or the incident has just happened, and you have immediate access to another phone, the official Metropolitan Police advice is to call 999 as the first step in the process. Otherwise, you can report the theft after the fact on 101 or online. Be sure to have that IMEI number to hand when you do.
You should also contact your mobile network and report your phone as stolen. Using your IMEI, they will be able to suspend your account and prevent the phone from accessing a mobile network.
Now might be the appropriate time to notify your insurer, too.
Notify your banks and change your key passwords
While the security measures you’ve set up during the first phase should protect you, no system is foolproof. It pays to cover all eventualities, given that your entire life is effectively on your phone.
You should contact your banks to have any payment methods stored on your stolen phone frozen. Any transactions made after you’ve reported your phone stolen may be recovered by your bank.
It’s also worth changing the passwords to your email accounts, social media, and any important apps that you regularly use.
Wipe your phone
The nuclear option is to wipe your phone remotely, removing all of your personal data. We mention this last because a safe recovery is the preferable avenue, no matter how improbable. Once you’ve wiped a phone, it’s irreversible.
Locking the phone is quicker than wiping it, while notifying the appropriate institutions should also ideally take precedence.
To wipe your phone remotely, repeat the first two steps. Rather than opting to lock your phone, however, this time you’re selecting “Reset” (on iPhone) or “Factory reset device” (on Android).
Note that you shouldn’t remove your stolen device from Find My, even if you do decide to wipe it. This will make it easier for the thief to resell the phone.
Apple also notes that subscribers to the AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss service shouldn’t remove an iPhone from their Apple Account or Find My until their claim has been approved.