When You Lose Your Phone

I still have no idea how I lost my phone. When we parked the car and started for the elevator in our building, I patted the zipped pocket in the front of my purse. It was empty. I searched the car, thinking it had fallen out of my purse. No luck. I dumped all of the contents of my purse onto a bed. Not there. I opened the “Find My Devises” app on my computer, only to discover my phone was unlisted. Panic set in. We called the grocery store we had just left and they couldn’t find the phone. We left my husband’s phone number and decided to return to the scene of the crime.

I had used the phone to scan the app for the grocery store. I know I returned it to its special pocket in my purse, but I also pulled out my wallet to charge the groceries. I must have forgotten to zip the pocket. Perhaps it was in the parking lot where we had parked? No luck there as my husband called it and we didn’t hear it ring. We went inside to inspect the checkout line more carefully when my husband’s phone rang. Someone had just turned the phone into the service desk. He claimed he found it in a cart. While that makes no sense as we were sure it wasn’t in the cart after we emptied it, I was so grateful to have it back that it didn’t matter how it ended up in a random cart.

So, what did I learn from this experience?

• Be more mindful of what I am doing. Don’t let the person behind me in the check-out line rush me into exiting so quickly that I don’t have time to make sure I have my phone and wallet secured.

  
  

• Turn on "Find My iPhone," or make sure it is turned on. It’s pretty simple:

  • Open the Settings app

  • Tap your name

  • Tap “Find My”

  • Tap “Find My iPhone”

  • Turn on “Find My iPhone” 

• Take a minute to think before panicking. I could have used our Life 360 app on my husband's phone to locate the phone. Never thought to do that.

  
  

• Mark the phone lost right away.

  • Sign in to iCloud.com/find.

  • Select your iPhone.

  • Select “Mark As Lost,” then follow the onscreen instructions to leave a phone number and message. That way, if someone found the phone they could have called my husband’s phone.

  • Select “Activate” to lock your iPhone with its existing passcode.

  • When you mark your iPhone as lost, your device is put in Lost Mode — it's locked with a passcode, payment cards and passes that you use with Apple Pay are suspended, and you can display a phone number and message for someone who finds your device.

• Call your mobile phone carrier, as they might offer location tracking services for lost or stolen devices. You should contact your mobile phone carrier's customer service department. They might require proof of ownership of your iPhone.

Most of all, I learned to do things more slowly so I can focus on my actions. Also, not to panic but rather to think about all of the options available to me. And should this ever happen to me again, or to you, what steps I should take to make sure the information on my phone doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Just consider this a PSA for all of us seniors out there who have grown very dependent on our phones.