What to do if you lose your phone and need to disable it

If you lose your phone and want to prevent anyone from using it, you can have it remotely locked by using one of several options made available by the manufacturer.

What to do if you lose your phone and need to disable it
A guide to locking down a lost phone. Photo by Noizy Bull / Unsplash

Nowadays, the cell phone is the primary personal and work tool because it contains a massive amount of files, contacts, and photos that are often unrecoverable; thus, losing the cell phone can be a great fear for many, as it also exposes them to eventual data theft; thus, we will show you how to remotely lock a lost cell phone.

To lock a lost Android phone in case it can no longer be recovered, a mechanism created by mobile phone manufacturers and developers is required so that the phone becomes inactive or even findable.

How do you lock a phone that runs the Android operating system?

If the lost phone has an Android operating system, you can remotely lock it using a Google account; however, the following conditions must be followed.

The cell phone must be activated.
It must contain a Google account, which is needed to download applications and surf the Internet.
It must be connected to the internet, either via Wi-Fi or a cellular network.
The phone must be listed on Google Play.
The location must be turned on.
Turn on the "locate my device" feature.

If the phone fits the following criteria, the process for locking a phone is as follows:

The first step is to go to www.android.com/find and sign in with the Google account that is associated with the cell phone.
Select the misplaced cell phone to receive a notification, which may or may not be correct. If it no longer has a real-time location, it will display the last recorded location.
When you reach this point, Google will show you the choice to lock the device.
Once chosen, whoever finds the cell phone must enter a PIN, pattern, or password.
Similarly, a note or mobile phone number might be inserted to assist in locating the phone.