As millions of people all around the world use cell phones on a daily basis, it is only logical that cell phones go missing from time to time. The problem with losing a cell phone rather than some other object, however, is that they have become essential to modern communication. Many people, in fact, have even disconnected their landline phones and replaced them with one or more cell phones. There are many different methods that you can use to locate a lost cell phone but not every method is right for everyone.

Call It
The first thing you should do in order to find your lost cell phone is to call it. 90% of lost cell phones can be found by simply calling the phone and listening for its ringtone. Sometimes it is important to call the phone several times and walk around your house or office in silence. Obviously for this method you will need another phone to make the call. If you are one of the people who have disconnected their landline phones, you can opt to borrow a friend's phone or use one of the many online calling features that allow you to either make an actual call to the phone or to simply make it ring. Even if your phone is not at your home or office, calling it increases your chances of finding it as someone else may have picked it up and either pocketed it or turned it over to the police, a restaurant or hotel owner, or some other authority figure that is just waiting for you to come collect your phone.How Can I Find A Lost Cell Phone

WheresMyCellPhone.com
As mentioned before, there are many online services that allow you to either make an actual phone call or simply make your cell phone ring. Either way, you can use these services to help you locate your cell phone in case you have no other means to call your phone. One such service is WheresMyCellPhone.com, an online service that allows you to simply enter your cell phone number and area code to make a free "call" to your cell phone. WheresMyCellPhone.com is currently only available to residents in the US and Canada. Fortunately, WheresMyCellPhone.com has a blocking feature called "Do Not Call" to stop unwanted phone calls from the website once you retrieve your cell phone.

Retrace Your Steps
If you have already called your cell phone and you are having no luck in finding it, you will need to make a manual search of everywhere you have been since you've lost it. Start with the most obvious and accessible places and work your way through to the less likely places. Hopefully, you will find your lost cell phone in one of the first few places that you look. If not, contact your friends and ask them to look around for it as well and ask around at restaurants and public places to see if they may have your cell phone in their lost and found box.

Call The Phone Company
If you have followed all of the steps mentioned above and still have not found your cell phone, the next thing you should do is call your cell phone company and report it as lost. This is important because if anyone else is using your phone then you are responsible for any charges incurred up until the point that you report it as lost. Your cell phone company may also be able to track usage on your cell phone and help you retrieve it. Furthermore, your cell phone company may send you a new cell phone depending on your contract.

Tracking Software
In order to prevent this kind of problem from happening in the future, you should install tracking software on your phone. There are plenty of free tracking programs available online that are meant for your cell phone and can use a variety of methods to alert you to where your cell phone is at all times. For example, some GPS services not only allow you to track your phone's exact location online but will also send you updated email notifications whenever your cell phone is being used outside of a designated area or when the cell phone has been turned off.