Smartphones have become an essential part of our daily routine and we depend on them much more than just making phone calls. Smartphones are like miniature laptops as all our photos, videos, contacts, and even our financial data is stored on it. We can’t think of losing it or it being stolen, but what if for a second unthinkable happens. You have lost your phone. Now what? Wherever it is, all you want is to do is get it back.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to get hold of a missing/ lost phone. As it is a smartphone you have some in built features to track it. If you aren’t aware of it then can use third party apps to find your phone.
Also there are some apps which can be installed after your phone is lost.
Here we bring to you some tips and popular apps to find your lost phone.
How to enable the settings to track your phone after its lost or stolen
Android Device Manager (ADM):
Android Device Manager is probably the easiest and best option for you to locate your lost phone. To use it you do not need to install any app, you only need to make sure that the phone settings are correctly configured. The only requirement, is that your device is connected to internet with your Google account signed in.
To activate the settings follow the steps below:
1. Go to your phone settings
- Now, find Google click on it and then click on Security
- Here you will see 2 options “Remotely Locate This Device option” and “Allow remote lock and erase” enable them by sliding radio button to right.
- Now, you can use Google’s web apps to find your phone, lock it, ring it, and more.
Please note, it only works if the GPS is on so make sure to enable your location! The good news is that this feature is enabled by default in most of the devices.
See Also: 15 Best Android Music Player Apps to Get You Grooving!
To locate your lost phone type search phrase “where is my phone”, in your browser. Google will display a little map and will try to find your phone.
Once found, you can ring it by clicking on “Ring” at the bottom left.
An alternate way to track the lost device is by signing using your Google account credentials in the guest mode.
Using any of the ways you should be able to track your lost device.
Requirements:
- Your device has internet access
- It is connected with your Google account
- Android Device Manager (ADM) settings is enabled to locate your device
See Also: How to Secure your Android Devices with Pattern, PIN, or Password
Find My iPhone:
Find My iPhone is a cloud-based service by Apple, which helps to locate a lost Apple device.
To enable it just tap on Settings > iCloud, now scroll down and enable Find My iPhone. Also turn on the option “Send Last Location”, to track your devices last known location.
See Also: 10 Best Free iPhone Games 2017
Using Find My iPhone, you can track your lost device in two ways.
- Install Find My iPhone app on another Apple device to track your lost iPhone.
- Open icloud.com on your browser and log in using your Apple ID credentials. Once signed in you will see “Find My iPhone” icon.
Tap on it to open the interface, it will open with a map.
Now, click on the “All Devices” drop-down menu on the top bar to select your missing device.
Once you select the device, tracking will start.
If successful, it will show device location on the map. As soon as your iPhone is detected you will see different options to sound an alarm, lock it or erase its contents.
Requirements:
- Your devices location service to be enabled
- Connected with your Apple account
- FindMyiPhone settings is enabled to locate your device
- Connected to internet/ Mobile data is turned on
Note: Find My iPhone must be setup before you lose your device.
See Also: 6 Tips to Boost iPhone’s Performance – Infographic
Also note, in case location service is turned off you can active the so-called ‘Lost Mode’ via Find My iPhone. This will remotely activate location service on your iPhone.
Best Apps to locate your Lost Android & iPhone
Not only the in-built features help you to track the phone, but there are various third party apps who are of help.
Where’s My Droid
Where’s My Droid is one of the best Android Application by Alienman Technologies LLC to track your phone. Not only it tracks the device but also helps to turn the ringer volume up, even if it is turned off.
With the app, you can even send an attention text to turn on the volume and make it ring. Also it helps to get the GPS coordinates with a link to Google maps.
Application Features:
- Find device by making it ring/vibrate
- Track using GPS location
- Text your attention word
- Password protection to avoid unauthorized app changes
- Notification of SIM card or phone number change
Pro Features:
- Take pictures of thief with devices front camera
- Remotely lock device
- Remotely wipe SD card and phone data
Cerberus anti theft
Cerberus anit theft is the perfect app with all tracking features like remote alarm trigger, locking and resetting the phone, tracking via GPS, remote wipe of the SD card as well as the internal storage, messages display for thieves, plus SIM change alert.
It even has access to the front facing camera so you can take a picture of the thief. Cerberus works as a hidden app and records audio from the mic.
The app works even in offline mode via remote control by sms messages.
It protects the device in three ways:
- Remote control through the website www.cerberusapp.com
- Remote control via sms
- SIM Checker if someone uses your phone with an unauthorized SIM card
Family Locator
Family Locator by Life360 works on both iPhone and Android. It justifies its name by allowing you to create circles of family and friends to keep their track.
You can view real time location of the circle members on a private family map. It helps to recover the lost phone by tracking its location. All you have to do is invite your family member or friend, add them to the circle and start tracking.
Application Features:
- Track groups GPS location
- Real time location tracking
- Notifies if the person leaves the circle
Download it from Google Play Download it from App store
Prey Anti-Theft
Prey Anti theft by preyproject is a trusted app by many users, as it fulfills the purpose of finding your phone. It has all the features like finding your phone, locking your device, setting off an alarm and taking thief’s picture.
Steps to use the App:
Step 1: Download the app from the Google play store/ App Store. Open the app and create an account.
Step 2: Add devices to the account. We can add up to 3 devices at a time which can be of iPhone or Android
Step 3: Now login into your account, you will be able to see the status and the location of the added devices.
Note: Install Prey Anti-Theft before the phone goes missing
Download it from Google Play Download it from App store
If there is no app installed or security settings is enabled, change your passwords immediately.
This goes without saying. As our phone remains logged into Google account, Facebook, and other apps. The first thing we should do after our phone goes missing is to change the password of every account you had logged in. Even though the baking sites log you out if the session is ideal, but changes its password also.
You can also deauthorize your device, from your Google account for additional security. Click here to know how to do it. Also use the web service to log out your device from any active session. This step will block the thief to access any personal information.
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