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If you're here then you've either lost your phone already or you're just worried about what'll happen when you lose it. Well, nothing can prepare you for that stressful feeling when you reach for your phone in your pocket, only to find nothing but lint. It's not the end of the world if you lose your phone or if it gets stolen because there's still hope to find it with Android's Find My Device feature.

Find My Device on Android is similar to Apple's Find My Phone feature that lets you locate your phone at any time. It essentially drops a pin on a map, telling your phone's last known location. It has its limitations, but it works as advertised as long as your device is turned on and is sending its location to Google. Here's how you can use this feature.

How to use Android’s 'Find My Device' feature

The good thing about Android's Find My Device feature is that you don't have to manually set it up. It's enabled automatically when you sign in to your Google account while setting up your Android phone. So if you lose your device, then you can log in to your Google account on any other device to track your stolen or lost phone. But you'll only get the live location of your phone if it's still turned on with the location services enabled. If not, you'll only be able to see its last known location. This also means you won't be able to locate it if the location service was turned off or if it wasn't connected to the internet when it was lost. So yes, there are some caveats to finding your phone with this feature, but it's at least worth a shot.

But if it meets all the requirements, i.e. if it's still turned on with an active internet connection, transmitting it location to Google, then here's how you can find it using the Find My Device feature:

A screenshot showing the Find My Device feature to locate your lost phone.
  • Head to https://www.google.com/android/find/ and log in to your Google account. You can access this portal on any computer.
  • As soon as you log in, you'll see a list of all the devices that are still linked to your Google account.
  • Select the one you're trying to locate, and you'll see if the service is able to track your phone's current location.
  • Provided it meets all the requirements we discussed earlier, you'll now see your phone's current location on the map next to the list as shown in the screenshot above.
  • You can even zoom in to see the exact location of your phone.

The service will only show you the last known location of the phone if it's no longer on or if it lost the internet connection. But if it's still active, then you'll see three options -- 'Play Sound', 'Secure Device', and 'Erase Device'. The first option will play a sound to help you locate it or alert others about its presence. Your device will play the sound if it's silent or 'Do Not Disturb' mode. 'Secure Device' will essentially lock it down and display your message or phone number to the person who finds it. Lastly, you can also use the 'Erase Device' option to erase all contents from the device. It goes without saying that you won't be able to locate the phone once you erase it, so keep that in mind.

You can access the Find My Device service from a web browser on any device. In fact, you can even borrow an Android phone and use the Find My Device app on it to log in to your account as a guest to locate the device and perform these actions.

Make sure your device can be found

When bracing yourself for the inevitable, there are a few things you can do to prepare yourself. Making sure that your device is turned on when you lose it may not be something you will be able to account for perfectly. But here are a few things you can do to the best of your ability to ensure you can locate it:

  • Always make sure that your phone is charged, especially when taking it out into the world. If you're not able to charge your phone properly before leaving, then consider purchasing a portable charger. You can find some good options in our collection of the best portable chargers.
  • The Find My Device feature should be enabled by default, but you can double-check to ensure it's working by heading over to Settings > Google > Find My Device.
  • Enabling Location services should also be on your list. Without leaving the Settings, hop over to Locations. You should have a similar option allowing you to switch the service on and off.
  • Having the Find My Device app installed on everything that you own will save you a step when disaster finally strikes. We recommend being preemptively prepared in this way.

After all of the above has been squared away, running a “fire drill” from the safety of your home will put your device’s reception to the Find My Device service to the ultimate test. Just hide your phone in another room and follow the steps outlined above. Now, you’ll be able to take your device with you anywhere knowing that there's still hope if you end up losing it.

The Find My Device feature, as you can see, is fairly simple to use, and you can rely on it while trying to find your lost phone. We hope you never find yourself in a situation in which you have to use this feature. But if you already lost your phone, then we hope this tutorial was useful.