Want To Find Your Android Phone? Just Google It

HardOCP News · Apr 16, 2015

Am I the only person that didn't know you could do this?

Type “find my phone” into Google, and provided you’re logged into your browser with the same Google account as your phone, you’ll instantly get a map of its location, along with the option to ring it.

Carouselambra · Apr 16, 2015

I'm pretty sure that iOS and Windows can do this as well. Maybe not be from google's homepage but I can log into my microsoft account and ring, lock or wipe my windows phone..

CreepyUncleGoogle · Apr 16, 2015

Yup, you know, just keeping track of where your phone is at all times...for your own good.

arkamw · Apr 16, 2015

Worked perfectly - even ringing the phone. Could be kind of useful I guess.

carnageX · Apr 16, 2015

This has been around for at least a year now

. Doesn't do much good for me though since I usually have my GPS turned completely off.

jojo69 · Apr 16, 2015

carnageX said:
I usually have my GPS turned completely off.

you think

amddragonpc · Apr 16, 2015

Heh, it works, especially the part where it says when you ring the phone, it will ring it at FULL VOLUME. I just scared the crap out of a bunch of people in our programming department.

amddragonpc · Apr 16, 2015

carnageX said:
This has been around for at least a year now . Doesn't do much good for me though since I usually have my GPS turned completely off.

My GPS is turned off too. It turns it on so it can locate it.

rat · Apr 16, 2015

carnageX said:
This has been around for at least a year now . Doesn't do much good for me though since I usually have my GPS turned completely off.

Yeah, anyone could access it through Android Device Manager.

https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

carnageX · Apr 16, 2015

amddragonpc said:
My GPS is turned off too. It turns it on so it can locate it.

Just tested it - not if you have location completely turned off like I usually do. If I switch it to "Battery Saving" or higher then it works - but completely off doesn't turn it on (at least for me it didn't).

silk186 · Apr 16, 2015

awsome, I just tried it out and it works great

Kenworth · Apr 16, 2015

Remote ring will be the best thing to happen to my wife's phone. I still don't get how she randomly leaves it around the house. Who leaves a phone in the pantry?!

Zarathustra[H] · Apr 16, 2015

carnageX said:
This has been around for at least a year now . Doesn't do much good for me though since I usually have my GPS turned completely off.

If GPS is off, it probably falls back on Wifi location tracking. If Wifi is turned off, it probably falls back on cell tower triangulation.

If cell tower connections are off, well, then it can't contact the phone anyway, so the issue is moot.

Zarathustra[H] · Apr 16, 2015

Kenworth said:
Remote ring will be the best thing to happen to my wife's phone. I still don't get how she randomly leaves it around the house. Who leaves a phone in the pantry?!

I don't know your wife's fashion preferences, but one thing I ahve noticed over the years is that women's clothing tends to be much lighter in the "pockets" department than what we men get, and when they do have pockets, they are often tight, and difficult to squeeze a phone into and get it out.

I would imagine that without a convenient and large pocket always available, the chance of misplacing ones phone increases

wra18th · Apr 16, 2015

I tried it and it found all three android phones and My Samsung tablet. I rang my tablet even though it's WiFi only. Interesting.

p.i.m.p · Apr 16, 2015

Kenworth said:
Remote ring will be the best thing to happen to my wife's phone. I still don't get how she randomly leaves it around the house. Who leaves a phone in the pantry?!

obviously your wife

wra18th · Apr 16, 2015

Zarathustra[H];1041550880 said:
If GPS is off, it probably falls back on Wifi location tracking. If Wifi is turned off, it probably falls back on cell tower triangulation.

If cell tower connections are off, well, then it can't contact the phone anyway, so the issue is moot.

I have the GPS turned off on all my devices until needed. That makes the accuracy about 30 meters.

Kenworth · Apr 16, 2015

Zarathustra[H];1041550884 said:
I don't know your wife's fashion preferences, but one thing I ahve noticed over the years is that women's clothing tends to be much lighter in the "pockets" department than what we men get, and when they do have pockets, they are often tight, and difficult to squeeze a phone into and get it out.

I would imagine that without a convenient and large pocket always available, the chance of misplacing ones phone increases

Indeed. Which brings me to a second rant due to her leaving her phone off at work and leaves it at home when we go out for reasons you describe. "You are the only person who calls me" makes me think a flip phone might be money better spent. I digress.

carnageX · Apr 16, 2015

Zarathustra[H];1041550880 said:
If GPS is off, it probably falls back on Wifi location tracking. If Wifi is turned off, it probably falls back on cell tower triangulation.

If cell tower connections are off, well, then it can't contact the phone anyway, so the issue is moot.

You can set the mode of GPS in Android.

High Accuracy: GPS/Wifi/Mobile positioning
Battery Saving: Wifi/Mobile positioning
Device Only: GPS only
Off: Location is completely off and not reported, while data/wifi/cell can still be on and working

If the Location is set to "Off" then ADM can't contact it at all because the location isn't being reported back.

Ashbringer · Apr 16, 2015

I use Google's Android Device Manager for tracking the device. It's pretty cool.

Riccochet · Apr 16, 2015

that's pretty slick

zEcToR45 · Apr 16, 2015

I didn't know you could do this either. Very handy though.

Stoly · Apr 16, 2015

doesn't work for me. It just posts results from the articles.

carnageX · Apr 16, 2015

Stoly said:
doesn't work for me. It just posts results from the articles.

Use the link techrat posted:

https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

Can also access it from your account settings when logged in.

bloodhawke83 · Apr 16, 2015

I normally got location turned off, but it's a cool feature.

Ur_Mom · Apr 16, 2015

Would like to be able to add my son's phone... That way I can track it and ring it LOUD when he doesn't answer!

nutzo · Apr 16, 2015

I didn't realize my phone was in the middle of the street behind my house instead of sitting on my desk next to me.

Ur_Mom · Apr 16, 2015

Just call the NSA, they know where it's at!

rat · Apr 16, 2015

Ur_Mom said:
Would like to be able to add my son's phone... That way I can track it and ring it LOUD when he doesn't answer!

Cerberus. Lock the phone remotely if he doesn't pick up when you call.

HAF72 · Apr 16, 2015

Wow, that's awesome. Didn't know about that before. / fail

DocSavage · Apr 16, 2015

nutzo said:
I didn't realize my phone was in the middle of the street behind my house instead of sitting on my desk next to me.

Well then it's a good thing you checked!

SavageThrash · Apr 16, 2015

Had this for a few years on my blackberry, even has options to display a message on the lock screen.

Ur_Mom · Apr 16, 2015

techrat said:
Cerberus. Lock the phone remotely if he doesn't pick up when you call.

Thanks! That's exactly what I'm looking for. He gets his privacy, but it comes with responsibility.

farscapesg1 · Apr 16, 2015

Definitely comes in handy. I've used it a couple times in the past since my kids are always misplacing their tablets. Log in with the account they are tied to, pick the device and tell it to ring.. only to find the tablet lying under the couch or in a pile of dirty clothes for some reason

Zarathustra[H] · Apr 16, 2015

So, will this work with any mobile device signed into a google account, or does it have to be Android?

Zarathustra[H] · Apr 16, 2015

Zarathustra[H];1041551677 said:
So, will this work with any mobile device signed into a google account, or does it have to be Android?

To clarify, I'm on my Droid Turbo and it works great, but the losers of devices in my household are on "other" platforms.

Spidey329 · Apr 16, 2015

I've used this. Been a feature for awhile. And yes, it allowed me to recover my lost phone.

ElementBilly · Apr 16, 2015

Just tried it, it went to googles step 2 verification (a text to my phone) guess id be out of luck if I really needed it.

carnageX · Apr 16, 2015

Zarathustra[H];1041551677 said:
So, will this work with any mobile device signed into a google account, or does it have to be Android?

Has to be Android AFAIK because it accesses the Android Device Manager service that runs in the background on the phone.

You can enable/disable it under: Settings -> Security -> Device Administrators -> Check/uncheck Android Device Manager

carnageX · Apr 16, 2015

Bryce777 said:
Just tried it, it went to googles step 2 verification (a text to my phone) guess id be out of luck if I really needed it.

You can setup an alternate phone # or PIN for 2-step I believe.

Want To Find Your Android Phone? Just Google It

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