All the things you need to do if you lose your smartphone or if it is stolen: block your phone and all application accounts
Until a decade ago, losing your cell phone was mostly a disappointment, but after the initial disappointment we could immediately get another one without thinking too much about the security of the data contained in the old one.Modern phones contain much more information than in the past: losing your smartphone today can become a big problem, given that we risk losing it personal data generated by different applications such as Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Gmail and others.
In case of theft or loss, we are precise procedures to follow to be able to remotely “disconnect” all the most used personal accounts, so as to prevent someone from using them on our behalf with the certainty that, if the phone ends up in the wrong hands, they will not be able to access our accounts or obtain personal information. At that point, a smartphone will be completely unusable by whoever stole or found it.
READ ALSO: All Ways to Track Phone (Android, iPhone)
1) Remove WhatsApp
Let’s start protecting WhatsApp, which is the most used app on modern smartphones. Given how the service works, we will first of all have to get a new SIM card with the same number as the lost one and activate WhatsApp on the new phone.
If we don’t have time to get a new SIM and a new phone, we can send an email to the WhatsApp deactivation service (address [email protected]), indicating as the object Lost/Stolen: Deactivating my account and inserting the telephone number in the full international format in the body of the email (i.e. with +39 before the number).
If, however, we have access from another phone or a PC, we can also remove access or change the primary device, so as to automatically disconnect WhatsApp from the stolen phone. For further information we can read the guide above how to use the same WhatsApp number on two phones.
2) Remove Instagram
On Instagram, simply change your passwordso as to automatically disconnect all other active sessions (including the one on the stolen phone).
To change your password and deactivate all active Instagram sessions we access the Meta Account Management Centerwe choose Accounts and security and we press on change Password to proceed with the change. Alternatively we press on Devices you signed in fromso you can remove access from your lost phone.
From the same page we can also block or change the password for any Facebook account available to us that is still present on the phone.
In another article we can find the guide to log out of web accounts and log out sessions for many other sites, so that we can better protect our privacy on other services, on other social networks or on other instant chats.
3) Remove Google or Apple
Other very important accounts on which we need to change the passwords are the Google account (usable on any phone, including iPhone) e l’account Apple ID (only connectable to iPhone).
To change your Google account password let’s go to the web page Account Google from any PC, log in with our account credentials and finally go to the menu Safetypresent in the left part of the window.
To change the password simply click on the entry Password present in the section Login to Google; a new window will open in which we will be asked for the old password again, then we can choose a new one.
For greater safety, let’s scroll down the page Safety until you find the section Your devicesthen we click Manage devices per remove your Google account from your lost or lost phone.
Apple ID
To change your Apple ID account passwordlet’s open the pagina ID Apple on any PC or Mac browser, enter the access credentials in our possession, take us to the section Safety so let’s click on Change Password.
We enter the current password where requested, then choose a new password, confirming the change with the button change Password. All Apple devices with the old password will be disconnected from our account and can no longer be spied on.
4) Deactivate SIM
After deactivating all personal accounts you need to contact the telephone company for suspend the SIM (if we haven’t already done so) and prevent anyone who has found or stolen our cell phone from making calls or sending text messages and spending our money.
To do this, simply go to your operator’s store (WindTre, Vodafone or TIM) and ask to deactivate the old SIM and in exchange obtain a new SIM with the old number (essential for recovering access to WhatsApp).
Alternatively we can call the number of each operator, so as to explain the problem and ask for the SIM to be deactivated:
- TIM -> 119
- Vodafone -> 190
- WindTre -> 155
- Iliad -> 177
- ho. Mobile -> 800688788
- Mobile Post -> 160
- Fastweb Mobile -> 192193
- Kena mobile ->
For further information we can read the guide above how to request operator assistance from TIM, WindTre, Vodafone, Fastweb.
5) Disable IMEI
The IMEI of the phone it is a unique code associated with a SIM slot useful for blocking any phone, given that it will not be possible to insert any SIM inside, even after formatting or deleting the phone (the block acts at the cellular network level).
After having followed all the procedures described so far to the letter we can recover the IMEI code to block the mobile phone and prevent it from being used by filing a report with the Carabinieri or the State Police, assuming that the phone has now been stolen.
Conclusions
Losing a smartphone (especially if expensive) can be a serious loss on an emotional level, but even more so on a privacy level: in fact, following the advice we have proposed we will be able to remove all our accounts remotely. After deactivating these, we also change the password for banking services, PayPal or any other account on the phone.
To learn more we can read the guides above how to make stolen phone unusable e how to find or lock your lost or stolen iPhone.