You left your phone in a taxi, and you're not sure who has it

You’re out of the taxi and halfway down the street when your hand goes to your pocket. Or you’re home before you realize the phone is still on the cafe table. Most phones left behind are found by someone who would like to give them back. Your job in the first hour is to make that easy, keep the phone locked while it’s out of your hands, and avoid a hasty step you’ll regret, like erasing it before you’ve tried to find it.

What to do now

1. Call your own number. Borrow a phone. If the driver or a member of staff answers, you may have it back within the hour. If it rings out, it’s at least switched on.

2. Locate it. Sign in to your phone’s find-my-device service from a friend’s phone or a computer. On Android, use the find-my-device page for your account; on iPhone, use the find-my-device service on the web or another device signed in to your account. You’ll see where the phone is, or where it was last seen.

3. Mark it as lost. Both services can lock the phone and put a message on its lock screen. Write something short with a different number to call: “This phone is lost. Please call 555 0100.” On iPhone, lost mode also pauses payment cards in the wallet.

4. Contact the taxi company or venue. Give them the time, place and, for a taxi, the route or booking reference. Ride apps have a lost item option in the trip history. Cafes and transport operators usually keep a lost property box.

5. Play a sound if it’s nearby. If the map shows the phone close by, such as in a car park or another room, playing a sound helps you or the finder track it down.

6. Wait before erasing. Once a phone is erased, you can no longer locate it. Keep it locked and visible on the map while there’s a chance of getting it back.

When it becomes a theft

Switch to the steps for a stolen phone if:

• the phone is moving somewhere that makes no sense, or goes offline straight after you lost it
• you think someone saw you type your PIN
• a day or two passes with no reply to your calls or message

Then erase the phone remotely, change your main account password, sign the phone out of your accounts, and call your carrier to block the SIM. The full order is in what to do if your phone is stolen after someone saw your PIN.

What doesn’t help

• Messaging the phone with personal details. Notifications may show on the lock screen. Keep messages to a contact number.
• Posting the phone’s location publicly. It can tell strangers where your phone and possibly your home are.
• Going to collect it alone at an unfamiliar address. If the finder wants to meet, choose a public place, or ask the police for advice.

Next time

• Make sure find-my-device is on and that you know your account password, since you’ll need it on someone else’s device.
• Use a PIN of six digits or more, so a found phone stays locked.
• Add an emergency contact to your lock screen, so a finder can reach someone without unlocking it. Both phones offer this in their emergency information settings.
• Turn on theft protection where your phone offers it. See Android theft protection explained and Stolen Device Protection explained.

Your vault while the phone is missing

A lost phone is locked by its screen lock. Silo, coming soon to iPhone and Android, adds a second lock for the photos and files you keep in it. Its vault is encrypted and opens with its own PIN, so even someone who gets past the phone’s lock can’t open it. If the phone isn’t coming back, the vault goes with it unless you exported it beforehand, or once it arrives with launch, set up Silo’s encrypted backup to restore on a new phone with your recovery phrase.