Lost or Stolen Phone: What to Do in the First Ten Minutes

The steps below matter most in the first ten to thirty minutes, ideally from another device — a friend's phone, a laptop, or a computer at wherever you are. Speed matters more here than almost anywhere else on this site, because a phone often holds live sessions for email, banking, and authenticator apps that a thief can use immediately.

Do these first, in order

Within the first day

• File a police report, particularly if the phone was stolen rather than lost — some insurance claims and carrier processes require it.
• Check whether device insurance or your carrier's protection plan covers replacement.
• Review recent account activity on email, banking, and payment apps for anything unauthorized once you have another device to check from.
• If the phone stored an authenticator app for two-factor codes, use backup codes or account-recovery options on a new device to regain access before re-enabling two-factor on the replacement.

The takeaway

A lost or stolen phone is a race against how quickly someone else can act on the access it holds. Locking or wiping it, ending active sessions remotely, and suspending carrier service — done fast, from any other device you can borrow — closes the window before it becomes a bigger problem than the phone itself.