How to Return a Lost Phone

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/smarter-living/how-to-return-a-lost-phone.html

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Losing your smartphone can feel like losing an appendage, so when you find an unattended phone on the ground, it’s natural you would want to do the right thing and return it. But in the age of personal identification numbers, facial recognition and fingerprint locks, it’s hard to call the owner and give it back. Before you turn it over to the police and hope for the best, here are a few tricks you can use to return that phone.

Some people anticipate this problem and put their contact info somewhere on the device — but it isn’t always immediately obvious where. “Some people put In Case of Emergency (I.C.E.) contact info on their lock screen, so they can be quickly reunited with their lost device,” said David Weissmann, a public relations manager at Verizon. Apple’s iPhone and many phones running Google’s Android operating system have this feature, but you’ll need to tap the “Emergency” button on the phone’s lock screen to see it. If you find an emergency contact there, you can call them and tell them to give the owner your phone number.

“I’ve also seen people put a label on the inside of their phone case with contact information,” Mr. Weissmann said. If the phone you’ve found has a case on it, pop it off to see if there’s anything inside. You might even check inside the battery cover, if there is one.

If there isn’t any apparent contact information on the phone itself, you might be able to make a call with the help of the device’s voice assistant. By default, most phones allow you to talk to Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, or Samsung’s Bixby even when the phone is locked. (It’s possible to disable this feature, but many people don’t out of convenience.)

So, try invoking the voice assistant: On the iPhone, press and hold the home button (or power button, if it’s an iPhone X, Xr, or Xs). On Samsung phones, you can press the Bixby button on the side. Alternatively, you can just say “Hey Siri,” “Hey Google,” or “Hey Bixby” to see if voice activation is enabled.

If you get a response, try saying “Call Mom” or something similar — if you’re lucky, the phone will place a call without you ever having to unlock it, and you can explain the situation.

If all else fails, you’ll have to enlist some outside help. “If you find a phone, and there are no clear markings my best advice is to turn it in to local police,” said Mr. Weissmann. “If you find a Verizon phone, it can be brought into a nearby store where they will try to reunite it with its owner.”

AT&T and other carriers have similar policies. Look at the corner of the phone’s screen to see what carrier it’s on. While it’s a bit more out of your way than a simple “Hey Siri,” you know the phone will be getting back to its rightful owner.