A phone with work email on it is lost or stolen

A phone with your work email on it has gone missing — left in a taxi, lifted from a table, or simply nowhere to be found. It is stressful, but the useful responses are quick and most of them can be done from any other device. Work through this list in order.

What to do right now

Try ringing it, then locate and lock it. From any other phone or computer, use Apple's Find My (formerly Find My iPhone — sign in at icloud.com/find) for an iPhone, or Google's Find Hub (formerly Find My Device — sign in with your Google account) for an Android. If the map shows it at the café you just left, go and get it. If not, use Mark as Lost (Apple) or Secure device (Google) — this locks the phone remotely and can display a contact number on the screen for an honest finder.
Change your Microsoft 365 password promptly. The phone holds your signed-in work email, so treat the password as exposed. Do it from any other device — the steps are in resetting your Microsoft 365 password. Changing the password forces the phone to ask for it again, which it can no longer answer.
Tell us the same day. We can cut that specific phone's access to your work email and files without touching your computer or any other device — it is a targeted switch, not a scorched-earth one. The earlier we flick it, the less the window anyone has.
Call your mobile carrier and block the SIM. Text messages to that number may carry sign-in codes for your accounts, so a working SIM in someone else's hands matters more than it first appears. The carrier can block it and move your number to a replacement SIM.
Report it to the police and keep the report number. Your insurer will want it, and it takes a few minutes online or at any station.

One more thing to plan for: your authenticator app was on that phone, so your sign-in codes went with it. Getting codes working on the replacement phone is covered in new phone, MFA codes gone — read it before you set up the new phone and the process is much smoother.

Why speed matters

Nothing here is about panic; it is about windows. A locked phone with a blocked SIM, a changed password and its work access cut is a paperweight to whoever has it. Each of those steps closes one door, and each is more effective the sooner it happens — mostly because a phone that still has signal, email access and a live SIM can be used exactly the way you use it. Do the list the day it goes missing and the likely outcome is an insurance claim and an annoying week, nothing more.

Three things not to do

Do not hit "erase everything" yourself before talking to us if your photos are not backed up. A remote wipe is permanent, and marking the phone as lost already locks it just as effectively. Lock first, wipe second — once we have confirmed what is backed up, wiping is a one-click decision with no regrets.

Do not meet up with anyone who says they "found" your phone and wants payment to return it, or who texts you a link to "verify" the phone is yours. Those links are phishing pages built to steal the very password you just changed. Genuine finders hand phones in; they do not negotiate.

Do not ignore it because the phone has a PIN. A PIN is good protection, but it is not a reason to skip the list — the SIM works in another phone regardless of your PIN, and the account-side steps above are what actually protect your email.

Still stuck?

Log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. If it is stopping you working right now, call 03 9028 4358.

Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.

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This help centre is free to read and we would rather you fixed it yourself. If it has not worked, or you would rather someone just dealt with it:

The first call is free. Tell us what’s happening and we’ll tell you what we think it is, what fixing it involves, and what it’ll cost — before anything is charged. If it turns out to be a five-minute thing, we’ll usually just sort it out on the call.