A music festival should be one of the the last places you’d want your phone to be stolen at.
Whether you are documenting your favorite set or searching to reunite with your group, a phone is a vital necessity to your festival experience.
However, this past weekend at Coachella Music Festival, over 100 phones were discovered stolen. These cases usually never end up with a happy ending, but Sunday night, festival-goers utilized the Find My IPhone app to track their stolen phones to a man – only to find out he was carrying over 100 IPhones in his backpack.
The police and attendees traced the phone to Reinaldo De Jesus Henao and immediately arrested him. Thankfully, all the phones were retracted from the 36 year old and Coachella is in the process of getting the phones back to their rightful owners. According to many festival attendees, majority of the phones were stolen from one’s bag or pocket. A The robbed phones were revoked from the man can be found on the Coachella lost and found page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4IVCGlvG9k
Although, Apple has recently taken more preventative measures by allowing your IPhone to automatically take pictures and videos of the thief and detect their fingerprint through the touch sensor that doesn’t mean all of us are protected.
So how can you help prevent yourself from being the victim of opportunistic pit-pockets? Here’s just a few tips for making sure you don’t lose your cell!
1. GPS Apps
GPS apps like Find My iPhone or Zenly can help you keep an eye on your phone’s whereabouts. Zenly is dual purpose in that it can keep you in touch with your festival crew by sharing their GPS coordinates with you so you can always ensure that you’re able to meet-up before the big show. With in-app messaging, Zenly helps you keep tabs on your friends at times when getting bars on your cell is damn near impossible.
Add each of your friends within the app so you never get lost and can keep an extra eye on your device.
2. Festival Utility Belts
Perhaps the greatest invention in the history of festivals (!!!) the utility belt helps you carry all of your important items while still being hands free. Instead of hauling around a backpack that can easily become prey to the truly inconspicuous pick-pocketer, utility belts sit at your hip with button or zipper closures that require the most daring pick-pocket to gain access too.
And they’re not just for ladies!
(via Etsy)
3. Keep it Close
Yes, holding your phone in your hand the entire time is not optimal, but that’s basically what we do everyday anyway, right? If you get a hand cramp from holding onto your massive phablet all day, consider purchasing a cheap and handy Pop Socket which helps you get a grip to take those pictures and videos you love with just one hand.
If you’re headed to a festival soon, be conscious not to slip your phone into your open pocket or lightweight backpack. When going through a crowd, those pushes and shoves could be a much more then some friendly grab-ass!
Keep yourself – and your stuff – protected!
H/T: Complex