You have to keep in mind how to completely protect your Android phone to prepare it in case of loss. We never know if, unfortunately, we can lose the phone under certain circumstances, and both keep our data well protected how to find it are two key aspects.
For this reason, we will show you all the options available to prepare your mobile in case of loss or theft, with the aim that, in a few minutes, your phone has additional protection.
Location, always active
The first thing we want, in case of loss of the mobile, is to be able to locate it, and for that we must have the location active. Because? For two reasons. The first is that if we have the location and history of Google locations active, we can know those places where our phone has been. To turn on location services, just type “location” into the Android settings search engine and turn it on.
With the Maps timeline, we can know the route our mobile phone has taken which is useful to get an idea of where it is.
Just open the timeline in Google Maps and select the date. In doing so we can see the route the phone took, in case someone takes it and doesn’t turn it off.
The second scenario is that of try to find our phone even more precisely. Find My Device is Google’s tool for locating my phone if it’s lost. It is quite simple to use, because it is enough with enter our google account to try to find out where our mobile is located, make it ring or block it and erase its content. Of course, this application depends on the phone with an active connection.
Google account at your fingertips
While the vast majority of you can use a Google Account on your Android, it might not be your primary email account or your daily use, and you can easily forget your credentials. If we want to protect our device, we must always have this account at hand, and keep in mind (or write down) the corresponding password.
This Google account is necessary for the previous steps as it allows us to access the Maps timeline, Google device locator or, if necessary, it may be necessary to change credentials if we lose the phone , in case, for some occasional, the person who removed knows them.
IMEI, also at your fingertips
Your phone’s IMEI is “your DNI”. This is the identification number for devices of this type, and in the event that we would like to report a loss or theft, it may be necessary. Likewise, if the mobile comes from an operator, in some cases it may be requested terminal lock using this IMEI number.
The IMEI is the first information that the operator will ask us in the event of a loss. Likewise, if we report, it is important to have it on hand
The fastest way to find the IMEI is to go to the settings of the mobile and type “IMEI” in the search engine. Immediately this number will appear, along with the clipboard symbol, so we can copy it somewhere to have it handy.
Add your information on the lock screen
On Android, we have the possibility of activate an emergency button on the lock screen. This can be configured so that after pressing it, personal information is displayed. In our case, in order to configure a mobile for loss cases, we recommend that you add a phone number so that if someone finds the phone they can call us to locate us.
Emergency information can help the person who finds the phone to call a friend or family member to retrieve the handset.
If we lost the phone we will not have a SIM card with our number handy, so here we recommend that you add as emergency information to a family member or friend. We can always notify you of the lost phone and keep an eye on the eventual call. To carry out this process, we need to go to the “emergency information” section, which is located in “telephone information”.
Here we can configure emergency contacts, in addition, for example, to add our address, blood type and more, although we do not recommend providing this information, as it is so confidential.
Encrypt your phone
Android phones have been encrypted at the factory for some time. However, if your mobile has a weather, it might not, which puts it behind in terms of security compared to mobile phones that do. To encrypt your phone, you need to go to “settings”, “security” and “encryption”. If the phone encryption option appears, your phone is not yet.
Encrypting the phone is a very time consuming process and can slow down your device if it is not very powerful, but it is an important layer of security.
This process takes about an hour, and adds an extra security step. It will be necessary to unlock the terminal screen every time it is turned on to access device data, so we will have that extra layer of protection.
Password or fingerprint protection, avoiding facial recognition
In 2018, a face was 3D printed in an attempt to bypass high-end facial recognition. Guess who was saved? Whether you like it or not Apple’s Face ID is the most advanced facial recognition system, while on Android most of them (with a few exceptions) only use the mobile camera to unlock the terminal.
Most Android phones have a modified version of Smart Lock, so facial recognition is done through the camera, a dangerous process
Indeed, with a photo or a 3D model of our face, it is not too difficult to unlock the phone. To take it a step further, the Pixel 4 itself can be unlocked with your eyes closed, literally. For him, we recommend using other biometric methodssuch as fingerprint, pin code or password. We can also make fun of these methods, although in a less simple way.
Use an additional third-party app
While phone protection focused apps are often quite resource intensive, using them might not be a bad idea in the event of a lost phone. Lookout is an example. The app focuses on being an antivirus, but it has a very interesting phone tracking system.
If the phone is lost, the app is able to email us the last location of the device. The interesting thing here is that if you turn the phone off and on again, as long as it has a network, we will be informed at the precise moment when the phone connects, sending your last position. Likewise, on paper, it is able to take a photo of the person who owns it and email it, although the way this tool works is a bit more erratic.
These types of apps are not foolproof, but they are an extra layer of protection that we cannot spare, and that we can always have installed in case you want maximum security on our phone.
Add an extra step of protection to important applications
Enable two-step verification in all apps that allow it, as well as lock by PIN, password or fingerprint Those apps that allow this are an additional measure, but important if we are to protect our data. The safest thing is to protect our apps with different PINs and passwords, so that in case they manage to find one, the rest of the apps remain protected.
There are several applications to do this, so just choose the one that convinces you the most and install it on your terminal. The more diverse the credentials for each application, the more security is added.
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