Why events are theft hotspots
Everything that protects a phone in daily life is switched off at a concert. You cannot feel a hand in your pocket when you are being pushed from every side. You cannot hear a phone fall. You are looking at the stage, not at the person behind you. Bags are open because you keep reaching for them. And when you finally notice the phone is gone, the person who took it is fifty metres away in the same darkness.
Bars and clubs are the same in a smaller room, with the added problem of a phone left on the table while you dance, and a coat with a phone in the pocket hanging on the back of a chair.
Pocket alarm on, trusted places off
The Anti-Pickpocket alarm is the one for crowds. Arm it, put the phone in a front pocket or an inside pocket, and it waits. If the phone is pulled out, it beeps and then sirens at full volume with the torch flashing. In a crowd that is dark and loud, the flash is what people notice; a phone strobing in a stranger's hand draws every eye around it.
When you want to film the encore, take the phone out and enter your PIN as the beep starts. Film. Put it back and arm it again. It is a small ritual and it also means the phone spends most of the night out of your hand, which is where it should be.
Do not save the venue as a trusted place, even if it is your local. Trusted places pause automatic alerts, and this is the one place you want them.
- Front or inside pocket; a zipped one if you have it
- Arm before you enter the crowd, not in it
- Alarms work with no signal, so a full network at the festival does not matter
Before you go: Remote Access on, backup number, IMEI saved
Ten minutes at home makes the difference between a bad night and a lost phone.
- 1
Enable remote control on the phone
Sign in with Google in Alert24 and slide the remote control switch on the dashboard. It needs camera and background location. Without this step, ring and locate do nothing later. Remote Access is part of Premium.
- 2
Save a backup number and your IMEI
Add a backup phone number under Access via Phone in the app drawer. Dial *#06# for your IMEI and write it down, or send it to yourself somewhere that is not this phone. Police and your provider will ask for it.
- 3
Tell one friend your plan
If your phone goes, you will use theirs. Make sure you know your Google password without the phone, so you can sign in at alert24.in on their device.
- 4
Charge it, and arm the pocket alarm at the door
A phone that dies at midnight cannot be rung or located. Arrive with a full battery, arm the pocket alarm on the way in, and put it away.
If it's gone at 2 a.m.
Do these in order, from a friend's phone or any browser. Do not go looking for the thief yourself.
- 1
Ring it
Sign in at alert24.in with your Google account and use Find My Device. The phone sounds the alarm at full volume even if it is on silent. If it fell under a seat or is still in the room, this finds it.
- 2
Locate it and mark it lost
Location History shows the last position the phone reported. Mark the phone as lost, and it photographs whoever unlocks it or turns on the screen, and uploads the photo to your account.
- 3
Protect your accounts
From your Google account settings, sign the phone out. Block cards in your banking apps from another device. In the morning, ask your provider to block the SIM.
- 4
Report it
Give the police your IMEI, the last location and any intruder photos. Follow the full stolen phone checklist.
Night-out checklist
- Remote control enabled, Google sign-in done, before you leave the house
- IMEI and Google password known without the phone
- Full battery
- Pocket alarm armed at the door, phone in a front or inside pocket
- Phone never on the table, never in a coat on a chair
- Screen lock on, and no banking app left signed in without its own lock
Go out. Come home with your phone.
Alert24 is free on Google Play. Set it up this afternoon and arm the pocket alarm tonight.