Losing your smartphone is a nuisance, especially if it’s a rather expensive model. But the situation becomes much worse if it contains any personal data. Their cost is difficult to assess, but they are definitely more valuable than the device itself, whatever it may be. Once in the hands of another person, they can be used for a variety of purposes, and it will be much more unpleasant.
What can be valuable on the smartphone of an ordinary user? Many people think that nothing, and are greatly mistaken. Firstly, there is a Google account there, and many have many other services tied to it, for example, mail. Having gained access to your mailbox, an attacker can penetrate all the services where you are registered, simply by changing passwords there. Or at least just digging through your correspondence.
On any smartphone that is actively used, contacts are accumulated – phones, mail of other people, various applications are installed. What can happen if an attacker gains access to your Viber, WhatsApp and others messengers? And if to the banking application?
The phone also contains photographs, both of your own and of other people. Some even have intimate ones. What if they are sent out in messengers or published on the Internet?
Finally, many people use their smartphones to write down a variety of things – from reminders about to-do’s to important ones – addresses, card numbers and PIN-codes, and much more. After all, a modern smartphone is a convenient mini-computer that is always in your pocket.
As you can see, the loss of any smartphone can have big consequences. Against this background, the value of the device itself is really unimportant – you can buy another phone. Losing control over your personal information is much worse.
Therefore, you need to be able to delete all valuable data from the phone, if there is a danger that they fell into the wrong hands and it will not work to return everything intact. Fortunately, the Android system allows you to do this, and there are even several ways to use it.
Make sure you can delete your data while your phone is still with you
In order to erase all information from your smartphone in case of anything, you need to take care of this in advance and configure it. The first thing to do is set up a Google work account on your phone, which you can also log into from your computer. Also, in the settings, be sure to turn on geolocation – this will allow you to determine the location of a lost or stolen gadget.
If you’ve done all this and then lost your device, use Android Device Manager to make your phone ring. This service is available via the link ( https://www.google.com/android/find ) – log in to it using the same Google account that is configured on your smartphone. If it is connected to the Internet, then you can press the “Call” button on the site and the phone will ring at maximum volume, even if the sound is completely turned off on it. The service will also show its location on the map – that’s what you need to enable geolocation.
Another way to keep yourself safe is to install the Find My Device app. It is installed in the standard way from the Play Market. After that, you need to go to your Google account settings and activate this application. You also need to allow him to access the location.
Both previous methods will work if the smartphone fell into the wrong hands and Internet access was turned on on it, or if it was turned on initially. But if the phone falls into the hands of an “advanced” attacker, he can immediately turn off the Internet, put the phone into “airplane” mode, or delete the Google account. Then you will not be able to use these methods.
But there is one more solution – installing and configuring the Eradoo app. It does not need the Internet, this program itself can work with some signs of theft, which you can configure. For example, it can format the device if there is an attempt to replace the SIM card, if an incorrect PIN code is entered, if you send an SMS with a certain text, and in other situations. This is a kind of “policeman” on guard of your device, who, if something happens, will immediately destroy everything.
Things to do before deleting data
If you cannot find your phone, you should not immediately chop off your shoulder and delete all the information on it. Try to find it first – maybe you just forgot it in the car. Calls to a phone with the sound turned off usually do not give results, so use the Android Device Manager service – it turns on the call for 5 minutes even when the sound is turned off.
If the search was unsuccessful and you suspect that the phone could fall into the wrong hands, the same service allows you to send a message to its screen. In it, you can write which number the finder should call and promise a reward. This message will appear even if the screen is locked and the finder can contact you.
If it was not possible to find the phone on your own and no one contacts you about the find, you can proceed to radical measures – the destruction of data.
How to remotely wipe your phone
You do not have to erase all the information at once, but change the lock screen – set a password and display a message on it. Sometimes it works if an honest person finds the gadget.
You can delete all data using the Android Device Manager service or the Find My Device app, if it was preinstalled. You can simply press a button to give a signal – to erase the data, and if the gadget is online, it will immediately return to the factory settings. In this case, all personal information will be destroyed. This is the easiest way to delete data from a lost phone.
The data stored on the flash card will not be destroyed. Therefore, try not to store anything important there.
What to do if Android Device Manager service cannot connect to the device? This means that it is not connected to the Internet. Through the Find My Device application, you can still send a command to clear, and it will be immediately executed as soon as the phone gains access to the Internet. An attacker cannot prevent this.
What to do if Find My Device hasn’t returned any results? This can happen if an attacker does not allow the smartphone to connect to the Internet for a second. Then you should rely on the Eradoo app if you installed and configured it in advance. It works autonomously, like a mine, and can work on its own.
Of course, these are not all the steps you can take. For example, you can install on your smartphone and other applications that can determine the exact location of the phone and send you this information or delete data. Some can be installed remotely, but this requires preliminary preparation for such a case.
Tell us in the comments if you have encountered such a situation – the loss of an Android smartphone and its search or remote cleaning. Share your experience, it will definitely come in handy for our readers.