What to do if you lose your smartphone

Few things can make people completely freak out as losing their cellphone. In this modern age smartphones are used for so much more than just making phone calls. Just the thought of a stranger having access to all of your personal information, is unthinkable.

Follow these guidelines to possibly find your phone if you ever lose it:

1st method:

Check nearby locations
Start checking the accustomed places you usually leave your phone. For example woman bags, the place you usually charge your phone and other similar places. Check also under car seats or wherever you've been sitting that day, as phones easily slip from your bag or pocket under a seat.

Call your cellphone
Use a friend's cellphone or a landline to dial your phone. If your phone is nearby, you'll hear it and can retrieve it. Alternatively, perhaps someone will answer it and can tell you where it is.
Ask people around you and recall your previous steps.

Ask if anyone in your family or circle of friends has seen––or borrowed––your phone. It's worth asking, you never know!

Send a text to your lost phone
This will let anyone who might have access to your phone know that it is lost, or the SMS notification sound may help you find it if it’s nearby. The message could say; "Help! I lost this phone. If you find it please call 511-1111. Blessings will be instantly awarded!"

2nd method: Track it down by using modern apps (only applicable for smart phones)

This is an easier and faster way, but requires you to have subscribed to one of our data plans so that your phone could have access to the internet.

Use Find My iPhone to track your lost iPhone.
If you have an iPhone, use Apple’s Find My iPhone service or third-party apps such as GadgetTrak. To use Find My iPhone, you will need to access the service from the iCloud website, or another iDevice that you are logged in on. You can see the iPhone on a map, and you can lock or wipe it from your computer.

If you activate ‘Lost Mode’ on the lost iPhone, the device will be ‘Activation Locked’. This means that until someone enters the Apple ID and password that locked the phone, it cannot be used, even when the factory reset is performed. Activation Lock is enabled alongside Find My iPhone, and is enabled automatically on iOS 8.

Use the Android Device Manager to find a lost Android phone.
Visit google.com/android/devicemanager in any web browser. You will need to log in with your Google account. The Android Device Manager website is a service provided by Google that allows you to track your phone using Google Maps. You can also remotely wipe your phone’s data if you have the correct box ‘checked’ on your phone.

Use the Windows Phone website to find a lost Windows phone.
Windows Phone users can visit the ‘Find My Phone' section of the Windows Phone website (windowsphone.com). There you can track and remotely wipe your phone.
You will need to log in with your Microsoft account.

3rd Method:

Report it
Visit the nearest police station and report it. You might be lucky, somebody could have been kind enough to have handed it in!

Contact us
Visit the nearest UTS Store with a police report and your SIM PUK code.
Request to block your SIM or to make a SIM-swap. This will keep someone from making unauthorized calls with your SIM card.

Prepaid Users: Do not dispose of your PUK Code. This will help us verify that you are the owner of the lost SIM. (In case you don’t remember the PUK, we will offer other verification methods.)
Postpaid users: Have your ID at hand when you visit a UTS Store.
After office hours: Visit our UTS Security office located at Sta. Rosaweg 13 (situated in the UTS Directory Service building) to report your stolen phone and SIM as soon as possible to prevent others from using your call credit or using your postpaid account.

Learn from your experience ;-)

If you haven't already installed a helpful app to locate your lost phone, do so once you've found your phone or purchased a new one. Examine your password strength, and evaluate if you really need to have important accounts always ‘logged in’ on your phone. Keep a record of your phone’s IMEI number and SIM PUK code.

If you are a prepaid user, request your account to be created on your name. This way we can always use your ID to verify that you are the owner.