Losing your phone can be a stressing affair. Not only are smartphones becoming objects of luxury each day, but they also contain a lot of personal data that anyone wouldn’t want to lose.
If you have an Android, you might be in luck. There are numerous ways to track down your lost Android. From GPS tracking apps to baked in features in Android itself.
In this article, we will guide you through a step by step procedure on how to recover your lost/stolen android phone using ‘Find my Device’, an inbuilt Android feature.
Also read:Â What is Tor Browser? How does it work?
Using Find my DeviceÂ
Before we start locating your phone, we’ll need to ensure that the Find my Device app is enabled and configured on your phone.
Setting up Find my Device
Step 1:Â Go to Settings
Step 2:Â Tap Security and Lock Screen
Step 3:Â Tap Device Administrators
Step 4:Â Ensure that Find my Device app is listed as a Device Administrator
P.S If you can’t see the Find my Device app listed here, you might have to download it manually from the PlayStore.
That’s it. Ensure that the location on your phone is turned on and set to ‘high accuracy’.
Also read:Â 5 reasons why you should avoid using Public WiFi
Finding your phone using Find my Device
Now that you’ve set up the Find my Device app, you can find your phone from anywhere in the world using your Google account.
Step 1:Â Go to Android.com/find
Step 2: Log in to your Google Account.
Step 3:Â You’ll see a dashboard pop up. From there you have the following options
- Locate: Pinpoint your phone’s location on the map.
- Play Sound: You can ring your phone even if it’s on silent.
- Step Up Secure & Erase:Â This further divides into two options, Secure Device and Erase Device. As the name suggests, one locks your phone and shows owner information, and the later factory resets it.
For this method to work, your phone has to have location enabled and must be connected to a WiFi or mobile data connection. If you can’t locate your device, keep checking. It’ll update as soon as it connects to a network.
Also read: Why you shouldn’t leave your device’s Bluetooth switched on in public?