Trip Preparation & Lost Phone on Holiday – What to Do?
A lost or stolen phone on holiday is one of the most common travel emergencies – usually right when you need the numbers and accounts stored on it the most. This article sums up what you should prepare before you travel and which steps actually help in an emergency.
In this article:
1. Trip preparation
- Store your emergency contacts as well as bank, insurance and hotel details in ReiseSOS beforehand, so they're accessible from any internet-enabled device in an emergency – even without your own phone.
- Photograph or copy important documents (passport, driving licence, insurance policy) and keep them separately from the originals, e.g. in cloud storage.
- Take out travel health insurance, or check whether an existing policy covers your destination country and planned activities.
- Turn on device tracking ("Find My" on Apple, "Find My Device" on Android) and test before you leave that it actually works.
- Write down or print recovery codes (2FA backup codes) for important accounts separately, in case your phone is used as a second factor for logging in.
- Look up local emergency numbers for your destination as well as the address of the nearest Austrian embassy or consulate beforehand.
- Check whether your phone or travel insurance covers theft, and know the excess/terms.
- Note down the block hotlines for your bank and credit card (back of the card or banking app) and keep them handy.
2. What to do when your phone is gone
1. Locate and remotely lock the phone
Using "Find My" (Apple, at icloud.com/find) or "Find My Device" (Google, at android.com/find) you can locate, lock, or as a last resort remotely erase your phone from any browser. This only works if the feature was enabled beforehand – see the checklist above.
2. Block your SIM card
Call your mobile carrier's block hotline immediately, so no one can make calls at your expense or intercept SMS-based access codes:
- A1: 0800 664 100 (from abroad: +43 800 664 100)
- Magenta: +43 676 2000
- Drei: +43 660 303030
- HoT: +43 677 6001 6771
- spusu: +43 670 670 1000
Note: hotline numbers can change – if in doubt, check the provider's website.
3. If stolen: file a police report
Report the theft to the local police on the spot. This matters not only for a possible insurance claim, but also to get the device blocked. Have the device's IMEI number ready if possible (found e.g. on the original packaging or the purchase receipt).
4. Secure your important accounts
Change the passwords of your most important accounts promptly – starting with your email account, since that's usually what all your other accounts can be reset through. Where possible, actively sign out of all open sessions from another device (email, social media, banking apps).
5. Block your bank and credit cards
Contact your bank's block hotline immediately to block your cards and banking app. If you saved this number in your ReiseSOS profile beforehand, you can find it there even without your own phone.
6. If your passport or ID was lost too
First file a loss report with the local police. Then contact the nearest Austrian embassy or consulate – in urgent cases they can issue an emergency passport (valid for up to 1 year). Contact details for the relevant representation are available from the citizen service of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA). If there's no Austrian representation in the country, the embassy of another EU member state can generally help too.
7. Getting the most important numbers without your own phone
This is exactly the moment ReiseSOS is built for: with your first name, last name, date of birth, PIN and security question, you can access your saved emergency contacts as well as bank, insurance and hotel details from any internet-enabled device – a borrowed phone, a hotel PC, the tablet at reception – in under a minute. More in our guide.
Don't have a ReiseSOS account yet? Create one for free – it only takes a few minutes, and the preparation pays off in an emergency.
Keep reading: Lost phone at a festival – what to do? · Phone broken – how do I get a phone number? · ReiseSOS for Business