What to do if you lose your phone

Here are steps you can take before and after your phone goes missing.

Phones hold so much of our digital lives—emails, social media and bank accounts, photos, chat messages and more—that if they ever get stolen or go missing, it can cause major disruption beyond just the loss of a device.

In some places, phone thefts have surged so much it’s now an everyday problem, with thieves on electric bikes snatching them out of pedestrians’ hands, swiping them off restaurant tables or pickpocketing them on the subway.

In Britain, where 200 phones are stolen every day in “snatch thefts,” the government has pledged to crack down on the crime and is meeting with tech companies and device makers to come up with solutions.

Here are steps you can take before and after your phone goes missing: