We’ve all been there. Delved a hand into our right pocket, gasped in horror at the lack of mobile phone and then delved into the left one hoping that we carelessly placed the phone in the wrong place, only to find that your phone is not where it normally is. Whether your phone has been stolen, or you’ve simply lost it, there’s no doubt you’ll want it back.
Before you find yourself in the situation above, first make sure your Nokia Lumia 710, Nokia Lumia 800 or Nokia Lumia 900 is set up correctly.
You’ll want to add a password to your phone so that if anybody were to get hold of it, they’ll never be able to get past the lock screen.
From the home screen, swipe to the left to bring up the applications list and from there find the settings option. Under lock + wallpaper you’ll find the option to turn the password on, or off. Once you’ve entered a very memorable number you can select how often you want your phone to ask you for this password. Ideally, the shorter time the better. This will reduce the chance of people getting their hands on your information.
Once you’re back at the settings menu, select the find my phone option. Tick the two check-boxes that ask to connect to these features more quickly and to save your location every few hours for better mapping. You don’t have to check these boxes, but it will make locating your phone quicker – should you ever need to.
Should the unfortunate ever happen, you’ll need to log onto https://www.windowsphone.com and look for the My Phone tab at the top. Once you’ve signed in using the same Windows Live ID your phone is signed in with, the left side of the screen will host your phone details, including: the name of your phone; model number; and your phone number. Sitting underneath these phone details is where you’ll head if you ever want to be reunited with your Nokia Lumia.
Providing your phone is turned on, you’ve got the ability to find it. Find My Phone will initially show you a map of the world with no specific location. Once you hit the button to find your phone, the service will take a few moments to pin-point your precious phone, using a map, so you know exactly where it is. You could then go and collect it if it’s a familiar place. However, if it’s showing that your phone is somewhere you’ve never been, chances are it’s been stolen and in the hands of a thief. It’s probably wise to phone the police at this point.
If the map shows you that your phone is still in your house, or in that café you were just in, you could select the Ring option. A ringing sound – different from the one you’ve selected as a ringtone – will lead the way to your phone. You can also use this in reverse and use the system to trace you. This could be useful when you are going off on a trip or skiing, for example. Simply give your log-in details to someone you can trust and keep your phone on and they can use it to find you.
If you’ve set your lock screen password to 30 minutes and it has just been stolen or lost, you can force the phone to lock. Again, at https://www.windowsphone.com and under My Phone you can press the Lock option. With this, you can also send the ring tone so that whoever has your phone knows you’re onto them.
If the worst comes to worst and you’ve not been able to trace your phone but you’ve got loads of important information stored on it that you wouldn’t like in the wrong hands, you can erase everything on the phone, from your computer. Select the Erase option and your phone will be wiped. Obviously, only do this if you’re absolutely sure you can’t get the phone back.
Have you secured your Nokia Lumia phone?
Image credit: Ev0luti0nary
