Tring Tring Tring

That is the familiar sound of a phone ring. All the 90s kids would know 😛 Actually not just the 90s kids. Anybody who has heard EDM music and wondered what it is, would know. Nowadays we have these fancy smartphones in which you can load fancier ringtones like “Pardesi pardesi jaana nahi” and “Baabuji zara dheere chalo”.

The latest entry to this is the iPhone X. Some people point out that it is pronounced “ten” and not X. It costs the same amount as what at once Ratan Tata promised to give us a car. If I am paying that much for a phone I can call it X,Y,Z whatever. Hell, I should also get an option to rename Siri to Ramu kaka for that kind of money.  It supposedly has a glass front and back. So now when you drop your phone and break the glass, you can not only hear your heart break to a thousand pieces with amazing clarity, you can also see reflection of you crying on both the sides. And if your imagination is any good you will also hear “Sheesha ho ya dil ho toot jaata hai..” play in the background.

Our phones these days are not just communication devices, they have a wealth of information – our contacts, personal photos, to do lists, notes with bank account numbers, emails, digital wallets, bank apps and what not. So now if we lose our phones, we just don’t lose our phone we lose all that data. And if this reaches the wrong hands we also run the risk of id theft, misuse of our personal data and possibly money from our bank accounts and digital wallets. I know the pain of losing a phone having lost it once and another one just drained in a bucket of water and committed suicide! Blue whale was not even a thing back then! I still mourn both the devices and the data in those devices all the more.

I went to the Koramangala police station and told them I lost the phone in front the police station. They said that road comes under the Adugodi police station! Like the road in front of the police station. Our police require a separate post altogether. There isn’t enough space to talk about them here. I had this option on my Samsung phone where on changing the SIM, my chosen contacts would get a message.  So as soon as the new owner changed the SIM we got a message and we called. Of course he was in no mood to give the phone back and the fact that my phone had reached from Bangalore to interiors of Andhra Pradesh made it even more difficult to recover.

A friend of mine who bought an expensive Samsung Galaxy also bought insurance for her phone. So at least  money wise she is covered. And when she lost her phone she claimed for the insurance. It was rejected because she had kept the phone in the back pocket of her denims in a market area which constitutes as reckless behaviour. This is the same company who advertisement shows a girl leaving her phone at a restaurant while out with her friends as the case for buying an insurance. Now apart from her phone money my friend also lost the money she paid for the insurance.

Another friend of mine lost his phone while he was boarding a bus at the Anand Rao circle in Bangalore. And not a city bus but a VRL bus where the seats are reserved in advance and only relevant people are getting in. Or so you think. He was speaking on the phone while boarding the bus and the next moment he is speaking into nothing and his hands are empty. By the time it sinks in, the phone is probably half a kilometer away.

Well why am I telling you all this? Losing your phone is easy but we can still do a few things to avoid the grief.

• Don’t keep your phone in your back pocket! For that matter even your wallet or anything important. It is way easier for a pickpocketer.
• Avoid talking on your phone while walking at the busy junctions or even on empty roads or while boarding a bus or when you have other things as well in your hand. Basically anywhere where it is easy for another person to flick it from your hand.
• When you are sitting in a cafe, airport or anywhere with the phone on the desk or the table, keep an eye on the phone or even better keep it in your pocket/purse/bag.
• If you are going to the washroom, keep your phone in the bag instead of keeping it on the counter. Much lesser chance of somebody else taking it or you forgetting it there.
• Store some ICE(In Case of Emergency) numbers in your phone, which will not only help in times of an emergency but also in case of loss. If it reaches a good person he/she knows how to get in touch with you. In case you did not know your ICE contacts can be called even when your phone is locked. That’s how it can be used in an emergency. Screenshot below in case you don’t have them on your phone yet. Please do this for your own good and for the family who loves you. If you are the kind who only Jesus can love and nobody else, then it’s okay.
• If at all, you do lose your phone you can still do a few things to ensure your data is safe. I know iPhone erases the data after some wrong password retries. Not sure of the details. If some iPhone user is reading this please comment on the details.
• If you are an android user, there are many apps most of which are freemium apps. Checkout the Google Play Store. You can use the Android feature even if you don’t have any apps. This helps you track your phone or delete all the data if required. Go to Settings -> Lock screen and security -> Device administrator -> Find my device and activate it. Refer screenshot.
• In short stay alert stay safe and keep reading my blog 🙂
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  Adding ICE contacts

  

  Find my device. Android feature