7 Ways to Stop Losing Your Smartphone
We’ve all been there: that moment you realize you don’t know where your phone is. You start out feeling annoyed — annoyed at yourself for misplacing it and annoyed at your phone for not telling you where it is. It’s a fount of information; it should be able to tell you where it is!
“Siri, where are you!?” you yell in vain.
The annoyance slowly grows to worry and eventually panic as you take a mental inventory of everything in your phone that is critical to your everyday life. How will you get through the day without your contacts, passwords, financial information, photos, videos, social media, and games?
Then relief washes over you as your fingers finally grasp the phone from in-between the couch cushions or discover it underneath the driver seat of the car. Losing your phone is never fun, but with a few simple steps, you can find your phone quickly — or at least keep yourself from losing it to begin with.
Have a regular place to plant it in your home or office
Get in the habit of keeping your phone in the same place. If it disappears, you’ll have a place to start looking. Once you’ve picked your phone’s special place, anchor it with a GoDonut phone stand. GoDonut offers stands in a variety of eye-catching colors and finishes that can help your phone stand out. It also stands your phone up, making it easier to see from a distance. Even if you move your phone from its special place, take the GoDonut with it to help it stand out wherever it goes.
Use a timed silent mode so your sound will turn on later
Everyone’s first instinct when they lose their phone is to have a friend or family member call it. If your phone is on silent, however, this trick does you no good. IPhones and Androids allow you to schedule silent modes, so even if you forget to take your phone off silent, the phone will do it for you! Simply navigate to your “do not disturb” feature in “settings” and turn on the schedule feature.
Put an emergency contact number on your lock screen
Add an emergency contact number (not your own) to your lock screen for someone to see if they find it. If someone finds your phone, make it easy for them to get in touch so they can return it to you. Put the phone number of a close friend or family member on your lock screen. If someone finds your phone, they’ll be able to coordinate a way to get it back to you. Here’s some tips on how to do that from PC Magazine.
Keep your phone out of your back pocket
Your back pocket is such a convenient place to keep your phone, especially for women whose front pockets are generally very small. However, your back pocket puts your phone in a prime spot to slip out and be left behind in restaurants, theaters, buses, etc. Keep your phone in your front pocket or in a purse or bag to keep it safe.
Turn on your Find My Phone service
Your phone comes with a built-in tracking device; all you have to do is turn it on! Share this service with a family member who can track down your phone if it ever disappears.
Link your phone to your smartwatch
Your smartwatch can also help you track down a missing phone by making your phone ring. Simply access the Find My Phone service in your watch, and it will trigger your ringtone.
Buy a device for keeping track of it
Devices like Tile can easily be attached to your keychain. They contain a GPS tracker that links to your phone so you never lose your keys again. These devices also work in reverse, however. Click the button on your Tile, and it will make your phone ring! Take it one step further with Chipolo. This little device also hooks onto your keychain, but it will alert you when you’re accidentally leaving an item behind. You can read more about Tile and other devices here: Real Simple: 5 Clever Gadgets So You’ll Never Lose Your Phone, Keys, or Wallet Again. For more on Chipolo, check out this article: iMore: Never lose your keys (or phone) again with Chipolo.
Other tips to prevent disaster if you lose your phone
- Use a good home screen lock to prevent identity theft
- Keep your photos and contacts backed up (most people say their photos are the most valuable thing on their phone)
- Record your phone’s unique ID number (IMEI) with these WikiHow instructions
Losing your phone is never fun, but with a few adjustments to your habits and a little help from technology, you can reduce the time you spend looking for your phone — or even stop losing it all together!
