2024 ended with a bang for me, literally… On the last morning of the year, I dropped my personal phone and broke the screen! I could hardly see the hairline damage. But I could see its possessed behavior! As I tried to enter my pin, it began entering digits on its own. I tried to shut it down…it did not like that one at all! Subsequently, the phone locked me, and itself out, completely. It was a very stressful day. But, interestingly and thankfully, there was a calmness of thoughts that guided me for two weeks until I resolved the problem.
Why we still call these devices phones, is beyond me. They are mini computers. Making phone calls is only one of the many functions, and not even the most important one anymore! We don’t even think of the amount of information we store on these small devices/computers. In recent months I felt very aware of my dependence on my phone. I should have realized then that it was a hint to remedy the situation and safeguard my information. But, I didn’t.
I know that I was shook up with the loss of my phone. But I accepted the fact that I needed to be patient with fixing it. This happened on Tuesday, the day of New Year’s Eve, and Wednesday was a holiday. So, nothing was going to be done then.
I was glad that I had my business phone. I quickly managed to access a few close friends and notify them of the situation. In the meantime, I made an appointment with the Apple store for that Friday. While on the call, the Apple agent told me that they will charge $500+ to just fix the phone! Yikes!
On Friday morning, I went to my service provider and they were unable to do anything. I went to the Apple store that afternoon for my appointment. Four different people took a look at my phone and none offered any help. I had wasted over an hour of my time to hear that they couldn’t save my data. They gave me the names of two vendors that could possibly restore that data.
I called one of these companies. They told me that their data restoration charges started from $700 and could go up to $3900! And, based on what I shared with them about my phone, my charges were most likely going to be at the higher end. I immediately crossed them off of my list.
I was so grateful that I had pre-scheduled engagements with friends for the first week of the year. It was a great relief to put this “device situation” aside for a few hours and enjoy the company of my friends.
Following further discussions with my service provider I realized that I should either take a hammer to this phone so no one could possibly take my data, or have the screen replaced by a third-party vendor. I chose the latter. Once the screen was replaced, I needed to have it unlocked.
But, wait! I needed to have the IMEI or the serial number of this locked phone for Apple to unlock it! I did not have the packaging with me any longer. So, where could I find this information? I went to my iTune account on my laptop and looked for any information I could find. I got as far as seeing a list of four devices that iTune was recognizing as mine. But there were no options to display properties of any of these devices. By accident, I hovered over one of the listings and saw a hover state of 8 lines of text with vital information such as IMEI and Serial numbers. Seriously? Each of these numbers was over 15 digits long. This is not the kind of information that should be presented to a user on a hover state!!! I get so frustrated by bad user experience designs. But, I have to tell you…I had never been happier with a bad design till that day!
Armed with this vital information, I called Apple for help to unlock my phone and save the data! Nope! Can’t be done! The only way Apple could unlock the phone was if I will allow them to erase the data on the phone! So, after 2.5 hours on a call with a very nice and patient Apple agent, my phone was completely erased, and unlocked!
If I had chosen to store all of my data on iCloud, I wouldn’t have lost it. But, I had chosen not to when I got this phone 6 years ago, and I paid for it, dearly! I am still not on iCloud. I now back up all the contact information in my laptop, and on paper! Also, the cheaper replacement of the screen is not at Apple quality. I can live with that, for a 6-year-old phone.
There were a lot of lessons in this experience for me. That’s why I decided to share it with you. I felt like the first two weeks of this year I spent in a haze, trying to maintain contact with key individuals in my life, as well as figuring out what I needed to do next. I was happy that I realized my own sanity was worth a lot more than the data I lost. I came to accept the facts and look for the right solutions for me.
It is what it is!
SEDA CREATIONS 