Protecting Your Smartphone Data

Recently, a friend was telling about how she lost her Smartphone and all her client and business contacts were lost with it. She was frustrated and helpless, with no way to recover the information.

Having your emails, contacts, calendar, and essentially your life, on a Smartphone is a great convenience that many haven’t been able to resist. At the same time, having all this information in one place can be a major liability, especially if you depend on the information for your business. What if your phone falls into the wrong hands? What if you simply lose your phone and lose all the data with it? There are simple steps you can take to have the peace of mind that you won’t lose your life if you lose your phone.

Lock Your Phone
Many phones can be setup to require a passcode before they can be used. And I don’t mean just clicking a simple button to bring the phone out of standby. I mean a real combination of numbers or letters that would be hard to figure out by others. This is a standard feature on all Smartphones, so use it! This will ensure that your information and your phone won’t be misused if they fall into the wrong hands.

Backup Your Phone
It’s important that you backup the information on your phone regularly, so that you won’t lose your data if you lose your phone. All Smartphones allow you to at least back them up to your computer. This is the most cost effective method, but requires some discipline. To remember this routine task, put a monthly reminder on your calendar to back up your phone on a specific day. This method of backing up only takes a few minutes, and is simple to do.

If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of a manual backup, you may have other options, depending on your phone manufacturer and service provider. For example, the Blackberry automatically backs up all its data on the corporate server, assuming your company is large enough to have its own server. You can also sign up for the free Blackberry Protect service, which backs up your data and protects your phone in case of loss. The Apple also has a similar service for the iPhone called MobileMe, which costs about $100/year. MobileMe also keeps your iPhone, computers, and online accounts all in sync. Smartphones based on Google’s Android OS can accomplish something similar, assuming you keep all your information on Google services. To find the best option for your particular phone, you should consult your service provider and read up on potential services that your phone manufacturer of third parties may provide.

Phone Locator
Smartphones are offered at a relatively inexpensive price mainly because the service provider obligates you to a contract. But if you lose your phone before the end of the contract, you’ll have to buy the phone at full price, which is usually north of $500.
Some of the services mentioned above, allow you to locate your phone in case you lose it. This feature alone can be worth the annual cost of the service if it helps your recover your phone.