What to Do If You Have Lost Your iPhone

Have you recently lost your phone? Well, don’t feel too embarrassed about it – losing a mobile device is actually a somewhat common occurrence. For example, most people will have misplaced their devices within their home from time to time. Although losing a mobile phone outside or being the victim of theft are also real – and much more serious – possibilities.

With that said, not all hope is lost if this happens to you. This is especially true if your device happens to be an iPhone. Read on to find out how you might be able to locate or recover files from your lost iPhone.

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Finding your iPhone

So, if you have rummaged through your house and rung your number to no avail, do not fret just yet: there are ways to still be able to locate your iPhone. However, make sure to act immediately – the longer you wait, the less chance of finding the device.

The main way to do this is via iCloud. You can do this by using the ‘Find My iPhone’ app on a suitable Apple device or accessing iCloud.com. From here, enter your Apple ID and password details. If you have forgotten either, you can still gain access as long as you know the email address you signed up with for an Apple ID account.

Sadly, if the iCloud account is not currently active on your iPhone, it is pretty much time to start planning for life without the device. If luck is on your side and it is active, there is still a chance.

On your account, go to the ‘All Devices’ section. At this point, hopefully, you will see your lost phone listed. If it indicates that it is online, the iPhone will show up on the map. If the ‘Find My iPhone’ aspect is unable to locate the device – probably because it is switched off – you will see its last known location.

Also note that if you locate your device, but it is in a state of disrepair (possibly because it was dropped or suffering from water damage), not all is lost. With an iPhone data recovery service, a specialist company should be able to recover all of the data that resides on your phone.

Recovering data from a lost iPhone

If you are unable to find your lost iPhone, getting back your precious files is still a possibility.

First of all, copies of your phone’s files are saved in the Backup folder of both iTunes and iCloud. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t try to edit these files, as this might actually ruin them to the point where they become useless. In addition, and because these files aren’t normally stored in a viewable format, there is little point trying to access/view their contents.

Now you’re probably wondering: I have the files but can’t access them. Now what?  Well, thankfully there are various software packages and specialist companies that can assist you with restoring your files to their former glory. Once you’ve spoken to a professional on how to overcome this hurdle, you have nothing more to worry about.