Lost your phone? Here’s how to find it and protect your data.

Step 1: Locate the phone from another device

For an iPhone, sign in to the Find My app on another Apple device or to iCloud.com with your Apple Account. For an Android phone, use Google’s Find Hub (formerly Find Hub) on another Android device or on the web, signed in with your Google account. Both show the phone’s current or last known location on a map.

If the map shows a place you recognize, such as a restaurant or a friend’s apartment, call them before you go. If it shows a moving vehicle, note the time and route for the operator.

Step 2: Play a sound and mark it as lost

If the phone seems to be nearby, play a sound. It rings at full volume even if the phone is on silent, which is usually enough to find it under a cushion or in a bag.

If it isn’t nearby, use Mark As Lost on an iPhone, or the equivalent lock option in Find Hub on Android. Both lock the phone and let you show a message and a phone number on the lock screen, so an honest finder or venue staff can call you. On an iPhone, marking it as lost also suspends Apple Pay cards on that device.

Do not share your passcode or verification codes with someone claiming to have found the phone. Use official Apple or Google pages to manage it, and contact local police rather than confronting a suspected thief.

• Show a number you can answer, such as a partner’s or a work phone.
• Keep the message short: “This phone is lost. Please call” and the number.
• Don’t include your home address.

Step 3: Contact the venue or transport operator

Phones are among the items most often handed in. Call the place where you last had it and ask for lost and found, or use the operator’s lost property form if you left it on a train, bus or in a taxi. Describe the model, color, case, wallpaper and any stickers or cracks, and expect to prove it’s yours, for example by unlocking it on collection.

Many venues now publish found items online, so it’s worth checking while you wait for a callback. If the venue uses vFound, its lost and found page can let you:

• Search with a photo of your phone, or of the same model in a similar case.
• Describe the loss in a short chat, and vFound AI fills in the report for you to check and send.
• Attach a Find My share link to your report, if you have one.
• See possible matches straight away, and get an email each time a likely match is logged over the next 90 days.

Step 4: Secure your SIM and your accounts

Call your carrier to suspend the line. That stops calls and data charges on your account and makes it harder for someone to use your number to receive sign-in codes. Ask about a replacement SIM or eSIM so you can keep your number.

If the phone wasn’t locked with a passcode, change the passwords for your email, banking and social accounts from another device, and sign the lost phone out of them where the service allows it.

Step 5: Decide whether remote erasure is needed

Remote erasure is irreversible. On Android it ends Find Hub location tracking. On supported iPhones tracking may continue after erasure. Follow the official instructions for your model and assess the risk to your data; do not delay necessary protection merely to keep searching.

On an iPhone, don’t remove the phone from your Apple Account after erasing it. Keeping it linked keeps Activation Lock on, so nobody else can set it up and use it.

Step 6: Report the IMEI to your carrier and the police

The IMEI is your phone’s unique identifier. It’s often printed on the original box and listed on your carrier account, and it may appear in your Apple or Google account’s device list. Give it to your carrier if you believe the phone was stolen: in many countries carriers can block a reported IMEI from their network.

A police report with the IMEI helps with insurance claims and gives the police a way to match the phone if it’s recovered. Check your local police website for how to report a lost or stolen phone.