The more you rely on a smartphone, the more alarming it is to think about losing it. And most of us rely heavily on our phones.
But if you’ve prepared ahead by enabling location services and ensuring your Android phone or iPhone has battery life, you can track, lock or wipe it remotely.
First off, be sure that you’re signed into your Google or Apple account. Then, back up your Android phone or back up your iPhone as a precaution.
If you lose your phone, you’ll then be able to follow the steps below to get it back.
How to find a lost iPhone
To locate a lost iPhone, iPad or another Apple device, you need the Find My feature – but only if it’s been set up on your device. Here’s how.
Just tap on ‘Settings’, ‘iCloud’ and then scroll down to and enable ‘Find My iPhone’. Also turn on the ‘Send Last Location’ option below, which will send your last known location just before your battery dies.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Find My requires location services to be active, too, which you’ll find under ‘Settings’ > ‘Privacy’ > ‘Location Services’.
Having set up Find My, you have two ways to track a lost device. Firstly, you can use the Find My app on another Apple device to track your phone.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Alternatively, you can sign into your iCloud account on a desktop browser, then tap on the Find My app.
If you have multiple Apple devices, select the one that’s been misplaced.
Having selected your phone, Find My will show you on a map its last known location and offer options to sound an alarm or erase its contents.
Artur Tomala / Foundry
How to find a lost Android phone
Using Google’s Find My Device is the easiest way to track an Android phone, no matter the brand.
It’s a free download from the Google Play Store, and you can also access the service by visiting the Find My Device website from any browser.
Find My Device offers options to ring, lock or erase your device, should it find its way out of your hands.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Another option, if your phone is switched off, is to check your location history to find its last reported location.
You can do this by visiting Google’s Activity Controls website and tapping on ‘Manage Activity’ under ‘Location History’.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
You’ll now see a map of all the places in which your device has reported its location during a time period that you can specify. Of course, that’s only if the location history was previously enabled.
The last known location is where Google last saw it before the battery died, and if you’re in luck, it may still be there.
How to find a lost Samsung phone
In addition to being able to use Google’s Find My Device, Galaxy phones come with an additional layer of protection through Samsung’s own tracking service.
To start, visit the SmartThings Find website on any device, sign in with your Samsung account and select your lost device to see its location on a map.
Artur Tomala / Foundry
Once your phone is located, you can make your phone ring, even if it’s on silent mode, lock it, display a message or set a contact number.
You will be also able to continuously track your phone’s location every 15 minutes and permanently delete all data on the device to protect your personal information.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Losing your phone can be a major inconvenience, but with the right tools and knowledge, you have the best chance of recovering it.
If you need to know how to find a lost phone, especially how to track an Android phone or an iPhone, the solutions provided by Apple, Google and Samsung make it much easier to find and secure your device.
