You may simply remotely track, lock, and erase the data of a lost or stolen phone with Find My Device. Your phone’s remaining battery life and the Wi-Fi network it is linked to are also visible. Although there are numerous ways to locate a misplaced Android phone, Find My Device is the simplest method and is pre-activated on all Android phones.
A collection of tools meant to shield your phone from harmful content, Find My Device is a part of Google Play Protect and the larger Play Services. While the Verify Apps function has been there for a while, Google is now making the procedure much more visible to users by utilizing its machine learning expertise to scan and verify the apps that are currently loaded on your phone.
What you need to know about Find My Device and how to activate it on your phone is provided below.
Will My Phone Work to Find My Device?
It’s crucial to understand whether your phone is compatible with Find My Device before we demonstrate how to install and set it up. You can install Find My Device if your device is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or higher.
This means that approximately 2.5 billion active Android devices worldwide, or over 99% of all Android smartphones, are eligible to install Find My Device.
On the majority of modern phones, Find My Device should be pre-installed, but you may also manually download it from the Play Store. We’ll summarise it for you here:
- From your home screen or app drawer, launch Play Store.
- Do a Find My Device search.
- An install can be chosen by tapping the three dots next to the top search result.
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How to Get Started with Find My Device
You must use your Google account to log into Find My Device after installation. You will see a drop-down menu from which you can choose the account you want to link to the phone if you have multiple accounts signed in on your phone.
- From your home screen or app drawer, launch Find Device.
- Choose the Google account that you want to use to access the service.
- Select “Continue as” by clicking.
- Enter the password for your Google account.
- Click Sign in.
- Give the service access to your location.
How to See if Your Phone Is Discoverable with Find My Device
Your current position, the brand and model of your phone, and two options—Play Sound and Enable Lock & Erase—will all be displayed on a map once you’ve signed in to Find My Device. You can start using the Lock and Erase features by selecting the latter option.
You can choose a specific phone from the list at the top of the screen if you have signed into more than one phone.
- From your home screen or app drawer, launch Find My Device.
- From the list of available devices at the top of the screen, choose your phone.
- Check to see if your phone is trackable.
How to Locate Your Phone Over the Internet
The location services are probably off if you can’t find your phone or if it claims the device is unavailable. So that Find My Device can track your phone, location services should be turned on right away.
- From the app drawer or home screen, access Settings.
- Select Location.
- Turn on location services by toggle.
Through the Find My Device website, you can remotely find your phone if you’ve misplaced it. The Google account that was used to set up Find My Device must first be signed in. The tracking service should be able to locate your phone after a brief period of time. To find your phone, you can also perform a Google search for “find my phone.”
- Visit the Find My Device Page.
- Go to Your Google Account and Log In.
- Verify that Your Device Can Be Seen.
How to Ring Your Phone with Find My Device
The best thing about Find My Device is how simple it is to use. Just go to the website or sign in from another phone if you need to find your phone. The Play Sound option, which plays a loud tone on your phone continuously for five minutes even if the ringer is off, is available when you sign in to Find My Device and locate your device. You can press the power button on your phone to turn it off once you’ve located it.
- Use Find My Device to find your phone.
- Click “Play Sound.”
- Your gadget will begin to ring. To turn off the sound, press the power button.
How to Lock Your Phone with Find My Device
You can also set a new password to unlock the phone using the Lock option. To make it simple for anyone who finds your phone to contact you, you can also add a button to call you back and show a message above the lock screen.
- Use Find My Device to find your phone.
- Touch Lock.
- Tap Lock after entering a message and phone number to show on the lock screen.
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How to Erase Your Lost Phone’s Data Remotely
The nuclear option of remotely wiping the data is available if you’re certain you won’t see your phone again. All of the data on your phone is erased when you choose Erase. The service also purges data from an attached SD card, albeit depending on the device’s maker and Android version, it might not be able to do so. Your phone will start the reset procedure as soon as it connects to the internet, even if it is off when you submit the Erase order.
- Use Find My Device to find your phone.
- Press Erase.
- Clicking the Erase button will confirm the erasure of the data.
The only tool you’ll need to locate your lost phone is Find My Device. The nicest aspect is that it is pre-installed when you get it, and you don’t need to do much with it after you set it up. Having a service like this is helpful, but you should also remember to write down the IMEI and serial numbers of your phone. You can never be too careful, and if your phone is lost or stolen, you can de-register it from cellular networks using the IMEI number.