What to do if your phone gets stolen

Our mobile phones hold so much of our lives. We use them to organise social events, remind us to go to appointments and even pay for our shopping. But if your phone gets stolen or lost, it'll have a big impact on your life – unless you know what to do.

If your phone is stolen, the thief will probably wipe it to sell it as fast as possible and your data won’t be used. However, there’s a chance they might try to hack into your accounts.

Below, we explain the steps you need to take before and after your phone is stolen, plus we show you ways to toughen up your phone's security.

Before your phone is stolen: important prep

The police and phone providers will likely ask for your phone's IMEI details if you report it stolen. The IMEI will identify your exact phone and the police can use it to check if it ends up on sale anywhere.

• To find your IMEI number on Android, dial *#06#
• To find your IMEI number on iPhone, go to Settings > General > About.

Next, if you haven't already set up a Find My Phone service on your phone, you need to do this right now. Once it's done, you can virtually control your phone and stop your data from falling into the wrong hands. Your future self will thank you for it.

Finally, take a note of your network provider's number – some have specific numbers you can use if a phone is stolen. Write it down and keep it in a purse or wallet with other important contacts you may need to inform if your phone has been stolen.

We've tested a selection of the most popular Bluetooth trackers, including the Apple AirTag, to see how well they help you find lost items. See our guide to the best Bluetooth trackers.

Stolen Device Protection for iPhone

If your Apple iPhone can be upgraded to iOS 17.3 or higher, you can enable Stolen Device Protection, which aims to prevent thieves from locking you out of your Apple accounts or wiping your phone.

By entering locations you frequent a lot, such as your home or work, your phone can be prompted to ask for extra authentication when away from these locations before allowing any major changes on your device, and not let you change anything significant for an hour. This should give you time to locate your iPhone with Find My iPhone (see below) and secure your iPhone's private data remotely.

After you've upgraded your phone to iOS 17.3, a prompt is likely to appear asking you if you want to enable Stolen Device Protection. If not, you can enable it by going to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Turn on Stolen Device Protection. 

To have Stolen Device Protection, you must have a lock on your iPhone's home screen (passcode, Face ID or Touch ID), use two-factor authentication for your Apple ID, and set up Significant Locations in your Location Service, found in your phone's settings. You must also have Find My iPhone enabled, which we explain how to do, below.

How to track an iPhone – Find My iPhone

To set up Find My iPhone while you have your mobile with you, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Tap your name, then Find My > Find My iPhone
3. Activate Find My iPhone to locate, lock or erase the device remotely
4. Enable Find My network, which lets you locate the device, even when it's offline
5. Select Send Last Location to send the phone’s last location to Apple if its battery is low.

To use Find My iPhone from a computer, visit icloud.com/find or Apple’s Find My app. Log in with your Apple ID. You’ll need your phone to be connected to the internet and turned on to link up to it, so find it quickly as a thief might turn it off.

On Find My iPhone, you can take a number of steps to protect your phone’s data. You can locate it, secure it in Lost Mode, add a recovery message to the screen, make it play sounds (even if it’s on silent mode) and erase all your data. 

Note that if you erase your data, you won’t be able to locate the device any more.

See how many iPhones made it into our guide to the best smartphones – or check out the best iPhone deals.

Android theft protection

The Find Hub service on Android allows you to secure your phone from another device to protect your data and accounts from getting into the wrong hands. 

On some smartphones, you can also turn on Theft protection, which automatically locks your screen if it detects motion linked to theft – for example, if the phone is snatched and driven away quickly. To enable it, open your device settings, search for Theft protection, and switch on Theft Detection Lock.

From the same Theft protection page, you can also turn on Remote Lock. When this is on, you can lock your screen remotely if your device is lost or stolen.

How to track an Android phone – Find Hub

To set up Find Hub while you have your phone on you, go to Settings > Security and privacy > Device finders > Find Hub. Enable Allow device to be located.

To use Find Hub, visit android.com/find and log in with your Google account.

You can locate your phone, lock it with Secure device, make it play sounds (even if it’s on silent) and erase all your data (although you’ll no longer be able to locate the phone). If you find it later, you’ll need your Google Account password to use it again.

How to track a Samsung phone – SmartThings Find

To set up SmartThings Find while you have your phone on you, follow these steps:

1. Head to Settings > Samsung account
2. Choose Find My Mobile
3. Enable Allow this phone to be found. Note that this is automatically activated when you log in to your Samsung account on your device.

To use Samsung’s SmartThings Find service from a computer, go to smartthingsfind.samsung.com and sign in to your Samsung account. Here, you can locate and lock your device – that means anybody who uses the phone will be unable to use Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass.

What to do if your phone is stolen

As soon as you realise your phone has gone,  you need to follow these steps to help prevent your data from falling into the wrong hands:

1. Find My Phone Use the appropriate service to locate and control your phone.
2. Report your stolen phone to the police Contact your local police station in person or dial 101. Ring Citizens Advice if you need support from a trained adviser. If you locate your phone using Find My Phone, don’t confront the thief yourself, as it puts your safety at risk. Give the information to the police instead.
3. Tell your network provider Cancel your phone Sim so no one can use your mobile to make calls, send texts or go online. You might be responsible for any bills that are racked up by a thief if you have a contract – negotiate with your network to try and reduce the bill. Some networks will cap the charges at £100 if you report your phone lost within 24 hours, and most can send a replacement Sim. If you have a fixed-term contract, you won’t be able to cancel it without consequences.
4. Protect your bank accounts If you use mobile banking, tell your bank that your phone is missing. It might suspend your mobile banking app and recommend you change your passwords. Don’t forget about any bank cards you have saved for mobile payments.
5. Change critical passwords At a minimum, change the passwords for your emails and your Apple, Google or Samsung account. You can use a password manager such as LastPass or Dashlane to help you manage all your account details.
6. Remove your phone as a trusted device You’ll need to do this if it was previously enabled for two-factor authentication (2FA).

Keep reading to find out whether you should consider taking out phone insurance, plus our expert tips on how you can tighten up your phone's security to protect your data.

Four ways to tighten up your security

1. Use strong passwords

Use a strong passcode to unlock your phone and strong passwords for your accounts – make them long and use a mixture of characters. Setting up face or fingerprint recognition means fewer passwords to remember.

By teaming up with a reliable password manager, you can safely store all your passwords for different accounts, or share data with trusted friends and family.

See our expert guide on how to create secure passwords.

2. Password-lock notes

If you’re keeping notes on your phone with personal information in them, you can lock them with a password.

3. Set up automatic backups

This prevents you losing your data if your phone goes missing. Most mobile phone manufacturers have free automatic backups, such as iCloud or Samsung Cloud, but you might have to pay if you need more space. You could also back up to another device such as a laptop, SD card or external hard drive.

If you want to store your important files online, explore our guide on how to choose the best cloud storage service.

4. Register your mobile phone on immobilise.com

This is a register that the police can use to return your phone to you if it’s found – but they can only do this if your phone is logged on Immobilise.com.

See also: What to do if your laptop gets stolen.

Is phone insurance worth it?

If you have an expensive phone, it could be worth taking out an insurance policy to cover the cost, should the worst happen. But double-check it’s not already covered – for instance, under a warranty from the retailer, as part of your home contents insurance or even as a perk from your credit card.

You can cover your phone at a reasonable price through personal possessions insurance. The downside is that your premium might go up if you claim, but we recommend renegotiating with your provider if this happens. 

Alternatively, you can take out theft and loss insurance from your phone provider, manufacturer or a third-party insurer registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (find one on register.fca.org.uk).

These policies might require you to insure it within a certain time period, and some claims won’t be valid unless you have Find My Phone services enabled.

For expert advice on phone insurance, consult our guide – mobile phone insurance: how to get the best cover.

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