Was Your Android Device Lost Or Stolen? Protect And Find It With These Steps.

Find my device: homework

There is a sinking feeling that comes the moment you realize your Android phone is missing. Our phones are personal and hold our deepest secrets and personal information, so locating my device can be a nerve-racking task.

Add to that the fact that losing a phone is an expensive experience , and that feeling is compounded if you have to find my device.

If you find yourself frantically searching your pockets, backpack, purse, or fanny pack for a lost phone, don’t panic! Locating my equipment can be a simple thing.

Every Android phone comes with built-in tools that make it possible to protect your information and find my lost device with ease. There are a few steps you need to take to prepare yourself for success in the event that your cell phone goes missing, even if you left it at home to find my device.

Was your Android device lost or stolen? Protect and find it with these steps. — Was your Android device lost or stolen? Follow these steps to protect and find it

Locate My Device: A Necessary Time Investment

It doesn’t take long to work your way through a few different configuration panels and make sure the right switches are on or you’re signed in to the right services to find my device. You will thank yourself in the future for taking just five minutes to do the following.

Create a secure lock screen.
Enable password and fingerprint authentication.
Do not use facial recognition on your Android device.

On most Android devices, the technology used for facial recognition can easily be fooled by something as simple as a photo of your face. Google’s Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are the exceptions, as they use a more reliable system, similar to Apple’s Face ID.

Locate my team: reinforce your security

Next, create your passcode and set up fingerprint authentication in the Settings app under the Security section.

Sure, it can be annoying that you need to register a fingerprint or enter a PIN code every time you want to use your phone, but the idea of someone having access to your photos, banking applications, email and the rest of your personal information it’s terrifying. That’s why you should do this to find my device

It’s worth taking this extra step to unlock your phone if you consider the potential impact of exposing your personal information to a stranger.

Passwords are essential to protect your cell phone.

Find my device with Find My Device

Set up Google’s Find My Device service, regardless of who makes your phone. Make sure Find My Google Device is turned on. These are necessary tasks to find my device. Whenever you sign in to an Android phone with a Google account, Find My Device is automatically activated.

Find My Device is free . It is the application that you should use in case your cell phone is lost to track it, lock it and erase it remotely. In case you fail in the task of finding my device.

You need to make sure that Find My Device is enabled on your Android phone . To do this I opened the Settings application and going to Security and location > Find my device. Alternatively, if your device doesn’t have a Security & Location option, you should go to Google > Security > Find My Device. Find My Device must be turned on. If it isn’t, slide the switch to the on position.

In the end, you’ll need to check that the ability to remotely protect and wipe your device is turned on by going here on your computer, selecting your phone, and clicking Set up secure and wipe. A push alert message will be sent to your phone; touch it to finish the setup process.

Find my Samsung Galaxy device

Do you have a Samsung phone? There are two different services that you should check. If you’ve signed in to your Samsung account on a Galaxy phone, you should be good to go. However, it is a good idea to double check.

Samsung offers a Find My Mobile service to help Galaxy phone owners track down their lost phones.

The service is separate from Google’s Find My Device. You also have to configure it. Not only does it give you a backup service that you can use to track down a lost phone, but it also gives you tools that Find My Device doesn’t have.

With Samsung’s service, you can, for example, force remote backups or see if someone has changed your SIM card. You will need to use your Samsung account to set up Find My Mobile.

You can find your cell phone through a computer and the web

Find my Samsung device with this alternative

However, recently Samsung announced a new service called SmartThings Find. The new feature works like Apple’s Find My. Crowdsources the location of a lost phone, even if it’s offline, but tells nearby Galaxy devices to search for its Bluetooth signal and report its location if found. All of which is done anonymously .

There’s nothing wrong with using Google’s offering , plus Samsung’s two device tracking services.

Enable Find My Mobile on your Galaxy phone in the Settings app. Next, you need to go to Biometrics & Security > Find My Mobile.

Find My Mobile should already be active if you signed in to your Samsung account during the initial setup. If not, take a few seconds to log in and enable Find My Mobile.

Locate my device with SmartThings Find

For SmartThings Find, you’ll need to have a Galaxy device running Android 8 or newer. You should go to the Galaxy Store app and update it right away. Once you do, the main page of the SmartThings app has a map that can show you the last location of, for example, your Galaxy Buds, along with other Samsung devices that are linked to your account.

If that account isn’t already set up, which will help you find my computer , there’s a SmartThings Find card that you’ll need to tap to complete the setup process. Once you do that, you’ll see a map with the location of all your Find My enabled devices.

Once it’s on, you can see the location of your device(s) by opening the SmartThings app and selecting SmartThings Find .

Find my Samsung device in a smart way

Of course, if you lose your phone, you’ll have to use another device to access the SmartThings app and locate my device.

You can sign in to the app on a friend’s or relative’s device , or use another of your devices to find them through the app to find my device.

When viewing the location of the missing phone, there’s a More Options button that will take you to Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, where you can then use its controls to lock your device, remotely back up or even wipe it.

Locate my lost or stolen Android device

Use Google’s Find My Device service to locate my device. Play a sound, lock your phone, or erase it using the Find My Device site.

Using the built-in Android service requires you to remember one thing: android.com/find . That website is where you will go in the unfortunate event that you lose your phone. You need to make sure that you sign in to the same Google account that is linked to your Android phone.

Not near a computer to locate my team? You can use another Android device and the Find My Device app, which you’ll need to download separately from the Play Store to find my device.

Right after you sign in to the site or app, Google will try to locate your phone. An alert will be sent to your phone to tell whoever has it that it is being tracked. You must use the menu on the left side of the Find My Device site to play a sound . Lock your device or wipe your device completely.

Find my device and lock or wipe it

If you choose Secure device, your phone will be locked, a message of your choice will be displayed on the lock screen, and you will be signed out of your Google account. You can still locate the phone after it is locked.

If you use Google Pay for mobile payments , locking your phone will prevent someone from using it to make a purchase. If you use the Wipe Device feature, you will no longer be able to track the phone. Reserve this feature as a last resort to find my device.

If the criminal turns off your phone , you won’t be able to find it until the thief turns it back on and has a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Google will send you an email once it locates your device.

Once you find your phone, you’ll need to enter your PIN or password to gain access. That should also remove the message from the lock screen. You’ll also need to sign in to your Google account. You must do this to verify if you are really accessing the phone; you don’t need to turn anything off in the Find My Device app.

Enabling a password to enter the cell phone is a step that users often forget.

Locate my device: what to do if you have a Samsung phone

Samsung Galaxy device owners have the advantage of using the respective services of Google or Samsung to locate a lost device, but it is recommended to use the Samsung offer. As you will see below, the additional capabilities are invaluable.

To track a lost device with Samsung service, you need to visit this site . There is no companion app , so you’ll need to use a mobile browser on another phone or computer to find my device.

Sign in with your Samsung account, then select your lost device on the left side of the screen . A map will appear where your phone is located and a menu of options will appear on the right side of the screen.

Start with this step: Phone lock, which will display a custom message on the lock screen , suspend your Samsung Pay cards and prevent the phone from turning off.

Find my device by extending your battery life

Then you must create a backup of your cell phone. If you lose it forever, you’ll want to have a current backup of your phone. If the phone is moving location, use the Track Location feature.

By enabling this feature, your phone will be tracked every 15 minutes . Enable the Extend battery life function at the end. This will disable almost everything on the phone except location tracking, which will help find my device.

As you’ve already seen with Google’s Find My Device service, Samsung’s service only requires you to enter your PIN after locating your phone. There is no need to return to the website and disable any of the tracking features.

Find my device but not at any cost

If your phone has been stolen and can track your location, don’t try to recover it yourself . If you do, there’s a definite chance that you or someone else could get hurt, and despite the importance of a phone, it’s just not worth it.

Instead, you should contact law enforcement and let them know you need help recovering a lost or stolen phone that you’ve been able to trace back to a specific address.

Find my device but if you can’t, take these precautions

If you give up on finding my device, contact your carrier to file an insurance claim as soon as you realize you won’t get your phone back.

If you recognize that you will never get your phone back, contact your carrier and report your phone as lost or stolen . Doing this will blacklist the phone in the carrier’s database, preventing anyone else from using it.

When you call, your carrier will also want to suspend their service, to prevent someone from using your cell phone. However, you should be aware that if you are still tracking your lost phone, you will lose the mobile connection to it, and unless the phone is somehow registered on a Wi-Fi network , you will lose the ability to track it.

Note: If you pay for insurance on your cell phone, you’ll need to file a claim and pay the deductible to get your replacement phone.