Support for LAist comes from
We Explain L.A.
Stay Connected

Share This

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts and Entertainment

Lose Your Cellphone at Coachella? Take a Number!

coachella-2012-iphone-app.jpg
Coachella's iPhone app. Useless if you use your iPhone, though! (iTunes)
Support your source for local news!
Today, put a dollar value on the trustworthy reporting you rely on all year long. The local news you read here every day is crafted for you, but right now, we need your help to keep it going. In these uncertain times, your support is even more important. We can't hold those in power accountable and uplift voices from the community without your partnership. Thank you.

Things can get crazy at Coachella: Not only do dead rap superstars get resurrected as holograms for a performance, but a helluva lot of people lose their cellphones. "A new study from mobile security company Lookout said there was a 37% spike in the number of people who were searching for a lost phone on the festival grounds and in nearby neighborhoods," reports the LA Times, adding what we would say, too: "What a surprise."

How they figured this out is probably more math than the average Coachella attendee wants to decipher:

A spokeswoman for Lookout said the increase was calculated based on phone locates from Lookout's users in the area surrounding the Coachella venue during last weekend's festival. The company mapped its anonymized data with Foursquare's API and compared the findings with the number of locates happening in the area when Coachella isn't in town.

Chances are if you lost your phone it's because you were jostled or absentminded (hmmm, we wonder why?) while hanging out in the hot hot heat with a few thousand of your closest strangers checking out a pretty broad array of bands. The odds are mighty you and your phone will unwillingly part ways.

Support for LAist comes from

Just look at the Tweets:

It's day one of Coachella weekend two, and since we know you want your phone handy to check in to Foursquare that you're at the portapotties, text your friends to say you'll meet them back at the hotel since you've just met a cute guy/girl, take photos of your favorite band (that turn out to be much smaller and blurrier when you check the morning after), and Tweet about how long the food lines are, there are a few ways to make sure you don't lose your phone. Stay sober, wear something with deep pockets, or perhaps pick up a snazzy neck strap.

Support for LAist comes from

...Or just have fun and, well, if you lose it, you lose it. Stuff happens.

Most Read