How To Locate A Lost Or Stolen Android Smartphone

Android smartphones have become extremely common in India these days and take up a majority share. In this fast-moving world, it is easy to lost track and sometimes misplaces your smartphone accidentally. In some other cases, several users have been robbed of their smartphones due to their lack of presence in the situation.

If you’ve been in such a situation and want to track down your phone location, then this comprehensive guide contains everything you need. Android comes with built-in tools for tracking down a smartphone using your Google Account, there are several other OEM and 3rd party solutions offering more features if you are a Samsung Mobile user, then you should really consider setting up your Samsung Account to Support tracking of your smartphone.

Losing a smartphone can be extremely stressful given the amount of private information and pictures stored in it. Tracking a device can also be very helpful in keeping your children safe and knowing where they are. In this article, we talk about Find my Device by Google which works on all Android smartphones that have Google Play Services and also about a similar offering by the popular manufacturer Samsung

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Find My Device

Google’s Find my Device app is a must-have for most Android users and if you have added a Google Account to your Android device then Find my Device is automatically turned on. You can check this by navigating to Settings > Security > Find my Device. You can download the application for free from Play Store or use it on the web portal to locate your smartphone.

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How to locate your lost or stolen smartphone using Find My Device

• Either download the Find My Device application from Google Play Store or navigate to the Web App using the link below.
• After installing the application, log in and ensure that your location is turned on.
• Once the application is running you can now go ahead to locate your smartphone as long as it is connected to a Wi-Fi network or have the mobile data turned on
• As an additional step, it might be required to leave the Location Services turned on in the smartphone for better tracking.
• You can also lock the device remotely and write a message along with an alternative phone number, this allows the person to call you easily if they have found it
• You can also play a sound on the smartphone remotely, this will play a loud sound on the smartphone even if the device was in Vibrate or Silent sound profile.
• As a worst-case scenario, if you lose hope on recovering the device and if the data in the smartphone is more precious, you can choose to completely wipe the smartphone online and the smartphone will be factory reset.

Download Find my Device on Google Play Store

Use Find my Device online

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Find My Mobile – Samsung

If you have a Samsung Phone, then you can use Samsung’s Find my Mobile service for more features. You will need a Samsung account to use this. You can proceed to the Settings app and select the Biometrics and Security option, here you should see the Find my Mobile option and toggle the service. There is also an option to enable Remote unlock and Send the last location.

This allows the smartphone to send the last known location to Samsung Server’s when the battery is about to die so it might be worth turning on this feature. The Remote Unlock feature stores your PIN, Password or Pattern allowing it to unlock the smartphone even if you forget the password, it can also be used to unlock the smartphone remotely and get use of it.

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How to track Samsung smartphone using Find My Mobile

• Samsung has a simple to use web application for tracking their smartphones, this can be accessed using the link below
• Open the link and sign in to your Samsung account.
• Now you will find an option to Ring, Lock, Track location, Erase Data, Backup, retrieve calls/messages, Unlock, and Extend Battery Life.
• You can also monitor the battery status on the smartphone and see if the smartphone is connected to a Wi-Fi network, the option also displays all nearby Wi-Fi access points to the lost smartphone
• The Track location feature allows real-time tracking on the smartphone even if the location services were turned off
• Find my Mobile service only needs an active internet connection to work and offers many more features than the default Android Tracking tool.
• The Retrieve calls/messages option allows you to retrieve all the calls and messages on the smartphone to get further insight
• You can erase the data and remove all the Samsung Pay cards remotely by selecting the Erase Data option
• The extended battery life option can be used to further improve the battery by shutting of unimportant services to extend the battery life and allowing you to trace the smartphone.

Access Find my Mobile on Samsung Website