What if I Lost My Phone Again

Set now and so you can find your lost Android phone with ease.

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Not to sound overly dramatic, but I think that sinking feeling that arrives the moment you realize your Android phone's missing is 1 of the worst feelings. Our phones are intrinsically personal, guarding our deepest secrets and personal information. Add to that the fact that losing a phone is a costly feel, and that feeling is compounded.

Should you find yourself frantically searching your pockets, haversack, handbag or countertop for a missing phone, don't panic! Every Android phone comes with tools built into it that make it possible to secure your information and track down your lost phone with ease. Don't get ahead of yourself and experience comfy quite withal. At that place are a few steps you demand to take right now to set yourself up for success if or when your phone goes missing — including if yous left information technology in your house.

Below I walk you through all of the steps you can and should take now, also as what you need to practise when your phone goes missing.

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Take a few minutes to ready at present

It doesn't take a lot of time to tap your style through a few different settings panes and ensure that the proper switches are turned on, or y'all're signed in to the right services. Trust me, future you volition give thanks present yous for taking 5 minutes to practise the following.

Create a secure lock screen

Exercise yourself a favor and plough on passcode and fingerprint hallmark. Exercise yourself some other favor and don't use facial recognition on your Android device.

On virtually Android devices, the technology used for facial recognition tin can be hands tricked with something as simple as a photo of your face. Google'due south Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 Forty are the exceptions here, every bit they apply a more than reliable system, similar to Apple's Face ID.

Adjacent, create your passcode and ready fingerprint hallmark in the Settings app under the Security department. I realize scanning a fingerprint or entering a PIN lawmaking every time y'all desire to use your telephone can be inconvenient, merely the idea of someone having access to your photos, banking apps, email and the rest of your personal info is downright scary.

An extra step to unlock your telephone is worth the endeavour when you lot consider the potential affect of exposing your personal info to a stranger.

Read more: If you lose your iPhone, immediately do these 3 things

Ready upwards Google's Find My Device service, regardless of who makes your phone

Make sure Google'south Find My Device is turned on.

Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Any time you sign in to an Android device with a Google account, Find My Device is automatically turned on. Google'south gratis Detect My Device service is what you'll employ should your phone ever go missing to track, remotely lock and remotely erase it.

Check to make sure Find My Device is enabled on your Android phone past opening the Settings app and going to Security & Location > Observe My Device. Alternatively, if your device doesn't have a Security & Location option, go to Google > Security > Discover My Device.

Find My Device should be turned on. If not, slide the switch to the On position.

Finally, double-cheque that the power to secure and remotely erase the device is turned on by going to android.com/observe on your computer, selecting your phone, and clickingSet up Secure & Erase. A push alert volition be sent to your phone -- tap information technology to finish the setup process.

Have a Samsung phone? There are two unlike services you should check

If yous've signed in to your Samsung account on a Galaxy telephone, you should be proficient to go. However, it'southward a good thought to double-check.

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Samsung has long offered a Notice My Mobile service to help Galaxy phones owners track downwardly their lost phones. The service is carve up from Google's Observe My Device offering, and is something you can -- and definitely should -- set. Non only does it give you a fill-in service you lot can use to track down a lost phone, but information technology as well gives y'all tools that Find My Device doesn't have. With Samsung'southward service, you lot tin can practise things like forcefulness remote backups or see if someone has swapped out your SIM card. Y'all'll need to use your Samsung business relationship to set up Find My Mobile.

However, more recently, Samsung appear a new service calledSmartThings Find. The new feature works likeApple tree's Find My app by crowdsourcing the location of a lost device, even if it's offline, just telling nearby Milky way devices to look for its Bluetooth signal and report its location if it's found. All of which, of grade, is done anonymously.

There'south no harm in using Google'south offering, in improver to both of Samsung's device tracking services. Turn on Observe My Mobile on your Milky way phone in theSettings app. Next, go to Biometrics and security > Detect My Mobile. Discover My Mobile should already exist enabled if yous signed into your Samsung account during initial setup. If not, take a few seconds to sign in and enable Find My Mobile.

SmartThings Observe will, well, help you notice your device.

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As for SmartThings Notice, yous'll need to take a Galaxy device running Android eight or newer. The setup process should already be taken care of as long as yous're running the latest version of the SmartThings app. I had to go into the Galaxy Store app and update it myself, but once I did that the main page of the SmartThings app had a map showing the last location of my Galaxy Buds ($68 at Amazon), along with other Samsung devices that are linked to my account below the map. If information technology'south not set up up already, there will be a SmartThings Discover card you need to tap on to complete the setup process. Once you do that, yous'll see a map with the location of all your Discover-enabled devices.

Once it'south turned on, yous can view the location of your device(south) by opening the SmartThings app and select SmartThings Find. Of grade, if y'all lose your phone you'll have to utilize some other device to admission the SmartThings app to locate your device. Either you can sign into the app on a friend or family member's device, or utilize another one of your devices to find it via the app.

When you view the lost device'due south location, there'south a More Options button that will take you to Samsung's Notice My Mobile service where you can then use its controls to lock down your device, remotely back it up or even erase it.

How to lock downwardly, track a lost or stolen Android phone

Use Google's Find My Device service to find your telephone

Play a sound, lock your telephone or erase it using the Find My Device site.

Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Using Android's broiled-in service requires you to remember i matter: android.com/observe. That website is where y'all'll get in the unfortunate event that you lot lose your telephone. Make certain to sign in to the same Google account that's linked to your Android telephone.

Not near a computer? You can utilise some other Android device and the Find My Device app, which you lot'll have to download separately from the Play Shop. Immediately afterward yous sign in to the site or app, Google will attempt to locate your phone.

An alert will exist sent to your phone to tell whoever has it that information technology's existence tracked. Employ the menu on the left-hand side of the Find My Device site to play a audio (helpful if y'all misplaced it in your dwelling!), lock downwards your device or erase the device altogether.

Selecting Secure Device will lock the phone, display a message of your choosing on the lock screen and sign out of your Google account. Don't worry, yous tin can notwithstanding locate the phone after it'south locked. If y'all use Google Pay for mobile payments, locking your phone volition prevent anyone from using your phone to make a purchase.

If you lot use the Erase Device feature, you will no longer be able to track the phone. Reserve this feature as a last resort.

Should the thief turn off your phone, you won't be able to track it until it'south turned dorsum on and has a cellular or Wi-Fi connection. Google volition send you an e-mail once it locates your device.

Once you detect your phone, you'll need to enter your PIN or passcode to gain access. That should too become rid of the lock screen message. You might as well have to log in to your Google business relationship, just to verify it actually is y'all accessing the phone -- you lot don't need to turn annihilation off in the Find My Device app.

What to do if y'all have a Samsung telephone

Samsung'due south Detect My Mobile has a lot of options for tracking and controlling a lost telephone.

Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Samsung Galaxy owners take the benefit of using Google'due south or Samsung'southward respective services to locate a lost device, only I recommend using Samsung'southward offer. Every bit you'll encounter below, the added capabilities are invaluable.

To track a lost device with Samsung'due south service, you lot demand to visit findmymobile.samsung.com. There isn't a companion app, so you lot'll need to use a mobile browser on another telephone or a reckoner.

Sign in with your Samsung account, then select your lost device on the left side of the screen. A map will display where your telephone is currently located, and a menu of options will bear witness up on the right side of the screen.

Starting time by locking the telephone, which will display a personalized bulletin on the lock screen, suspend your Samsung Pay cards and prevent the telephone from being powered off.

Next, create a fill-in of your phone. Should you lose it for good, you'll want to take a electric current backup of your phone. If the telephone is moving locations, use the Rail location feature.

Enabling this feature volition rails your telephone every 15 minutes. Finally, turn on the Extend bombardment life feature -- this will disable almost everything on the phone but the location tracking.

Similar to Google'south Find My Device service, Samsung's service simply requires y'all to enter your PIN subsequently locating your phone. Y'all don't need to go back to the website and plow any of the tracking features off.

Life Pro Tip: Don't confront thieves

If your phone has been stolen and y'all're able to runway its location, practice not attempt to recover information technology yourself. Doing and so could lead to you lot or someone else getting hurt, and despite the importance of a phone, information technology'due south just not worth it.

Instead, contact local law enforcement and let them know you need help recovering a lost or stolen telephone that yous've been able to rails to a specific address.

Unable to retrieve your phone? Contact your carrier, file an insurance claim

Contact your carrier to file an insurance claim as before long as you lot realize you aren't getting your phone back.

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If it becomes clear that you're never going to become your phone back, contact your carrier and report your phone as lost or stolen. Doing this will blacklist the phone from the carrier's database, preventing another person from using it.

When you lot call, your carrier volition want to append your service also. This is a good idea if you want to prevent someone from using your phone. Yet, go along in mind that if you're even so tracking your lost phone, you'll lose a mobile connectedness to it -- and unless the phone is somehow registered on a Wi-Fi network, y'all'll lose the ability to track information technology.

Finally, if you lot pay for insurance on your phone, yous'll need to file a merits and pay the deductible to get your replacement phone. Get the insurance claim process started through your carrier, who will then likely refer you lot to the third-party insurance company that will supersede your telephone.

Good luck! We hope yous never have to go through the emotional roller coaster of losing a phone, tracking it down and trying to get information technology back.

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Source: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/stolen-or-lost-android-phone-heres-how-to-find-it-and-get-it-back-as-fast-as-possible/

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