In today’s digital era, smartphone is not just a medium of communication, but it has also become our digital bank, Aadhaar card, private photo gallery and the most important document of personal life. In such a situation, phone theft or loss is not just the loss of a device, but there is also a big risk of your bank account being breached and personal data falling into the wrong hands. Often people get nervous after losing their phone, but if you activate some important security settings in your Android or iPhone in time, then even if a thief gets hold of your phone, he will not be able to steal even a single penny or data of yours.
1. Immediately put PIN lock on SIM card (SIM Card PIN Lock)
After the phone is stolen, the first thing criminals do is remove the SIM card and insert it in another phone so that they can reset the OTP, UPI PIN and social media passwords of your bank accounts.
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to stop it on your phone Settings > Security & Privacy > More Security Settings > SIM Card Lock got into.
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Here turn on ‘Lock SIM Card’ and set a strong 4 or 6 digit PIN.
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After this, whenever the SIM card is inserted in a new phone or the phone is restarted, without the PIN the SIM will not connect to the network and the misuse of OTP will completely stop.
2. Hide Control Center and Notifications from the Lock Screen (Hide Lock Screen Notifications)
Thieves often open the ‘Control Center’ by swiping the screen without unlocking the phone and put the phone on ‘airplane mode’ by turning off mobile data or location.
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Change settings: Go to your phone’s settings ‘Lock Screen’ Or ‘Notifications’ Go to options.
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Sensitive Notifications Set it to ‘Hide’ or ‘Don’t Show Content’ so that no one can read the incoming bank OTP or personal message when the screen is locked.
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Other than this, ‘Access on Lock Screen’ Go to Disable access to Control Center (Control Center / Quick Settings) on the lock screen. With this, even if the phone is stolen, the thief will not be able to shut down the network.
3. Always keep ‘Find My Device’ / ‘Find My iPhone’ active
This feature is most important for tracking the phone, remotely locking it and erasing the entire data at home.
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Android users Settings > Google > Find My Device Keep it on and also enable ‘Find your offline devices’ network.
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iPhone users Settings > (Your Name) > Find My > Find My iPhone Go to ‘Find My Network’ and keep ‘Send Last Location’ on.
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If the phone is stolen, you can immediately replace it with another device. (google.com/android/find)( or (icloud.com/find)By logging in to ( you can track the phone’s live location, display emergency messages on the screen or format the entire phone in one click.
4. Install biometric ‘App Lock’ on banking and payment apps
Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm and banking apps should not depend only on screen lock.
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phone’s in-built App Lock Lock all financial and gallery apps separately using Settings or Secure Folder.
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For this, just use biometrics (fingerprint or Face ID) and a different password which is completely different from your main screen lock. With this, even if someone sees your screen password, he will still not be able to access your bank apps.
5. What to do immediately after the phone is stolen? Block on CEIR portal
If your phone has been stolen, instead of panicking, take these 3 emergency steps immediately:
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Block SIM: First of all, call the customer care of your telecom operator (Jio, Airtel, Vi, BSNL) and immediately block the stolen number and get a new duplicate SIM issued.
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Deactivate Bank and UPI: Temporarily freeze netbanking and UPI services by calling bank customer care.
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Block IMEI on CEIR Portal: Indian government official Sanchar Sathi Portal (ceir.gov.in) Go to. By entering the Police Complaint (FIR) copy and the 15 digit IMEI number of the phone, block the device completely on all networks across the country. After blocking, the thief will not be able to use any SIM in the phone and it will help the police to recover the phone.