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An insurance company publishes its report on successful stolen or lost device recovery research

Can you get your phone back after it goes missing? (Source: Asurion)
Can you get your phone back after it goes missing? (Source: Asurion)
A mobile insurance and device company, Asurion, has announced its findings on a study about missing devices and cases in which their owners managed to get them back. The company reported that having a lockscreen showing a contact number resulted in 3 times the chances of recovering such a device. In addition, the use of a cross-platform browser is a good idea in case of phone loss.

Holidays may be as likely to be intertwined with worries about how to hang on to important possessions as they are with chances for fun activities. The loss or theft of a smartphone may indeed be one of the greatest risks in going to any popular destination these days. Accordingly, the device insurers Asurion has conducted a study on the best ways of recovering a lost device while on a break somewhere.

This research was based on responses to a random double-opt in online survey of 1,759 U.S. adult smartphone owners, conducted in June 2018. The analysis of this data reportedly resulted in the main finding that phone recovery was 3 times more likely if the lockscreen of the phone in question showed a relevant contact number. Therefore, Asurion now recommends the creation of an Instagram story that integrates this information, then setting the same as your lockscreen wallpaper while on holiday. This is possible on both iOS and Android.

That seems like a solid piece of advice; apparently, less than 1 in 4 US device users do this while on holiday, although 71% of the same group do use lockscreen codes, patterns or biometric security. On the other hand, if your phone is taken by a malicious third party while in this state, they will gain your personal information at the same time.

The Asurion report also recommended using a light cross-platform app such as Opera Mini so as to have easy access to your information and settings in the event of a lost or stolen phone. The company also advises the use of public WiFi on holiday in order to avoid roaming/out-of-tariff data charges; however, it omitted the equally valid practice of VPN use while doing so.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 03 > An insurance company publishes its report on successful stolen or lost device recovery research
Deirdre O Donnell, 2019-03-13 (Update: 2019-03-13)