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My phone or laptop is lost or stolen

Last updated 2026-10-14 · Written with AI assistance, reviewed by a person

Losing a phone can feel like losing your wallet, your keys and your photo album at once. The device itself can be replaced. What matters over the next hour is protecting the accounts it can open, so let's start there.

Do this now

1. Don't go after it yourself. If you think it was stolen, don't head to the spot on the map. Call the police, then share the location with them.
2. Lock it, then mark it as lost, from another phone or computer. The table below shows where.
3. Phone? Call your mobile carrier. Report it lost or stolen, then ask them to suspend the line, so nobody can use your number or receive your sign-in codes. Ask how to get a new SIM or eSIM on a replacement phone.
4. Change your email password, then your banking passwords, from another device. Do this first if the device had no passcode, or if someone might have seen you type it.
5. Call your bank if your cards were in a phone wallet or in a case with the phone. They can block the cards, then send new ones.

These only work if the feature was turned on before the device went missing. If it wasn't, skip it: the other steps still protect you.

How worried should you be?

It mostly comes down to whether someone else can get past the lock screen.

Thieves sometimes watch you type your passcode first, then grab the phone. With the passcode they can change your Apple or Google password, then lock you out of your own account. If that might have happened, change those passwords now, before anything else.

Was the laptop's drive encrypted? Encryption scrambles the files so they're useless without your password.

• Windows: many newer laptops turn on device encryption automatically when you sign in with a Microsoft account, then save a recovery key to that account. Look for the laptop at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. A key there means encryption was switched on at some point, which is a good sign.
• Mac: Macs offer to turn on FileVault during setup. Most people say yes.

Should you erase it?

Erasing is the last resort, because you usually can't track the device afterwards.

• Erase it if it had no passcode, if the passcode might be known, or if it held something you can't risk anyone seeing. Use the same Find My, Find Hub or Microsoft page.
• Hold off if there's a real chance of getting it back, like a phone left at a restaurant that's checking for you.
• Apple devices: never remove it from your account, even after erasing. That keeps Activation Lock on, which makes it useless to a thief. If you're making an insurance claim, keep it on your account until the claim is approved.
• An offline device erases the next time it connects. Until then, keep treating your accounts as at risk.

Watch for "we found your phone" messages

After a theft, you may get a text or email saying your phone has been found, with a link to "see where it is". It's a trick to get your Apple or Google password, so the thief can unlock the phone, then sell it. Apple never contacts you to say your device has been found. Don't sign in from a link in a message. Open the Find My app or Find Hub yourself instead.

Police report and insurance

• Report a theft to your local police on their non-emergency number. You'll need the serial number or IMEI. Look for it on the box, on the receipt, or in your Apple, Google or Microsoft account's list of devices.
• Keep the report number. Your carrier, your insurer or AppleCare+ may ask for it.
• Check what covers you: phone insurance through your carrier, AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss, home or renter's insurance, or the purchase protection on the card you paid with.

Getting set up again

• Restore from your backup on the new device (iCloud, Google or your computer). Sign in to your email first: everything else flows from it.
• Lost your authenticator app with the phone? Use the backup codes you saved when you set up two-step sign-in. No codes? Each account's recovery page will get you back in, slowly. See Someone got into my email or social media for the official pages.
• Sign in to your messaging apps on the new phone. Most of them sign the old phone out automatically.
• Review your accounts' device lists. Sign the lost device out of email, banking, social media. (Apple devices are the exception: leave them in Find My, as above.)

If it turns up

Good news, but be a little careful. If it was out of your hands for a while, install updates, remove any app you don't recognize, then change your passcode. If you erased it, sign in with your Apple or Google account to use it again. Let the police or your insurer know it's back.

Before it happens again

Ten minutes now saves hours later:

• Turn on Find My, Find Hub or Find my device on every phone, tablet and laptop.
• iPhone: turn on Stolen Device Protection. It makes a thief wait an hour, then pass a face or fingerprint check again, before changing your Apple password. Android: look for the theft protection settings.
• Use a strong passcode (six digits or more, never your birthday). Use your face or fingerprint in public, so nobody can watch you type it.
• Turn on automatic backups, so a lost phone never means lost photos.
• Save your backup codes for two-step sign-in somewhere safe, away from the phone.
• Ask your carrier for a PIN on your account, so nobody can move your number without it.

Sources

We checked these on October 14, 2026. Menu names change, so if something doesn't match, the company's own help page wins.

• Apple: How to find your lost iPhone or iPad, If your Mac is lost or stolen, About Stolen Device Protection
• Google: Find, lock or erase a lost Android device
• Microsoft: Find and lock a lost Windows device

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