Misplaced Phone? How To Find An Android Phone

Have a misplaced phone? Whether it’s yours or one of your kids, here’s how to find your missing android phone.

 

Have you misplaced lost your phone before?  Has your child misplaced his or hers?

It’s a frustrating and nerve-wracking time.

My 13-year-old son has been carrying a phone with him intermittently for the past 6 months.

Recently, I was away for a week on a trip. 

When my family picked me up at the airport we went straight to the shopping mall…it was only a few days before Christmas.  

Two days later, I realized my son did not have his phone.  When I asked him where it was, he said somewhere in the house.

We knew that the battery was dead and calling it would do us no good.

Where is My Son’s Phone?

I became nervous, thinking of all of those stores we had shopped in at the mall earlier in the week.

The first thing I did was look up his last phone location on my free Life360 app.  It showed the mall we had shopped at days before.

Then I turned to Google’s free service, FindMyPhone.  It too showed that the misplaced phone was last seen at the mall.

You can look up your phone’s locations throughout a day – any day of the year, as long as your location setting is on.

My son assured me that he did leave the phone at the mall.  His battery was dying so he turned it off while he was there.

Nonetheless, he didn’t know where it was in the house.

As we continued our conversation about what we were doing that night and the fact that he left the mall with his phone in his pocket, we came to the realization that it must be in the car.

Once my husband came home from work, we searched for it and found his phone.  Phew!

When I first saw the phone’s last location at the mall, I was sure that was where it was.

But according to my son, his phone wasn’t there.  

What FindMyPhone helped us with was giving us a starting point at which to recollect back.  It jogged my son’s memory and started the discussion as to where to find it.

Sometimes days go by so fast, it’s hard to remember what you did yesterday let alone a couple of days before!

How to Find a Misplaced Phone

BEFORE you can find a misplaced or lost phone you need to ensure the location is turned on in the settings on your phone.

 Turn on location services on your phone. 

To do this with the latest Android version:

1.  Go to Settings on your phone.

2.  Choose Biometrics and Security.

3.  Under the Security section, look for Location and turn it on.

4.  You’re all set.  Note, if you want to improve the location accuracy of your phone, you should keep WiFi turned on at all times.

Find It

If youu end up with a misplaced phone in the family…

1.)  Log into another phone or PC with the google account used for the misplaced phone.

2.)  Go to Google.com and search for find my phone.  

3.)  Click on the Find Your Phone Google Account link.

4.)  Select the misplaced phone or tablet.

5.)  Select Ring the Phone if you think the misplaced phone is nearby (and has battery power.)  Even if the phone volume is turned down, you can still hear it ring.

6.)  And/or choose Locate phone to see a map of where the phone currently is or was accessed last. 

Again, this only works if Location is turned to On. 

Google will give you information regarding the last time the phone connected to the Internet and what the current WiFi network it’s on.

If you suspect the phone is stolen, you also have these options:

o Secure Device – allows you to lock the phone and put a message and phone number to call you if found.

o Erase Device – so if someone stole your phone or found it, they can’t access your personal information.

I remember many years ago leaving my phone behind at a fast-food restaurant while traveling. 

When I went back, it was gone.  Later I saw calls on my mobile phone bill from my stolen phone. 

Someone found it and was using it.  But when I called, they didn’t answer it.

Today, it’s easier to trace your phone and lock down access if someone finds it. 

Google’s Find My Phone helps give you peace of mind and a little more “sense of control” when you have a misplaced phone.

And you don’t need to lose your phone use Find My Phone.  Try it today to get familiar with it.  It’s a handy tool.

Oh yeah, and it gets better. 

You can also use the Find my phone tool to find any device you have a google account on…like your tablets and laptops too!