It’s everyone’s worst nightmare—checking your pockets or purse, then checking them again, trying to feel around for your smartphone, but it’s not there. Where did you leave it, or where did it fall out? Or worst of all, did someone steal it? Regardless of how you lost your smartphone, you need to take these three simple steps to ensure whoever finds it can’t steal your data.

Add a Lock Screen or PIN

Look, you never know who will try to access your device or when, so you need to keep it protected with a lock screen.

This is a best practice for all devices, including smartphones. Whether it’s protected with biometrics like a face scan, fingerprint reader, or a simple PIN, your phone’s lock screen is going to be the first line of protection that keeps hackers from breaking into your device. Make sure you have it turned on in your device’s settings to keep prying eyes away.

Furthermore, make sure you keep your device’s location on so you can track it with Android or iPhone’s phone-finding features. It could help you track them down in a pinch.

Remotely Wipe Your Data

Sometimes it’s impossible to locate a lost or stolen device, which is when the option to remotely wipe the device’s data should be exercised.

A solid remote wiping strategy will help you prevent your data from falling into the hands of a smartphone thief. This is especially important if your phone doesn’t have a lock screen enabled or the hacker is somehow able to bypass the lock screen. Just make sure you have your mobile data turned on; otherwise, there won’t be a way to connect to your device for the remote wipe to occur.

Back Up Your Phone’s Data

All your devices should be backed up, including your smartphone.

This is especially important if you have to resort to the above nuclear method of wiping your smartphone. You’ll want to make sure the data found on that device is securely backed up so you can restore it to a new device at the appropriate time. Without this contingency in place, there’s no telling how much progress on projects or how many important files are lost due to a misplaced or stolen device.

If your business is worried about lost smartphones, then you need to take action now to ensure your devices are protected. 415 IT can equip your devices with all the technology necessary to ensure devices (and device data) cannot be accessed, even if they’re stolen. Give us a call at (415) 295-4898 to learn more.