Whether your phone is broken, lost, or stolen, it’s always extremely stressful to lose access to it. Today, so much information is on your phones that the idea of someone else finding your phone or your losing it forever is devastating. Frankly, we tend to feel just as lost or broken as the phone is.
About 20% of people will have their phones lost, stolen, or damaged this year. Traveling only increases the chances of these things happening.
Losing or breaking a phone is bad on an average day. It’s worse when you’re traveling alone and it happens. The good news is that you can do some things to prevent this type of stress on trips. Check out what to do in these three scenarios while you’re traveling.
If your phone breaks
At home, you can find the best places to get your phones repaired. When you’re traveling, however, you can be left at a loss. Fortunately, iPhone 7 screen repair services that will come to you if you need phone repair. In fact, they estimate that it only takes about an hour.
Keep in mind that these types of services are generally only available in the US. If you’re traveling abroad and your phone breaks, the cheapest option is probably going to be to just get a cheap phone to hold you until you’re back in the states. If you must get a new smartphone for some reason, be careful.
According to Whistle Out, phones in other countries can be quite different from those in the US. Make sure that the phone you purchase will be compatible with your service provider once you’re home.
If your phone is lost
Imagine that you’re out enjoying local events on a trip, you reach into your pocket and panic because your phone isn’t there. When your phone is lost, the first step is to find another phone to call your phone. You never know, someone might pick it up and tell you where it is (or, maybe it’s just between the seats in the rental car).
Before traveling, familiarize yourself with apps that help you find your phone if lost (these can truly be a lifesaver). According to Wired, both Apple and Android have services for finding your phone if it’s lost.
Before traveling, be sure you’re familiar with how these services work and how you’ll use them in case of disaster. Generally, you can just use internet access where you’re staying and sign in to your Apple or Google account to track your phone.
If your phone is stolen
Reporting the phone stolen to your service provider is going to be the best first step in this situation. You likely keep everything on your phone, and you don’t want any personal information to be accessible to anybody (especially if you have financial information on there).
Even if we don’t have bank information on the phone, a thief could still access our Apple or Google accounts and buy things on there. According to tripsavvy, both Apple and Android have services that allow you to remotely wipe your date from your phone so that your information is kept safe.
Also, according to Business Insider, if your phone happened to be offline when you performed the virtual erase, it will still erase it as soon as the phone is turned back on.
So, be sure to contact your service provider and have the phone erased. Outside of clearing the phone, all you can really do in cases of theft is report the phone stolen. Maybe consider travelers insurance before a big trip, just in case.
