Tech Tips

How Can I Find My Phone?

Solutions to a common problem

by Jill Robbins. Ph.D.

The icon for the "Find My" App

By Jill Robbins, Founder, Boomer Geek

Many of us have had the experience of losing a device like a phone, smart watch, or an electronic tablet and wishing there was an easy way to locate it. Two major brands of such equipment offer a solution – the finding function. Both of these methods rely on your having your Apple or Google account username and password available. Be sure you have a record of these in an offline location.

Usually, if you have a friend nearby with a phone, you can simply call it – assuming it is turned on. But if it is not responding to a call, here is how to find it.

Apple (iOS) Devices

For an iPhone, iPad, or other Apple devices like laptops, the “Find My” app is the answer. To begin, the device settings must allow using this function.

Find the icon that looks like a gear. That is the Settings app
Tap the gear to open Settings
Tap on your name to go to the next menu. Scroll down to find a list of applications.
Choose the "Find My" item on the list, as shown above, a green dot with a small blue circle. Choose Find My iPhone, then turn on Find My iPhone by sliding the switch so it shows a green background.To see your phone even if it is turned off, slide the other switches to green.

Now, when you have misplaced the device, you can log into your Apple account on another device – this can be an iPad or a computer (see below for Apple Watch) – it can be someone else’s computer or phone if you do not have one) and locate it.

Use a browser (Edge, Chrome or Firefox app) to go to iCloud.com/find
Log in with your Apple account
A screen will open that says “All Devices”
Choose the missing device.
The next screen will show the options to Play a Sound, Report it lost, Erase, or Remove.
Choose Play a Sound and listen for the beeping. If you don’t hear the beeping immediately, wait a little bit as sometimes it takes a minute or two to respond.
If you see the location is not near you, go to the place on the map. Note that the location is shown from a birds-eye view, so it may look like the device is in your condo, but it could be on another floor. If the device is not nearby, and you are on a mobile device, you will see the option to get directions to the lost device. The screen will show you how far away it is.
When you are nearer the device, you can try playing the sound again or calling the device if it is turned on.

Using an Apple watch to find your phone

If you have an Apple Watch, you can push on the crown (the rotating part on the right side) to open the “Find Devices” app.

Push on the crown to open the app menu.
Choose “Find Devices”
Choose the lost device name
A map appears showing the location.
Below the map, two options appear: Play Sound or Directions
Choose Play Sound. If there is no sound nearby, choose Directions.

Now that you know how to find your iPhone or iPad, are you wondering if you can do something similar for your keys or other small objects that get lost frequently? We’ll have another article coming up on how to use AirTags to find those things.

Android Devices

Android devices use your Google account. When you have misplaced an android phone or tablet, you can log into your Google account on another device to find it. First, you must have turned on this function on the device.

Go to the Settings app
Choose “Security and Privacy”
Choose “Lost Device Protection”
Choose “Find my Mobile”
Slide the switches over beside “Allow this device to be found,” “Send last location,” and “Offline finding.”

Now, when you need to find it:

Sign in on a browser (like Chrome) with your Google account.
Go to android.com/find
The next screen will show you the location of the devices you have under the account.
The options available are Play Sound, Secure Device, or Factory Reset Device
If you cannot find the device by location or sound, you can use “Secure Device” to lock it. You can also set a custom message to show on the device so the person finding it can return it to you.
If you know the device was stolen, you can choose the factory reset option and delete it from your account. This will erase your data on the phone, but the SD card will still retain some data and may have photos stored there. It’s a good idea to change your account password for Google if your device has been stolen.

Now that you have learned about finding mobile devices, you may wonder if you can find other small devices using your Google account. You can with a GPS tracking device like iTag, Tile, and the like. You can attach them to keys, pet collars, earbud cases, purses, backpacks, or even a car. Stay tuned for that article to come in this column.

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