Not everyone knows that, on modern smartphones there is a system that makes the smartphone impossible to use if it is lost or stolen . This anti-theft technology, included in every Android smartphone and on iPhone, allows, in case of theft or loss, to delete all the data on the mobile phone and also to lock and reset the device.
The nice thing is that the reset command is almost a cell phone destruction command, which becomes unusable by any other person unless it uses one of the accounts already used to access the phone.
Activating the "Kill Switch" is quite simple on iPhone and on Samsung, Huawei and all Android phones .
READ ALSO: All the ways to track your phone (Android, iPhone, Windows)
1) On iPhone you must activate the Find My iPhone function
Each iPhone is associated with an Apple iCloud account which also includes the Find My iPhone feature .
By activating the location service, it is possible to track the iPhone using a computer and find its last position.
Furthermore, it is also possible to lock and reset it.
While when you sell the phone you reset by removing the iCloud account and deactivating Find My iPhone, if instead the phone is stolen and the user activates the activation lock, it will be impossible to use the iPhone with another account, making it an unusable device even after a hard reset.
As seen in the guide on what to do in case of lost or stolen iPhone, to activate Find My iPhone in iOS you need to open the settings and go to the Apple ID section.
In this set of options you can activate or deactivate the iPhone alarm.
To lock the lost or stolen iPhone then go to icloud.com/find from a PC or Mac, open Find My iPhone and use the Initialize iPhone function (first try to use the Lost mode and then, if not found, initialize).
This option resets and clears the iPhone memory, with an activation lock for any other account other than ours.
In practice, no one, without our account, will no longer be able to use the iPhone and whoever stole it will not be able to sell it or use it on his behalf.
READ ALSO: Find the IMEI code to block your mobile phone if it is stolen.
2) Every Android smartphone can be rendered unusable by a thief or by those who find it and do not return it by activating the Find my Android function .
This function is activated and configured in the Phone settings, under the Google> Security section.
From here, enable remote location of the device and the option to allow remote locking and deletion.
From the Google.com/android/find website it is therefore possible to try to find it or to delete all the memory and therefore make it unusable.
A thief cannot restore the device with a new account, because it can only be accessed using any Google account previously added and synchronized on the device.
If you cannot provide this information during installation, you will no longer be able to use the device after a factory reset.
