Quick Guide: How to Use Lookout to Find a Lost Phone

Every day we rely on our phones to search for, store, and share important information.  For most of us, the thought of losing our phone is scary; not only are our smartphones expensive to replace—much of the data on the phone is invaluable and private!  For all our users who may find themselves scrambling to find their lost phone, we created a quick step-by-step guide of how to locate and secure your phone with Lookout. Share this with all your friends that have Lookout on their phone and stay tuned for a follow up blog post that explains what to do if you don’t have Lookout on your phone.

‍1) Log onto lookout.com from any smartphone or computer

Once you realize you’ve lost your phone your first step should be to go to the Lookout Mobile Security [www.lookout.com] website.  You can do this from a friend’s smartphone (no matter what type of phone it is, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc), an iPad or tablet or your computer. Select "login" (the login button is in the upper right-hand corner) and enter your username (the email address you used to sign up for Lookout) and your password.  Once you are logged into your account, you will see a dashboard with various options.  Select the tab “Missing Device.”  From the mobile website, you’ll see options to Locate or Scream your phone.

‍2) Remotely Lock and Locate your phone

‍This section updated on Oct 4th, 2012 to clarify changes in GPS capabilitiesUnder the “Missing Device” tab you will see four options: Locate, Scream, Lock and Wipe.  If you currently have Lookout Premium installed on your phone, you should lock your phone immediately.  This will ensure that if your phone falls into the wrong hands, no one will be able to access your phone but you — so you can keep your personal data (email, contacts, and photos) private. You can even create a secret code to unlock your phone once you find it.If you don’t have Lookout Premium and haven’t gone through the Lookout Premium trial yet, sign-up for it from the website after logging in, then you can lock your phone immediately.  Next, you should select “Locate” and Lookout will do the detective work for you!  (In older versions of Android phones, Lookout may be able to automatically enable GPS on your phone to help locate it more accurately. Once Lookout uses GPS remotely, it will also turn it off to conserve your battery). Your phone’s location will appear in a matter of minutes on a Google map and typically the location will appear within 50 yards.  As long as your phone is turned on and within cell signal, Lookout will find your phone.

‍3) Make your phone Scream

‍Once you have traveled to the location on the map, use the “Scream” feature to sound the alarm on your phone.  From the Lookout website, click on the button “Scream.”  If you are on the mobile website, click on the Scream link. You will then hear what sounds like a police alarm that will slowly get louder and louder for 2 minutes. Follow the siren until you’ve found it! \

‍4) Wipe your phone (if it’s gone for good)

In the unfortunate instance that you’re unable to retrieve your phone you should wipe the phone of all your data and private information.  This will ensure that if anyone were to find your phone, none of your information (pictures, contacts, passwords) would be jeopardized. With Lookout, the Wipe feature deletes all of your data, including data on your SD card, as well as logs you out of your accounts like Gmail, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. If you have these apps and typically stay “logged in” this will ensure that your accounts won’t be compromised.

If you don’t currently have Lookout Premium, and feel that $2.99/month or $29.99/year is worth the peace of mind, you can upgrade to the Premium version right through your account homepage!

‍*Have you ever used Lookout to find your missing mobile device?

‍Do you have an interesting story to share about how you used the "lock," "locate" or "wipe" Lookout features?  If you do, please send us an email at: superusers@lookout[dot]com.  We may post your story right here on our lookout.com blog!Comments are closed on this post. If you need help with your Lookout app, please email our support team at help [at] lookout[dot]com.