Travel safety tips for traveling abroad with a smartphone
With these tips, you can rest assured if your smartphone is lost or stolen while traveling.
problem solved
Having a lost or stolen phone can be a nightmare. It’s especially bad when it happens while traveling. Unfortunately, it happens a lot, especially if you’re visiting a country known for pickpocketing, like Italy or France.
Whether you’re traveling to Paris to watch Simone Biles or Sha’Carri Richardson at the 2024 Olympics, or you’re looking to squeeze in a last-minute vacation before school starts, these tips will keep you safe in case your smartphone takes an unauthorized trip while you’re traveling.
Watch this video to learn five things you can do with your phone before your next trip.
Travel tips
Tip #1: Back up your device before you leave.
Backing up your device to a cloud service or computer can save you the hassle of losing everything on your smartphone. With this digital copy, you can restore everything from your iPhone or Android to the new device before you travel.
If your device backs up to iCloud or Google Drive, most phones will automatically perform a daily backup when connected to Wi-Fi and not in use.
Tip #2: Sign out of apps.
Sign out of important apps. In this case, that refers to banking apps, payment apps like Venmo, and shopping apps like Amazon.
Think of it this way: if the app allows you to spend or send money, log out.
Also consider logging out of apps that have access to personal information or professional platforms such as email and social media accounts.
Tip #3: Enable Find My Device or Locate My Device feature on your device.
Before you travel, enable your device’s location tracking. Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find My let you track your phone’s current or last known location from another device or computer.
For Location to display the most accurate location data, the phone must be turned on. Otherwise, it may only show the phone’s last known location or it may say that the phone cannot be located.
Tip #4: Bring another device with you.
Smartphones can be expensive, so consider taking an older model, buying a used device, or getting a flip phone. This second device won’t need all the data, apps, or pictures you have on your everyday device, so avoid storing apps or information on it that you don’t need for your trip.
Identity theft: Tips for protection while traveling.
Tip No. 5: Stay analog!
Bring printouts of all important information, such as booking confirmations, addresses and telephone numbers.
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Bring a map of the area and mark important places like your hotel, popular attractions, the train station or restaurants you want to visit so you have them on hand in case you need them.
