NUU Mobile | Tutorial Tuesday | Episode 11 | How to Find Your Lost Phone
NUU Mobile | Tutorial Tuesday | Episode 11 | How to Find Your Lost Phone
Welcome to Week 11 of Tutorial Tuesdays - well, Tutorial Wednesdays this week, I guess - sorry! Anyway, this time, we’re going to find your lost phone!
(This tutorial was done on stock Android 10 - there may be slight differences on other versions)
Google's Find My Device is available through its own website, but it’s also offered as an app, as this may very well be the most convenient method when you’re outside with friends and your best access online is a friend’s phone.
So in this scenario, you’ve got to use your friend’s phone to download the Find My Device app, which we’ll do right now.
Then we start it up, and it’ll show a login screen, with your friend’s Google accounts already available to use, but if this isn’t your own device, and you just want to use this just the one time, you’ll want to Sign in as a Guest - that way your own Google login won’t be kept when you’re done.
In the app, starting from top-left, you’ll see some phone-looking icons, which represent the devices you’ve signed-into your Google account on (including your friend’s device right now), I think in order of which they were registered (newest on the left), so you can tap through them to find the device you’ve lost.
In my case, the first device showing is the one I’m going to pretend I’ve lost.
Assuming your lost phone still has a SIM card with active data, or has a WiFi connection, Google should be able to almost immediately pin-point your device in the map showing below the phone selection strip.
In the bottom right corner of the map, there are also convenient buttons for opening this location in the actual Google Maps app, or to even calculate navigation directions to the location of your phone.
Below the map, there’s a small summary of your phone’s status, showing an image of the phone (maybe), as well as the model of the phone, when it was last checked by Find My Device, it’s battery level, and how it’s connected to the internet.
Underneath the phone summary, there are a choice of three actions you can ask Google to take. The first one is “Play Sound”.
This forces your lost phone to play its ringtone at maximum volume, regardless of set volume level, or even Do Not Disturb mode.
This is great for those “lost under the couch cushions” situations. However, if someone has your phone, they can cancel this ringtone simply by tapping on the screen, but then you will be notified of this by a “sound stopped” message, too.
The second one is “Secure Device”.
This simply allows you to send your device back to its lock screen, in case you suspect it happens to be in an unlocked state. It’s also useful for setting a message on the lock screen, along with a phone number and specific authorization for the phone to call the number you’ve left, and only that number, from its locked state.
That said, if the person who has your phone happens to know your unlock code or pattern, then this won’t keep them out. If you suspect that is the case (and Find My Device will notify you if it has been successfully unlocked), then there’s always the nuclear option…
If you’re afraid that you cannot get your device back and/or that its security has been compromised, you still have a third option - Erase Device. This is only for those times where you’d rather lose everything on your phone than let someone else freely access it. If most of your phone usage is cloud-based, as much of Google’s apps are, then you probably won’t lose much, and this will be an easier choice to make.
Since this is a significant and irreversible action, Google then asks you to re-confirm your login.
You’ll then get one last confirmation prompt, asking if you wish to format/erase your device remotely. If you confirm this last time, your device will be wiped completely without any warning or prompt to the person with your phone.
What’s even better is that after the phone is wiped, it cannot simply be setup with anyone else’s credentials. Android will block the setup process on the first boot, unless the phone’s previous pin code or Google account can be entered correctly, first.
The only thing left is the “Sign Out” button beside the menu - this is good to do before you finally give your friend’s phone back to them :)
And that’s it! Now you’ll be able to effectively find your lost phone, and confidently secure it.
As always, feel free to leave any comments - questions I didn’t answer here, any suggestions, or requests for new tutorials - it’s all welcome. See you next Tuesday!
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