Find My Device
Here’s how you locate your Android phone at all times, even if you have no idea where it is. Ever misplaced your phone? Was it ever found when you did? If not, did it ever cross anyone’s mind that a malicious person may discover that phone, break into it, and then, well, you know the rest of the story.
The only thing that may come out of this situation favorably is if the person who found the phone gives it back to you. I’m not saying it won’t happen, but you should still make plans for it.
Enrolling your phone in Google’s Find My Device service is one of the first things you can do to address that. It is totally free, and you will definitely benefit from it.
The list of benefits from the feature is rather condensed but yet compelling. After adding your phone to Find My Device, you can:
● Send it a sound if you know it’s somewhere in the building but don’t know where.
● Sign out of Google and lock your device.
● Delete the device.
Once upon a time, you could also change a device’s password. However, new features such as biometrics make this impossible. Even if you don’t have that feature, the peace of mind that comes from performing a factory reset on a lost phone is worth the few seconds it takes to enable it. That’s correct; it’s extremely simple. Let me demonstrate.
What exactly is Find My Device, and how do you enable it on your Android phone?
This should work on devices running Android 8.0 and up, so follow these steps unless your phone is more than two years old.
1. Open settings
The first step is to launch the Settings app, which can be accessed by swiping down twice for the Notification Shade and tapping the gear icon, or by launching the Settings app from the App Drawer.
2. Open security
In the setting app, you will get an option of security or search “find my device” in setting. Click on that option.
3. Open find my device
You should see a Find My Device Option on the Security/Privacy page. Select that option.
4. Enable find my device
Tap the Use Find My Device ON/OFF slider until it is set to ON on the next page.
Open a web browser on your desktop or laptop and go to https://www.google.com/android/find once you’ve activated Find My Device. It will appear if you give the service some time to register your device. Whether you know where it is or not, once you see it displayed, consider yourself hooked to your phone.
When to use find my device feature
Everyone finds it challenging to respond to this question. We all occasionally misplace our phones, it’s a fact. But most of the time, you can find such phones rather fast since you’ve just lost them. However, once you’ve searched your house, automobile, and place of business, it might be time to visit the website mentioned above and take action.
I would strongly advise you to at least head to the website and encrypt your phone if you believe you might know where the phone is but are unable to access it right away. I would wipe the gadget without a second thought if you had reason to believe it was stolen. Don’t wait; that last point is crucial. even if you delete it then discover it, whenever you log back into your Google account, part of your data will automatically be recovered (although not all of it).
The Find My Device function ought to be regarded as essential. Make sure your Android phone is signed into the service so that you can easily wipe it if it is ever lost or stolen.