Phone theft:
What to do before and after
Jonathan Parkyn explains the preventative measures you need to take in case your phone is stolen – and how to respond if it happens
Before taking any of the following steps, make a note of your device’s IMEI and serial numbers – you may need these when making an insurance claim or reporting a theft. On an iPhone, tap Settings, General, then About to find these. On an Android device, tap Settings followed by ‘About phone’. Note these details down somewhere safe. Once you’ve done that you can move on to the tips below.
Make sure your data is being backed up
If your phone is stolen, you risk losing not only the phone itself, but also the data on it – photos, messages, music and much more. The simplest way to prevent this is to turn on your phone’s backup tool. Android users should find this under Settings, Google, ‘All services’, Backup, then ‘Backup by Google One’ (see screenshot above right) – though the precise location can vary from device to another. On an iPhone, tap Settings followed by your name at the top. Now tap iCloud, then iCloud Backup and turn on ‘Back Up This iPhone’.
In both cases, your phone’s data is automatically backed up to Google or Apple’s online storage, making it easy to restore everything to any new phone. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely Apple’s (5GB) or Google’s (15GB) free storage will be enough, so you may have to pay for more storage. Apple’s iCloud Drive costs from 99p a month for 50GB (www.snipca.com/53696), while Google’s start at £1.59 a month for 100GB (www.snipca.com/53695).