Not to be dramatic, but your smartphone is your life. It’s your main means of communication, your work organizer, your entertainment system and your personal assistant. It’s your alarm in the morning and your meditation app right before you head to sleep.
Having it slip out of your pocket while you’re sitting at a café or watching a movie at the theater would be a devastating mistake — not to mention an expensive one. If you’re anxious about your losing your smartphone, here is how you can prevent that stressful scenario from happening.
Get A Striking Skin
It’s much easier to lose a phone that blends with its surroundings. You’ll walk away without realizing that the black device is sitting right on top of a leather couch cushion or a dark tabletop. You need your phone to be noticeable.
If you want to fix this problem, deck out your phone today with a skin in an eye-catching color that won’t camouflage with your usual environments. You’ll be more likely to spot a bright red or yellow phone lying on the floor.
If you’re worried about bright colors clashing with your style, then go for a white skin. It will still stand out in most situations, even when the lights are off.
Keep The Ringer On
Putting your phone on vibrate or silent is a good way to avoid rude interruptions during meetings and dates, but it can also be a problem. One of the easiest ways to recover your phone is to use someone else’s to give it a quick call and listen for the ring — you never know, it could be closer than you think.
As long as you’re not in a place that requires a silent phone, turn up the volume on your ringer. Better yet, choose a unique ringtone to make sure that you recognize your device within seconds.
Track Your Phone
So, you can’t spot your phone or hear it ringing — that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. One of the first things you can do when you lose your phone is turn on its remote tracking with another device.
The tracking application will show your phone’s location on a map so that you can retrieve it. You can use it to log into your phone and lock the screen with a password, ensuring that no one can look through your personal information.
Android owners can do this with the Find My Device app. The app has to be installed and enabled on your phone before it goes missing. Take the time to set it up right now.
Apple fans can use the Find my iPhone to recover their own. The phone has to be enabled in iCloud settings for the app to work.
Only pick up the phone if it appears to be in a public space and you feel like it’s safe to go there alone. If the location on the map keeps moving or you think it was stolen, notify the authorities instead of planning a confrontation.
Use A Security App
A security app like Prey Project will combine the capabilities of remote tracking apps with phone-protection services. For instance, it can display a message alert on your lock screen letting kind strangers know how they can get the device back to you.
If you’re worried about thieves and pickpockets, you can boobytrap your phone with the app by having an alarm sound off when it’s stolen. The sound will alert everyone nearby that something has been taken, drawing attention to the thief. Ideally, the perpetrator will leave your property alone and run away to avoid any further conflict.
After taking all of these precautions, you can rest easy about your phone. You can detect it when it’s nearby because of the striking skin and the loud ringtone. If it gets lost, you can retrieve it with tracking services and security apps. Even if it’s gone, it won’t be for very long.