It’s been a decades since I didn’t carry a phone everywhere I went. In fact, I can’t imagine being without it. But inside of 30 seconds this week, it was gone. This is how I survived my lost iPhone (and you can too!).
I was leaving on a business trip and took an Uber to the airport. A short time after getting out of the car, I realized my iPhone had slipped out of my pocket and it was either in the car or had fallen on the street. I quickly went back to see if it was there, but I could not find it. I took out my iPad and opened the application “Find My iPhone“. It showed that the smartphone was moving so it was definitely in the Uber. I immediately put it into “LOST” mode to lock it out and wipe my credit card information from the device. I sent a message to the driver that said “Edgar, please return this iPhone. Call 773- XXX- XXX and they will give you a reward more than the phone is worth.” I had the device then play a notifying sound.
I decided to go ahead through security and then talk to the ride sharing company. Contacting Uber without a phone is more difficult than it appears. I still had my iPad but logging onto their application from a different device proved impossible.
As with alot of security these days, it requires a double sign on where Uber sends a security code to the phone (that I did not have) to type in on the iPad before using the application!
I looked for a phone number on Uber’s website to contact them but there wasn’t one. I sent them an email which they did respond to but said it was not from an account they could identify.
The New York trip without a phone was a different kind of experience which was very 1990’s. At the airport, I needed to use a taxi since I did not have a smartphone. Besides being more expensive, the driver did not know the location I was trying to get to. When he put the address in on his phone, he still could not find it. We settled on a destination in the general area and I walked to my meeting from there.
In the next few days, I felt lost. It was hard to make phone calls. I couldn’t get my Skype application to work. It was difficult to reach people by FaceTime. My contacts were not updated on my iPad so texting people was impossible without their phone numbers. Many of the applications that I had on my iPad required a security code that was sent to a phone I did not have. I could not easily keep track of my calendar or flights. I could not call if I was going to be late for a meeting. I did not have my “to-do” list. I felt out of touch from my family and friends because I could not just dial or text them at will.
In the end, I, of course, did survive. The Uber driver returned the iPhone a few hours later to my wife and I sent him his reward. When I returned two days later, my iPhone landed safely into the palm of my hand and then I knew that I was home!
