On the road
What to do if you lose your phone abroad
Your line, your ticket and your bookings go with it. The steps in order, what you can do from another device, and what to set up beforehand.
Claudia Ferrán 7 min Photo by celso costa on Unsplash Losing your phone while travelling is worse than losing it at home for one specific reason: your boarding pass, your hotel booking, the map, your way of calling anyone and, if you were carrying an eSIM, your data line all go with it. And every one of those is needed right now.
The first twenty minutes
- Look for it from another device using your account's find-my-device service, which works from any browser.
- If it shows up nearby, make it ring. If not, lock it remotely and put up a message with a contact number.
- Call your operator to suspend the line, or do it from their app on another device.
- Block the cards you had in the phone's wallet.
- If it was stolen, report it: your insurer will ask for the report and sometimes your operator will too.
The order matters: locate first, then lock. The other way round, a locked phone sometimes stops reporting its position.
What happens to the eSIM
The profile goes with the phone, because it lives inside its chip. It can't be recovered remotely and it won't move to another phone by itself.
If you get hold of another phone, your usual line comes back by asking your operator for a new profile or a new card, and the travel eSIM depends on whether its provider can reissue it. That's the moment the purchase email is worth its weight in gold.
The details of moving a line to another phone are in changing phones with an eSIM installed.
How to carry on without a phone
- Boarding passes get reprinted at the airline desk with your passport.
- Hotels reprint the booking with your name and an ID document.
- Train tickets can be collected at the counter with the booking reference, if you wrote it down.
- The consulate helps if your documents are gone too.
What to sort out BEFORE you go
Everything above takes minutes if this is done, and hours if it isn't.
- Turn on your phone's find-my-device service and check that it works.
- Keep bookings and tickets in your email as well, not only in apps.
- Write down on paper the number for your operator, your insurer and your accommodation.
- Carry a copy of your passport in your email or in the cloud.
- If two of you are travelling, make sure each has their own data and you don't both depend on the same phone.
Frequently asked questions
What do I do if I lose my phone on a trip?
Locate it from another device, lock it remotely with a contact message, suspend the line with your operator and block the cards in the phone's wallet, and file a report if it was stolen.
Can I get my eSIM back?
The profile goes with the phone. On a new phone you get your line back by asking your operator for a new profile, and the travel eSIM depends on whether its provider can reissue it.
How do I board without a phone?
At the airline desk they reprint your boarding pass against your passport.
What should I set up before travelling?
Find-my-device switched on, bookings in your email as well, important numbers written down on paper, and a copy of your passport in the cloud.
And if I'm travelling alone?
All the more reason: write the numbers on paper and make sure you can reach your email from another device, because that will be your only route.
