

Never Lock Your Cell Phone - Kluny
http://rocketships.ca/blog/never-lock-your-cell-phone/

======
jacalata
Better title "I was pretty lucky and lost stuff a lot and people returned it!
You too should rely on luck and the kindness of strangers instead of basic
precautions!" Yea, given that my entire bag incl. laptop was stolen from me at
a bar a few weeks ago? Sounds totally stupid.

1\. I'm sorry, I absolutely do not trust random strangers with access to all
of my email accounts, my facebook account, twitter, etc, banks that allow me
to bypass some authentication questions by calling from the phone listed under
my account, etc. 2\. To use my work email on my phone, a lock is enforced. 3\.
If I lose my phone, I can set an arbitrary message to show on the screen
through the windows phone 'find my phone' feature on the web, or if I didn't
have that, leave my lockscreen with contact details showing.

------
jfoster
On Android, Settings > Security > Owner info. Then you can have some
alternative method of contacting you on the lock screen, whilst also
protecting privacy in case the wrong person finds your lost phone.

~~~
kalmar
I had no idea about this. Thanks! Any thoughts on what to put in there? I just
added ‘if found please email ...’ but it could perhaps be improved.

~~~
antrix
I've setup up: "<my name> | EMERGENCY CONTACT: <wife's name> @ <wife's
number>"

A side-effect of having a long string like the above is that the OS will
scroll the text side-to-side (marquee style) to display the whole thing.. thus
catching the attention of whoever is looking at the lock screen.

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tjbiddle
My phone has my phone number (Heh, not helpful) and my email address on the
lockmscreen - So shouldn't be any trouble to get in touch :-).

The majority of people are awesome out there, but unfortunately - there are
some who aren't; I would prefer those who are not to not have access to phone
where they could: \- GPS their way back to my home if my address is saved and
possibly break in if they know my calendar. \- Text family contacts for
personal information. \- Have access to my email where they could start trying
to recover passwords. \- And the list can go on.

Phones today are incredibly insecure, and while I do all that I can in locking
individual applications - I'd prefer a stranger to not have access to all of
that; especially with my email address as a means of contact on my lock
screen. I'd personally prefer to just lose my phone entirely rather than open
up the possibility to someone accessing important information.

~~~
Kluny
I concede that there's some stuff on your phone that you don't want spread
around. However, I refer you to the ipod touch story - the woman who found it
was not tech-savvy. Though she had good intentions and wanted to return it,
she didn't know how to use email. Those people are more common than you think.
Maybe your parents or spouses phone number?

Even then, you have to hope that the person doesn't have phone phobia (like
me) and isn't deaf (like me), to phone. With full access to the phone, most
people can find a contact mechanism that works for them.

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apinstein
Is this a Canadian thing? Because that's NEVER happened to me Atlanta/NYC).

Heck we even left an iPhone in an airplane seat pocket. Realized it as soon as
we stepped off, but they wouldn't let us go back and get it due to "security".
They assured us it'd be in lost and found. NOT.

I'd be amazing to make a heatmap of wallet/iphone returns so I can move to the
best place on earth :)

~~~
jsnell
I've forgotten a $300 pair of headphones, an iPhone and a Kindle in an
airplane seat pocket. I didn't even realize I'd done that until I got an email
a few days later from the Zurich airport lost&found who somehow tracked me
down. And that's pretty much expected. I've had friends forget inordinate
amounts of stuff into Swiss public transport, etc, and somehow the items
always find their way home.

(When I went to fetch those things I forgot in the airplane, I left my other
phone on the lost&found desk. Going back for that was a bit embarrassing.)

------
silencio
I found an iPod mini once. No contact info. On a whim I connected it to
iTunes, which prompted me to log in as account "xxxxxxxx@yahoo.com". Emailed
that person and they got it from me the next day.

There is always a way to return a device even without the most obvious of
contact methods for even the most tech illiterate (eg android and iOS lock
screen messages). Leaving your device unlocked just in hopes of getting it
returned seems pretty stupid to do.

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kilroy123
Since you can get to all my emails in one click, that phone will remain locked
at all times.

I have "emergency contacts" on my locked screen. (android phone) I make sure
family contacts in my phone listed as:

Mom name Dad name Gf name etc.

------
blake8086
My lock screen has a message on it that gives a number to call if the phone is
found.

"If found, call or text xxx-xxx-xxxx"

~~~
uzair88
My android and blackberry had it but I haven't seen that on an iphone.
Unfortunately, company phones require locks/passwords so you cant just leave
it unlocked.

~~~
vvhn
It's not too hard to set that up that up on an iPhone. Take a screenshot of a
note with what ever text you want on the lockscreen or and set that as your
lock screen wallpaper.

~~~
BHSPitMonkey
Also, for as long as there has been an App Store, there have been apps
specifically for letting you overlay message over images specifically for this
purpose.

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stanmancan
I know the likely hood of it working is slim, but what about a site that let
owners of electronics link the devices serial number to their contact info?

Device Owner: Go to [URL] and create an account, Register a device to your
account by Device + Serial Number

Device Finder: Find a device, Go to [URL] and search the serial number, Find
owners contact info, Call/Email/Contact owner and return device

You would probably want to have some small, unobtrusive stickers for people to
stick on the device with the URL as a hint to anyone that finds it.

------
shaufler
FYI, you can find out the owner of a locked iPhone by opening Siri and asking
"Whose phone is this?". Still, so few people know about that you're better off
keeping your phone unlocked.

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beryllium
Yay for Victoria/Vancouver Island shout-out - but I'm not sure that this is
true in all corners of the world ... And definitely invest in better pockets,
sheesh! :)

~~~
stanmancan
I agree that Victoria is particularly friendly, but I wouldn't write off the
rest of the world automatically. I lost a cell phone in Victoria that never
got returned. I lost my wallet in Toronto and it was. There are good people
all over the world.

With that being said, you do have a far greater chance of having your phone
returned if it's unlocked. If it's locked and you don't have personal info on
the home screen, then there's a 0% chance of it finding it's way home.

------
zellyn
The iPhone doesn't have the functionality natively, but I just used an image
editor to write my email and family members' phone numbers into my lock screen
image.

~~~
chrisbolt
If your iPhone is set up with Find My iPhone, you can remotely lock it and
display a number to call:

<http://cl.ly/image/2Z1b291T093Y>

------
loceng
FYI - Police in Canada can then legally look into your phone. If it's pass
protected, they have to get a warrant first.

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prezjordan
On another note, I don't lock my laptops. If someone steals it, I _want_ them
to be able to log in and use it. Then, I might be able to track them - it's a
slim chance, but it could happen.

If they can't log in, chances are they'll just wipe it.

~~~
ancarda
Made me think of this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4oB28ksiIo>

I have a moderately-locked down guest account on my computers that serves this
purpose. Also useful if family want to come over and use my computer - not
that they ever do. They struggle to use OS X.

------
hkmurakami
The site is unavailable for me. Judging from other comments in this thread, is
the gist basically to leave the phone unlocked so that the person who picks up
the phone when you lose it can find out your contact information and get in
touch with you?

~~~
supercoder
Yep.

Which isn't great advice. Sure a side effect of having it unlocked is that it
makes it easier to find the owner to get in contact with. But having unlocked
means it can potentially come with many downsides.

I think the better point is to make people think about how someone will get it
back to you when it is locked. So either make sure you lock screen image has
some contact details on it (could be as simple as screenshotting the notes app
etc) or use Find My iPhone and push a message (or both!)

~~~
caseysoftware
I can't help but think of all the things I'm auto-logged into on my phone..
Twitter, Facebook, calendar, company email, etc. And that's not even
considering the tech messages and other notes that might be in there.

While an unlocked phone might be great in the honestly-lost scenario, the
stolen-while-I'm-not-looking scenario makes me way more nervous.

------
fnordfnordfnord
My grandparents used to get these keychains from their Exxon filling station
that said "Return Postage Guaranteed" and had a serial number and an Exxon
address to mail them to. Just drop them in the mailbox.

------
jewel
A few years ago I lost my phone while hiking, at about 10,000 feet in
elevation, which I didn't discover until back down the mountain. It was
raining and so I figured it was ruined. The next day, just as I was about to
have my employer call in and transfer the service to a new SIM, a friend IMed
and said that someone had found it and had sent a text message to the most
recent person I had messaged.

It was an old nokia phone, so the value was maybe $50, but it was still
amazing to get it back.

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spinlockmusic
Idea: Put all of your contact info on the lockscreen background image

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miles
For all of those recommending custom info on the lock screen: what if the
battery is dead, or the phone is broken, or the finder has no idea how to turn
it on, etc, etc? I used a labeler to make tiny stickers that say "Reward for
Return" along with my land line and email address. I had used stuffbak.com
before, but saw no reason why anyone would be more likely to call the number
of their sticker than mine.

------
unoti
OP has learned the wrong lesson from some bad experiences. When you lose your
keys, your wallet, your cellphone: the right lesson to learn is to evaluate
how you can change your personal procedures to avoid this loss in the future.
I've lost my keys, my wallet, and my cellphone-- but after deciding I never
want to do it again and taking steps, I haven't lost any of them in many
years.

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chrisbolt
Google cache:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&safe=...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Frocketships.ca%2Fblog%2Fnever-
lock-your-cell-phone%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Frocketships.ca%2Fblog%2Fnever-
lock-your-cell-phone%2F)

~~~
Kluny
Thanks - I've never had this much traffic before!

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lvs
There are some things that pop up on HN that just really call for a downvote
button.

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alex_doom
If you have an iPhone and "Find My iPhone" turned on you can send your phone
messages, that will be available to read even if you phone is locked. Like if
you find this phone please call me at ....

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d0c5
Dude it's rough as fuck round here. I lose my phone (it gets jacked) and all
my contacts receive rape videos and death threats and only the gods know what
else. I would love to live in your world.

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ctide
I just slid a business card between my phone and the case. If someone's
inclined to return it, great, they'll find the card. If they aren't, they
aren't perusing all my personal shit.

~~~
natem345
If I found a locked phone, I myself would never think to remove the case &
look for things inside.

~~~
ctide
I don't expect people to go searching for treasures, but anything you would do
with the phone short of just throwing it into the trash will involve you
taking the case off.

------
signalnine
NEVER CACHE YOUR WORDPRESS INSTALL.

~~~
Kluny
Sorry :( Any advice how I should fix it?

