Dropbox Will Help Find a Stolen Gadget

Dropbox — the cloud storage service — will now serve as a search dog. It can help you find stolen or lost gadgets via a simple trick.

Your phone is literally brimming with valuable data: phone numbers, bank or e-wallet credentials, passwords, addresses, and, in some cases, maybe explicit photos.

So locating a gadget and winning back all this data is crucial. And Dropbox can actually be of help. Let’s see what it can do.

This is how the trick works:

1. Every time you log in to your Dropbox account, the service reads and “remembers” your IP address. The IP address can be crucial at revealing a user’s internet provider and then their physical home address.
2. Dropbox will be doing it every time when logging happens. Even if it’s not you, who’s logging in.

So, should your gadget disappear, and you suspect it was a theft, do this:

• Head to dropbox.com and log in.
• Now, click your avatar.
• Open Settings category.
• Now, open Security.

Aim the mouse-arrow at the question mark symbol — it will highlight the last IP address of your phone registered.

If it’s different from your own IP — bingo! Now, tracking down your gizmo will be easier. However, you won’t be able to find it all by yourself. You will need to contact authorities and file a report, so they, in turn, can request the physical location of the suspected IP address.

To avoid all these problems, you can take preventive measures. Apps like Find My Device, Cerberus, CrookCatcher, McAfee Mobile Security, Anti-Theft Alarm, Where’s My Droid can help you with that.

And of course, common sense and diligence are the best anti-theft insurance. Also, do not neglect backing up your valuable data with cloud storage.

With this simple trick, you can try and find the stolen device. Provided you’ve ever used Dropbox. What’s your best tip on preventing phone theft? Let us know in the comments!