Lost & Found Index 2025: From a Steve Irwin toy to a cooked chook…
Written byLeft your bottom denture behind in an Uber? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Aussies temporarily parted ways with their belongings in hundreds and thousands of Uber rides in the past year, but with over 3.8 million using the ridesharing app Down Under…it could be worse!
From a Steve Irwin toy and an esky full of crabs, to teeth grills and a bag of live exotic fish – riders did not disappoint in the forgetfulness department. Now in its eighth year, the annual Uber Lost & Found Index gives us a glimpse into the most commonly misplaced and truly unique items abandoned in Ubers – and offers a genuinely bizarre look into daily Aussie life.
Everyday items like clothes, luggage and phones are naturally most likely to be left on the back seat. But the 2025 Lost & Found Hall of Fame also features a sword, $1,200 worth of meat raffle winnings, a suspiciously high number of belts, and a vibrator. Other unforgettable forgotten items include a bachelor’s handbag, Lamborghini keys, hair extensions and a portable CPAP machine.
If lost items had a weekly roster, Mondays would be for hats, Tuesdays and Fridays for jackets (happens to the best of us), Wednesdays for iPads (midweek brain fog, we get it), and Thursdays for Airpods. By the weekend, it’s all downhill as phones go walkabouts in droves on Saturdays and Sundays. We’re also most forgetful when in a rush at 8am or 7am, or when stumbling home from a big night at 2am.
The never-ending feud between Melbourne and Sydney is a staple of Aussie life – but when it comes to leaving things in Ubers, there is really no contest. Maybe all that sunshine’s gone to their heads, because Sydneysiders are taking the belt this year as Australia’s most forgetful city, with Melbourne coming in a close (and slightly smug) second. Congrats, we guess.
“Our Lost & Found Index offers a quintessentially Aussie look at life on the move. People misplace things for all sorts of reasons – maybe they’re in a rush, juggling too much, or just a bit distracted. Behind every lost item, there’s often a little story,” said Mathieu Maire, Director of Consumer Operations, Uber Australia and New Zealand. “Whether it’s your love letter or your lightsaber, we know how important it is to be reunited with your belongings. Our built-in tools make it easy to reconnect with your driver and retrieve your belongings with as little hassle as possible.”
Whether you’re a fighter who lost their Kung Fu belt, a clown who misplaced their nose, or one of the 54 travellers who lost their passports (hopefully on the way from, not to, the airport), reuniting with your lost items is easy with a few taps in the app.
Check out the full 2025 Uber Lost & Found Index below, which includes step-by-step instructions on how to get help retrieving lost items through the Uber app.
The 30 most *unique* lost items:
- Mini Steve Irwin toy
- $500 worth of live exotic fish
- Vibrator
- A cooked chicken
- Esky with crabs and fish
- Puppy
- Portable CPAP machine
- Bottom denture
- $1200 meat raffle prize
- Cat scratching post
- Massage table
- Sword
- Breathalyser
- Electric donut maker
- Kung Fu belt
- Rugby ball shaped cufflinks
- Love letter
- Lightsaber
- Breast pumpexecutor
- Hair extensions
- Jar of bee pollen (TikTok girlies…if you know, you know)
- Police documents
- Crochet peas
- Clown nose
- Green gremlin toy
- $400 worth of concert merch
- Bass guitar
- Christmas lights box with $1,500 cash inside
- Teeth grills
- And a suspicious amount of belts…
The 10 most commonly forgotten items:
- Clothing
- Backpacks / luggage
- Phones
- Jewelry
- Headphones
- Wallets / purses
- Keys
- Laptops
- Vapes
- Glasses
The 15 most “forgetful” cities:
- Sydney, NSW
- Melbourne, VIC
- Perth, WA
- Brisbane, QLD
- Adelaide, SA
- Gold Coast, QLD
- Canberra, ACT
- Newcastle, NSW
- Hobart, TAS
- Cairns, QLD
- Darwin, NT
- Sunshine Coast, QLD
- Geelong, VIC
- Wollongong, NSW
- Ballarat, VIC
How to retrieve lost items:
Thousands of items are left for a joyride in Ubers each day – but if you’ve lost something, you’re in luck. It’s easy to contact your driver to try to get it back, and the best way to retrieve a forgotten item is to call the driver directly. Just follow the instructions on this help page:
- Open the Uber app and tap “Activity” on the bottom icon menu.
- Select the trip on which you lost the item.
- Scroll down to “Find lost item” in the Help section, and then “Contact driver about a lost item.”
- Enter your phone number to call the driver.
- If your driver picks up and confirms that your item has been found, coordinate a mutually convenient time and place to meet for its return to you.
- If your driver doesn’t pick up, leave a detailed voicemail describing your item and the best way to contact you.
- And remember to be considerate, the driver’s schedule will be affected by taking time to return your item to you.
- Forgot your registered phone? Sign in to help.uber.com for support.