10 Things You Should Do if Your iPhone Is Stolen
Last Updated: Jan. 2, 2015
When you discover that your iPhone has been stolen, dozens of thoughts race through your head all at once. Anger, worry, surprise are all likely to pop up. Don't dwell on them, though. There are a few steps you should take, steps could be very important. While there's no guarantee that taking these actions will get your iPhone back, they won't hurt and may succeed in some cases. Good luck.
File a report with the police in the city where the phone was stolen. This may or may not directly lead to the recovery of your phone (in fact, the police may tell you there's very little they can do either given the value of the phone or the number of theft reports they have), but having documentation of the theft may help in dealing with cell phone and insurance companies. Even if they police tell you they can't help at first, if you can get data about the location of your phone, having the police report on file may be necessary for getting the police to help you recover it.
If your iPhone was issued to you through work, notify your employer of the theft immediately. You may even want to do this before you file the police report, since your corporate IT department may be able to prevent the thief from accessing critical business information. Your employer may have given you guidelines about what to do in case of theft when they issued the phone to you. It's a good idea to brush up on them.
Don't let the thief gain access to accounts whose passwords may be saved on your iPhone. Changing your email account passwords will prevent the thief from reading or sending mail from your phone. Beyond that, changing online banking, iTunes, and other important account passwords will help prevent identity theft or financial theft.
Learn more at IdentityTheft.About.com
If you use Apple's wireless payment service, you may want to use iCloud to remove any credit cards or debit cards you've added to the phone for use with Apple Pay. Apple Pay is very secure—thieves shouldn't be able to use your Apple Pay without your fingerprint, which they likely won't have—but it's nice to have the peace of mind that your credit card isn't virtually sitting in a thief's pocket.
Learn more: Remove a Credit Card from Apple Pay
There are a number of ways to use the iPhone's built-in GPS to track a stolen iPhone. Apple's free Find My iPhone service and many third-party apps from the App Store will help you locate the phone geographically. Getting this data can be crucial for recovering the phone. Some of these apps, including Find My iPhone, also allow you to remotely change security settings (more on this in later steps).
Learn more: How to Use Find My iPhone to Track a Stolen iPhone
Related:
Whether this should be the sixth step in the process, or an earlier one, will depend on your circumstances. Some cell phone company representatives may be more inclined to take action when you've got a police report, others may act right away without one. Calling your cell phone company to report the theft and have the account tied to the phone suspended or canceled will help ensure that you're not stuck paying for charges incurred by the thief.
IMPORTANT: Before you cancel service on your phone, though, try tracking it using Find My iPhone. Once service to the phone is turned off, you won't be able to track it anymore.
If you've been able to locate your iPhone via a GPS-based tracking app like Find My iPhone, don't try to recover it yourself. Going to the house of the person who stole your phone is a certain recipe for trouble. Instead, contact the police department you filed the report with, make sure to have your report information at hand, and let them know that you've got additional information about the location of the stolen phone. With more information, the police ought to be willing to recover the phone for you.
If you can't get the iPhone back, or it's taking too long, you may want to delete the phone's data. You can do this over the web using iCloud or some of the other tracking apps. Deleting data won't prevent the thief from using your iPhone, but at least they won't have access to your personal data after that.
Alternatively, you can use iCloud to set a passcode on your iPhone over the Internet, which will lock the thief out of your iPhone entirely. If you do that, you don't necessarily need to delete your data.
If your iPhone was issued to you by your employer, your IT department may be able to remotely delete the data, too. Contact them to learn about your options.
Learn more: Use Find My iPhone to Remotely Delete iPhone Data
If you're using a third-party insurance company to protect your iPhone, and your policy covers theft, be sure to call the company. Having a police report will be a big help here. If you can recover the phone with the help of the police all the better, but reporting the situation to the insurance company will get the ball rolling in the meantime and help you replace your phone if you can't recover it.
Learn more: iPhone insurance companies
Related:
If your phone's gone and you weren't able to track it via GPS and/or delete its data, you're probably not going to get it back. In that case, you should notify the people in your address book and email accounts of the theft. They probably won't be getting calls or emails from the thief, but in case the thief has a bad sense of humor or more seriously bad intentions, you'll want people to know that it's not you sending them troublemaking emails.
Whether you get your iPhone back, or have to replace it with a new one, you may want to change your habits and behaviors to prevent or deal better with future thefts (there's no guarantee against all thefts or losses, of course, but these can help). Check out these articles for some other useful precautions:
When you discover that your iPhone has been stolen, dozens of thoughts race through your head all at once. Anger, worry, surprise are all likely to pop up. Don't dwell on them, though. There are a few steps you should take, steps could be very important. While there's no guarantee that taking these actions will get your iPhone back, they won't hurt and may succeed in some cases. Good luck.
1. File a Police Report
File a report with the police in the city where the phone was stolen. This may or may not directly lead to the recovery of your phone (in fact, the police may tell you there's very little they can do either given the value of the phone or the number of theft reports they have), but having documentation of the theft may help in dealing with cell phone and insurance companies. Even if they police tell you they can't help at first, if you can get data about the location of your phone, having the police report on file may be necessary for getting the police to help you recover it.
2. Notify Your Employer
If your iPhone was issued to you through work, notify your employer of the theft immediately. You may even want to do this before you file the police report, since your corporate IT department may be able to prevent the thief from accessing critical business information. Your employer may have given you guidelines about what to do in case of theft when they issued the phone to you. It's a good idea to brush up on them.
3. Change Your Passwords
Don't let the thief gain access to accounts whose passwords may be saved on your iPhone. Changing your email account passwords will prevent the thief from reading or sending mail from your phone. Beyond that, changing online banking, iTunes, and other important account passwords will help prevent identity theft or financial theft.
Learn more at IdentityTheft.About.com
4. Remove Credit Card From Apple Pay
If you use Apple's wireless payment service, you may want to use iCloud to remove any credit cards or debit cards you've added to the phone for use with Apple Pay. Apple Pay is very secure—thieves shouldn't be able to use your Apple Pay without your fingerprint, which they likely won't have—but it's nice to have the peace of mind that your credit card isn't virtually sitting in a thief's pocket.
Learn more: Remove a Credit Card from Apple Pay
5. Track the iPhone
There are a number of ways to use the iPhone's built-in GPS to track a stolen iPhone. Apple's free Find My iPhone service and many third-party apps from the App Store will help you locate the phone geographically. Getting this data can be crucial for recovering the phone. Some of these apps, including Find My iPhone, also allow you to remotely change security settings (more on this in later steps).
Learn more: How to Use Find My iPhone to Track a Stolen iPhone
Related:
6. Call Your Cell Phone Company
Whether this should be the sixth step in the process, or an earlier one, will depend on your circumstances. Some cell phone company representatives may be more inclined to take action when you've got a police report, others may act right away without one. Calling your cell phone company to report the theft and have the account tied to the phone suspended or canceled will help ensure that you're not stuck paying for charges incurred by the thief.
IMPORTANT: Before you cancel service on your phone, though, try tracking it using Find My iPhone. Once service to the phone is turned off, you won't be able to track it anymore.
7. Don't Try to Recover It Yourself; Get Police Help
If you've been able to locate your iPhone via a GPS-based tracking app like Find My iPhone, don't try to recover it yourself. Going to the house of the person who stole your phone is a certain recipe for trouble. Instead, contact the police department you filed the report with, make sure to have your report information at hand, and let them know that you've got additional information about the location of the stolen phone. With more information, the police ought to be willing to recover the phone for you.
8. Delete Data and Lock iPhone
If you can't get the iPhone back, or it's taking too long, you may want to delete the phone's data. You can do this over the web using iCloud or some of the other tracking apps. Deleting data won't prevent the thief from using your iPhone, but at least they won't have access to your personal data after that.
Alternatively, you can use iCloud to set a passcode on your iPhone over the Internet, which will lock the thief out of your iPhone entirely. If you do that, you don't necessarily need to delete your data.
If your iPhone was issued to you by your employer, your IT department may be able to remotely delete the data, too. Contact them to learn about your options.
Learn more: Use Find My iPhone to Remotely Delete iPhone Data
9. Call Your Insurance Company, If You Have One
If you're using a third-party insurance company to protect your iPhone, and your policy covers theft, be sure to call the company. Having a police report will be a big help here. If you can recover the phone with the help of the police all the better, but reporting the situation to the insurance company will get the ball rolling in the meantime and help you replace your phone if you can't recover it.
Learn more: iPhone insurance companies
Related:
10. Notify People
If your phone's gone and you weren't able to track it via GPS and/or delete its data, you're probably not going to get it back. In that case, you should notify the people in your address book and email accounts of the theft. They probably won't be getting calls or emails from the thief, but in case the thief has a bad sense of humor or more seriously bad intentions, you'll want people to know that it's not you sending them troublemaking emails.
11. What To Do For Next Time
Whether you get your iPhone back, or have to replace it with a new one, you may want to change your habits and behaviors to prevent or deal better with future thefts (there's no guarantee against all thefts or losses, of course, but these can help). Check out these articles for some other useful precautions:
