What to do if your phone is stolen

Why a stolen phone puts your accounts at risk

A phone is no longer only a device. It holds your email, banking apps, saved passwords, mobile wallet and the phone number that many services use to send password-reset codes. A thief who gets past the lock screen, or who moves your SIM (the chip, or its digital eSIM equivalent, that ties a phone to your number) into another handset, can use those tools to take over your accounts.

That is why the device itself is often the smaller loss. Among people whose physical items were stolen and later misused, 71% experienced account takeover and 44% new account fraud, and stolen phones and tablets led to account takeover in every case reported (14 individuals), according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 2026 Trends in Identity Report. The phone figure rests on a small, self-selected sample of victims who contacted the ITRC, so treat it as a warning sign rather than a national rate.

The accounts tied to the phone itself are also targets. Reports involving personal tech accounts such as Apple and Google rose 754%, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 2025 Trends in Identity Report, which also draws on victims who contacted the ITRC rather than a representative survey. Control of your Apple Account or Google Account often means control of your backups, photos, passwords and device location. Lock the phone, lock the number and secure the account behind it.

Locking an iPhone with Apple Find My

Apple's guidance for a stolen iPhone or iPad starts with Mark as Lost, the Find My setting that locks the device with its passcode (Apple also calls this Lost Mode). You can do it from another Apple device in the Find My app, or by signing in at iCloud.com/find. Apple says you do not need a verification code to sign in there, even if your trusted device is the one that was stolen.

Apple's stolen iPhone guidance adds several cautions:

• Skip the contact details. If the device was stolen, do not add a phone number or message, because a thief could use it to deceive you.
• Keep the device in Find My. Removing it also removes Activation Lock, which makes the phone easier to erase and resell.
• Mark it as lost even with Stolen Device Protection on. Those safeguards last only for a limited time.
• Erase only after you have exhausted other options. Erasing cannot be undone. On iOS 15 or later, you can still locate the device after it is erased, and an offline device erases the next time it connects.

If Find My was not turned on, you cannot mark the phone as lost or erase it remotely. In that case, Apple says to change your Apple Account password right away. Then review the device list in Settings on a trusted device, remove the stolen phone without removing it from Find My, and check the email addresses, phone numbers and recovery methods on the account.

Locking an Android phone with Google Find Hub

Google's service for locating Android devices is now called Find Hub, which Google describes as the evolution of Find My Device. You can open the Find Hub app on another Android device, or sign in at android.com/find. According to Google's lost Android device help page, the phone must have power, be connected to mobile data or Wi-Fi, be signed in to a Google Account and have Find Hub turned on for remote actions to work.

• Play sound rings the phone at full volume for five minutes, even on silent.
• Mark as lost locks the phone with its PIN, pattern or password and hides notifications and quick access. Contact details are optional; leave them off if the phone was stolen.
• Factory reset permanently erases the phone. After a reset, the phone no longer appears in Find Hub, so you can no longer locate it.

Google also offers Remote Lock at android.com/lock, which locks the screen using only your verified phone number, if you turned it on in advance. Because a factory reset ends your ability to track the phone, give police any location you have before you erase it.

Calling your carrier: suspend service and block the IMEI

Your carrier controls two things a thief wants: your phone number and the phone's access to the network. Call from another phone and ask for three actions.

• Suspend the line. Apple's guidance says to ask the carrier to suspend your account. This stops the SIM in the stolen phone from receiving calls and the text-message codes many accounts send.
• Block the IMEI. The IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is the unique number that identifies the handset itself, separate from your phone number. Google notes that your carrier can use it to disable the device, and the industry Stolen Phone Checker FAQ explains that carriers can report a stolen phone to the GSMA Block List so participating carriers may block it too.
• Lock the number. Ask for a new account PIN and a port-out or SIM-change lock so no one can move your number to another SIM or carrier. A stolen phone and a SIM swap lead to the same place: someone else receiving your codes.

Write down the case number, the name of the representative and the time of the call. If the phone is covered by the carrier's device protection plan, Apple suggests asking the carrier to start a claim at the same time. Policies differ by carrier, so ask exactly what each step does and how to reverse it if the phone is recovered.

Changing passwords in the right order

Order matters, because a thief who reaches your email first can reset everything else. Work from a computer or another phone you trust.

• Email first. Change the password, sign out of all sessions, and remove recovery phone numbers, recovery addresses and forwarding rules you did not set.
• Apple Account or Google Account next. These accounts control backups, saved passwords and the location service you are using to track the phone. Note that on a new device there may be a waiting period before you can change some security settings.
• Banking and payment apps third. Call your bank and card issuers on the number on your card, ask them to flag the account, and change the passwords on banking, brokerage and payment apps.
• Everything else after. Social media, shopping, cloud storage, cryptocurrency exchanges and work accounts.

If you find logins, password changes or messages you did not make, follow our hacked account guide for each service.

Reporting the theft to police and your insurer

File a report with the police agency where the phone was taken. Apple notes that police may ask for the serial number, which you can find without the phone. For an iPhone, Apple's serial number and IMEI guide says to sign in at account.apple.com and open Devices, check another device signed in to the same Apple Account, or read the barcode label on the original box. For Android, Google says the IMEI appears in Find Hub settings.

Give police the IMEI, the serial number, the make and model, the time and place of the theft, and any location Find My or Find Hub showed. Do not go to that location yourself. A map pin is not proof of who has the phone, and confronting a stranger over a phone can turn a property loss into an injury. Let officers decide what to do with the information.

Coverage for a stolen phone may come from a carrier device protection plan, AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss (Apple says it is not available in all countries or regions), a credit card benefit, or a renters or homeowners policy. Each has its own deductible, documentation requirements and deadlines, so read the terms before filing. Most will ask for the police report number. This is general information, not insurance advice.

Buying a used phone: check the IMEI first

Stolen phones are resold, and a buyer can lose both the money and the phone. In the United States, CTIA's Stolen Phone Checker uses GSMA Device Check, the industry registry of device status, to show whether an IMEI has been reported lost or stolen. A red result means the device is on the GSMA Block List; a green result means it was not flagged at the moment of the check. The consumer tool is limited to five free queries per day.

A clean result is not a guarantee. Status depends on what carriers and other contributors have reported, Wi-Fi-only devices have no IMEI to check, and the checker warns that police may repossess a stolen device from whoever holds it. Be wary of a seller who disputes a red result, will not let you check the IMEI in the phone's settings, or offers a price far below market. Our guide to checking whether an item is stolen covers other registries.

Settings that make a stolen phone less useful

The best time to prepare for phone theft is before it happens. Two features are worth turning on today.

Apple Stolen Device Protection

Apple's Stolen Device Protection (iOS 17.3 or later) adds requirements when the iPhone is away from familiar locations such as home or work. Using saved passwords, turning off Lost Mode and erasing the phone require Face ID or Touch ID, with no passcode fallback. Changing the Apple Account password or the device passcode requires Face ID or Touch ID, a one-hour security delay, and a second scan. It must be on before the phone is stolen, and it requires two-factor authentication, a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID, Significant Locations and Find My.

Android theft protection

Google's theft protection features include Theft Detection Lock, which locks the screen when it senses the phone being snatched; Offline Device Lock, which locks the screen after the phone is used offline for a short time; Remote Lock; and, on supported devices, Identity Check, which requires a fingerprint or face scan for sensitive changes outside trusted places. Availability varies by Android version and device model.

Finally, record the IMEI and serial number now, and move multi-factor authentication on your most important accounts to an authenticator app, hardware key or passkey. A phone that is locked, tracked and no longer holds the keys to your email is an inconvenience rather than a disaster.