10 Things To Do Before Losing Your iPad And iPhone

Last week I realised how attached I had become to my iPad when I accidently left it on the train on the way home from work. It was an emotional experience of worrying about passwords and my identity, to wondering how I was going to afford a new one.

10 Things To Do Before Losing Your iPad And iPhone

I searched every room in the house about three times and when my husband arrived home I burst into tears. He rationally suggested I ring our home insurer, as we were covered for incidentals up to $1000. The phone call gave me some comfort but I was informed that the excess would be a hundred dollars.

The next phone call was to the transport company to report the item stolen. The operator suggested I call back the next day as it was peak hour. I spent the next hour trying to think of what apps I had open where I might need to change the password. I regretted not backing up my iPad recently and losing all my photos.

The next day I waited patiently until the afternoon and rang lost-property to see if someone had handed in my iPad. The lady paused to search for the item on her database and informed me that it had been handed in at one of the train stations further down the line. It matched my description so I quickly hopped on the next train and retrieved my beloved tablet.

Here are some of the lessons I learnt:

1. Make sure your home insurance covers the loss of your mobile phone and tablets. Alternatively, you can take out specific mobile insurance which is affordable.
2. Every fortnight or week back up your iPad wirelessly with iCloud or to a computer via iTunes. Write down this task in your diary so you remember.
3. Don’t type your passwords or PINs into your notepad or contacts phone book. Set the start-up PIN on your phone.
4. You may like to take a screenshot of all the pages of your apps (press the sleep/wake button at the same time as you press the home button). The screenshot will be saved in your Photos library. Another way to remember all the apps you downloaded is to copy the list under settings. If you lose your phone or tablet you may want to change your password on these apps, particularly Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and your emails.
5. Check your email applications to see your activity history and log out of all past sessions, except for your current session. There is an activity log in both Yahoo email and Gmail.  If possible, keep one email account for all your important and financial information and always log out of this account.
6. Photocopy your receipt and keep it somewhere safe (you may need it to claim with insurance). My receipt had started to fade.
7. Contact your local police to report a stolen or lost iPad with your serial number and model number.
8. Apple has some handy instructions on what do to if your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch is lost or stolen. https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201472 The Find My iPhone and similar Android apps are not fail-safe as the phone needs to be turned on and have a signal.
9. Contact your wireless carrier and suspend the service until you are ready to purchase a replacement. This will ensure that if your device is found then that person can’t make calls, send SMS or MMS or use up your network data. Depending on the carrier, you may be able to request for them to forward any calls through to a different phone number.
10. It may be possible to remotely lock your device and then wipe it. This is best done as a last resort.

With our mobile phones and tablets becoming an indispensable part of how we live our lives, it’s important to spend some regular time putting in some safeguards to ensure we are protected in case we do lose them and they aren’t replaced.