Smartphones have been an integral part of our life and we tend to take them everywhere. We cannot live without them and indeed after paying some fortune (for flagships) we become over cautious about it, sometimes tending to forget. The worst that can happen is theft. In this post I will be giving insight into Google's way of finding your phone or rather the first step to follow if you lost your phone.
On selecting the device, you get an option to either Ring the phone or locate it. Now, the location can be obtained only if the location in the device has been enabled. If not, and only mobile data or wifi is enabled then the Ring option can be selected.
The Android Manager in the phone will ring thereby alerting the one who has it.
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| Find your phone with Google Account |
However, do remember that the device must have location and mobile data or WiFi enabled otherwise its gone forever or hope for some good Samaritan to return your device.
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| Requirements |
To get started, head on to the browser and log in to your Google account. The account must be the same as in the lost phone.
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| It displays the last time device was synced |
After that in the search bar type - " Find my phone "
The search results will show your last synced device and all devices associated with your Google account.
Click on Find your Phone link.
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| The active devices with the Google account |
On clicking the link, you can select your device that has been lost. It also shows the current device and time of last sync.
On selecting the device, you get an option to either Ring the phone or locate it. Now, the location can be obtained only if the location in the device has been enabled. If not, and only mobile data or wifi is enabled then the Ring option can be selected.
The Android Manager in the phone will ring thereby alerting the one who has it.
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| Option to lock the phone |
You can easily lock your phone thereby preventing others to peep into your device. This will prevent anyone from accessing your files, contacts and hence keeps the phone safe from being misused.
You can set a password if your phone is not password protected as well as enable a message to be displayed on your screen and add a number to call.
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| Option to erase the contents of the lost phone |
In case of theft, the best option is to log out of your Google account and erase everything from the lost phone. The chances of getting your phone back after theft is almost meagre and hence, an option to erase everything or factory reset is available.
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| Location of the lost phone |
If the location is enabled, then with the help of this method, the location of the lost phone can be obtained. It shows the exact location as well as the current status of the device. It shows the WiFi network, battery percentage and so on. From here too you can Ring your phone, lock it as well as factory reset the device.
This is the first thing to do when you lose your phone. If you are still not able to track your phone or because of theft your phone has been switched off then going to the nearest police station will be of help. Also do contact your service provider to disable the SIM network which will make the device unable to be used by the thief or any other individual.
I hope this helps and do share this post for others to know about this method.