Safeguard your mobile phone: A checklist for a lost or stolen phone

A lost or stolen mobile phone evokes mixed reactions in everyone. There is a group of people who would say "Hey I am very careful with my things, this can never happen to me". Then there is another group which will say "I have backed up each and everything in my phone. I do this twice every week. It doesn't matter to me even if my phone is lost. I am safe". Then again there is a group which says "I have put in password protection in every application on my phone. Even if it's lost no one can use it." Then there is the majority of people who cant be bothered about any of this.  Everyone has his own way of "protecting" his phone and it's contents which everyone believes is fool proof.

Before the age of the smart phones a mobile phone was exactly that. A phone! It was used to make only phone calls and contained only a contacts list. If you lost your phone in those days you just needed to re-enter the contacts in your new phone and that's it. So  simple! (though it could be a nightmare for the majority who had never backed up their contacts). But in this day and age, the term "mobile phone" has become somewhat of a misnomer. Now what you find in the market are "mobile devices". We use these devices to surf the web, check our emails, do mobile banking, use apps to play games, do mobile shopping, get the latest news and weather info, plan our vacations, etc. It's so convenient. Life's good! What we dont realize is that in the process of doing all this, we store an awful lot of info on our devices like passwords, banking info, history of all your visited websites etc. Just imagine if this device, brimming with your personal info, falls into the hands of a professional thief and tech whiz who can extract all of the info. Gawd! That's the last thing you want.

So what can we do to minimize the damage? Let's divide it into two parts- things to do before the phone is lost and things to do after it happens! First, before you loose your phone, do the following, lest you regret later-

1. As soon as you buy a new phone, note the IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity number). This can be done by dialing *#06# on your dialpad. A 15 or 16 digit number will be displayed on the screen. This is the most important number in the phone! More important than your girlfriend's number in your contacts list! To save it, either take a screen save of the displayed number and email it to yourself, or write it down on a text document on your computer or note it in a diary. You would need this number in case your mobile is lost as it would allow the authorities to trace the handset or block it altogether rendering it useless for anybody in possession of the handset.

2. Set a startup and wakeup passcode. Bear in mind this can be easily broken and just provides a very small defense, and will be a little bit of an inconvenience for you everyday, but it might just buy you the most valuable extra time to act when your phone gets lost. Moreover, a passcode is a good idea anyway to keep your phone away from prying eyes!

3. Backup your data. I know you know this, but have you done this? I am sure most of us learn the hard way, but it is really very important.. Backup your phone at least once a week. Majority of the phones offer an automatic free sync with Google servers and few like iPhone automatically get fully backed up when syncing via iTunes.

4. Activate remote mobile access and location. iPhone 4 comes with free locate my iPhone service, which should be activated as soon as you buy it. It is free for all iphone models running iOS 4.2 or above.This will also give you the ability to remotely access your iPhone, send a message to it and even remotely erase all of it's memory!! Similar features are also now available on certain motorola phones which are MOTOBLUR enabled, HTC Android handsets and Samsung handsets featuring Mobile Tracker.

5. Buy mobile phone insurance. This is recommended for the more expensive handsets. Although it costs a little bit every month, it can save you heaps in case your phone is lost or broken.

Now, this is what you should you do after the phone is lost-

1. Call your mobile provider and deactivate your account ASAP! This is because any calls made from your phone till you inform them will be billed to you. If you have the IMEI number, you can even ask them to block the phone itself. It's best to give the authorities a day or two to try to locate the phone and if they do not succeed, then it can be remotely locked using this number.

2. Make a police complaint. Yes, this sounds like a bit of an overkill. But in case some fraud is done using your phone, you will have proof that your phone was stolen before that.

3. Try to locate your handset if your phone has the feature. If you can, remotely erase it's memory. It can be restored later if you manage to get your phone back.

4. Get a new hand set!

Remember, your phone contains more info than your wallet and maybe even more money with upcoming NFC chip enabled devices, so be very careful with it!

This is a guest post by my dear friend Nitin Gupta, a practicing Radiologist in Melbourne, Australia. He is an avid iPhone user and tech enthusiast.

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