Hmmmmmm........
This story has non-tech me wondering if Verizon is giving me the straight scoop on my protection and if I understand what they're telling me correctly.
According to the fella behind the counter at the local Verizon strip mall location, if my phone were to go missing or be damaged beyond repair, they'd give me a new one and that new one would have everything on it the old one had. Pics, apps, contacts, etc.
Of course, I pay for this extra service, but what da heck, that's what ya do when you're a geezer out of touch with most of today's technology.
I do know that everything that happens on my phone also shows up on my Ipad, so I'm guessing the promised automatic backup is working. Whatdaya think?
He is probably telling the truth. If you consider what could/should be backed up...
You have:
1. Your Contacts
2. Your apps you installed
3. Your pictures and videos
4. Anyother files you might somehow save to your phone
5. Data related to the applications you installed
6. Text message history/ chat history
So, My contacts are synced with Google, my apps can all be re-downloaded but I would lose whatever preferences or settings I had set local to my phone, my pictures and videos I do not sync because I don't want to pay for cloud storage, my random files I download onto my phone I wouldn't miss if they did go missing, and I would lose my text message history, meaning I wouldn't be able to search old messages I sent or received.
Of all the risks associated with that list, losing my contacts would be the biggest pain. Losing my pictures would be more of an emotional loss(But I back them up monthly as it is so I wouldn't lost much), having to reset all my apps and re-download those would be an inconvenience, but that is just lost time as opposed to physically losing anything.
If you have an iPhone with iCloud and syncing is on, then actually losing the phone wouldn't be a huge deal, since the cost of it is covered. I believe that since I pay my bill with a specific credit card that offers phone protection I would be able to file a claim and get some of my phone's cost reimbursed.
I am going to double check I am still paying with the correct credit card that offers that fringe benefit. Then, the only inconvenience to me would be waiting for the claim to process, waiting for a new phone to arrive and maybe a few lost pictures.
Edit to add:
If your phone does not have any lock protection, it would be an entirely different story. The risk is now much greater, depending on if you have passwords saved for auto-login from the phone, if you have credit card information stored that is easily accessible ie ApplePay or GooglePay. Your personal safety could be at risk depending on what data the perp in possession of the phone could access. They would be able to pull up search history, map history, chat history etc.