Two Step Verification Lost Phone – Traveler´s Guide

One of the things that can be really hard to do is access any account that requires two step verification when you’ve lost your phone or you don’t have access to the phone at a particular time. Ironically the solutions that you’re going to have in both scenarios are pretty much the same. The solution to the problem of bypassing two step verification lost phone will vary depending on the app that you want to access. Some of the simpler ones are going to allow you to find another method to verify that your account is effectively yours. It would be a good idea to have all of the information that you have on that account on had. We’ll explain this in detail here shortly. 

Have you lost your phone or just lost access to the phone for the time being? To be honest the solutions that you are going to be able to apply are very similar in both scenarios. Where it gets really tricky though is when you can’t contact any customer service agent. That happens with a lot of the email services for example. We recently had a hacking attempt and the person who was trying to hack us would keep precisely changing the back up number. From that experience we learned a couple of tricks to keep your accounts safe. Which, of course we’re also going to share here. 

• Two Step Verification Lost Phone – Email Backup 
• Two Step Verification Lost Phone – Contact Customer Service
• Try To Access The Account From A Computer 
• No Backup Email, No Customer Service
• Get Your Number Back With Your Phone Company
• Preventive Steps To Take
• The Benefits of Two Step Verification

Two Step Verification Lost Phone – Email Backup

For the most part when you have an app that requires two step verification there’s more than two accounts that are linked to it. What we mean by that here is that they’ll typically ask you to add your phone number, and your email account. In fact, if you’re going to activate a two step verification login you should make sure that you input your email or these folks have another way to reach you or verify that it’s you. Otherwise you are going to find yourself in a bigger problem. In any case, with email backup you are potentially going to be able to access your account through a code sent to your email. 

Typically what’s going to happen is that you’re going to have to try and access the account. It’s going to ask you for the code that they sent to your phone. You are going to say that you didn’t get it. From there, you are going to have to follow a process. Make sure though that you follow the process and indicate that you don’t have access to your phone when you can. Don’t try and change your password or guess the code that was supposedly sent to your phone. If you do that there’s a good chance that you are going to be locking your device or access to an app more and more. 

Two Step Verification Lost Phone – Contact Customer Service

The best way to guarantee that you are going to be able to unlock an account that requires the two step verification, but you lost the phone is to contact customer service directly. Especially if there’s no way to access the account through the email backup option. Which, by the way there sometimes really isn’t. Before you contact customer service be sure that you are able to gather all of the information that you may have saved on your account. What we mean by that is, for example if it’s a bank app know your account number, or your credit card number. Essentially what you need is a piece of data that will allow them to verify that it’s your account and then let you access the account.  

One of the best tips that we can really give out here is that you should be patient. With most customer service numbers particularly if you are calling a bank or a widely used app for that matter you are going to be on hold for a while. Just try and calm down and use that time to gather up information on your account. Another tip that we would want to give out is that you really should search for a customer service with all of your might! Plenty of companies are making it more and more difficult for people to contact them directly. Ultimately though, they do have a phone line that you can contact. Try and look under every rock! Even Facebook has customer service. In fact, even if you’re just on a messaging app, talk to the rep to get the account unlocked. 

Try To Access The Account From A Computer 

Before you panic, and you effectively block your access to the app or whatever is that you’re trying to access, why not try and access the account through a computer. For example, go ahead and use a device that has direct access to your email account. You are going to be able to change your number from there. Obviously, this is a tip that is not going to work for all apps, and all situations. What we’ve found though is that a lot of times people panic, and can’t really see the big picture and they make things worse on themselves. If you are trying to access your email account use a device that potentially has direct access already. That can allow you to bypass the two step verification of lost phone or not. Then you can change the phone from there! 

No Backup Email, No Customer Service

This is one of the worst situations that you can find yourself in, no doubt. For the most part though the apps that requiere or have the option of activating a 2 step verification process are not going to allow you to skate by with just your password and your mobile phone number. What can you do if this happens though? We would advise to first really look under every rock to see if you can’t find a way to contact customer service. It’s sometimes through an email or a chat. For some reason though we have noticed that many companies are making it harder and harder to get to talk to a person. They must not want to pay for customer service reps. 

If you can’t find anything that works the best bet is going to be a sketchy one for sure. That would be to literally pay to get your account back through a hacker. We are just going to come out and say this. By no means do we promote this option. As we mentioned this isn’t something that will happen with your bank or even Gmail. Run through the whole troubleshooting process. Click on the lost access to phone option,and they’ll guide you through the account recovery process. The last ditch effort may be then to get help from an outside source, through hacking.      

Get Your Number Back With Your Phone Company

Before you panic and try to get access to your account by whatever means necessary remember that these days you don’t lose your number necessarily if you lose your phone. Particularly if you’re on a post paid plan. All you have to do is head over to one of the stores that your regular wireless service provider has. You may need to buy a phone to be able to get a SIM card from them with your phone number. If you have an insurance with your service provider check what the rate is for a lost phone. We understand that you may need to access particular accounts right this instant when you don’t have your phone. If you can wait it out though it probably would be ideal. To just gain access back when you get your phone back.   

The main problem that you could have is that the person who finds your phone can gain access to your accounts and lock you out! So what we would suggest that you do is head your email account if this has already happened run the troubleshooter immediately! This is going to allow you to shut down your email account for example so that the person who has your phone doesn’t access or delete some of your personal data. Once you get your number back you can get your account up and running again. Yet the first step that you should take may actually be to lock it down.

Preventive Steps To Take

We’ve already run through some of the solutions that you can look it if you have a two step verification lost phone situation. So know we want to talk about what you can do to ease your problems if and when this happens while still having access to your regular phone. Number one, is make sure that you have some type of backup account. For an email account register a back up email account that you may be ideally don’t hook up with two step verification. You can just use that account to essentially be a fall back for these types of situations. Make sure that you know how all of your accounts are hooked up. 

Essentially before you make an account with anything at least all of the apps that you care about you have to know what the process looks like if something like this happens. Know which apps feature a customer service department. The ones that do can make your life a lot easier. Also, make sure that you update your information on all apps to match your current situation. If you have a new phone number switch your number on all of your apps. The worst thing that happened to us recently is that we were locked out of a payments accounts because we never changed the number to reflect the new cell number. Luckily, that app featured a customer service department.   

The Benefits of Two Step Verification

Are there tangible benefits to two step verification that are worth the hassle that can come about when you lose your phone? Well, ironically it may only be when you lose your phone that you truly realize just how beneficial this process can be! Naturally you are going to need two steps to verify your access to an account. So if anyone is trying to access your account you are going to get the notification and from there you can take steps to protect your personal data. Before this person is granted access to it.

It is true that there are other methods to be able to verify your account. The worst thing about potentially all of this is that when you are most at risk is particularly when you lose your phone. Since the person that has your phone could access your account if you left it open on the device. In those cases the two step verification can be more harmful to you than to the phone thief! It’s an ongoing debate, and at the end of the day the idea is to make your data safer. Without a doubt though we would have to say that two step verification lost phone or not, is a perfectable system.   

Two Step Verification Lost Phone – Conclusion

The first thing that we advise you to do not is not to panic. If you try to access an account on another device and you need the text message from the phone to get to it, the first step may be to look for a device where you have an active session on that account. For your email check your home computer to see if you can’t access it directly. If you can’t access it again, don’t panic, look through the protocol for this type of thing. When you’re dealing with other apps we would strongly suggest that you look to see if they have a customer service that you can talk to. 

More often than not talking to customer service means that you have to be patient enough to wait on the line. Which, in many situations like these, isn’t an easy thing to do. There’s a good chance that you’re going to be a little bit overwhelmed by the time that you get to this point. Trust us though, it’s the easiest way to get access back to your account. Is hacking a realistic option? It’s really hard to say because you’d have to find an ethical hacker in a sea of people who probably are more interested in scamming you and that’s hard to do!