Being able to locate your lost smartphone is extremely practical: it saves time (or at least, no time searching desperately for it) but also protects your contacts and personal data in case of theft, as you can choose to lock or wipe your smartphone. everything. But your smartphone must still be configured correctly!
How do you prepare your smartphone to make sure it can be found in case of loss or theft?
There are several conditions for your smartphone to be found. It must be turned on, connected to a Google account, connected to a WiFi or data network, visible on Google Play, location enabled (you might gasp), and Find My App device enabled. Wow.
Configure the lock with fingerprint and password or pattern
Did you disable the lock screen password or security pattern or set a very simple password (00000, 123456 etc…)? Bad idea – if you find a lost smartphone, you definitely need to… make it harder to steal.
Likewise, avoid facial recognition at all costs, which can be fooled by a simple photo on most Android devices. To configure the lock, go to: Settings > Security.
Link your Google or Samsung account
Your Google or Samsung account is normally linked to your smartphone, but if that’s not the case yet (or to check if):
- enter inside Settings > General > Accounts Where Settings > Lock Screen/Security > Mobile Monitoring
- If you can’t find it in the list yet, add a Google or Samsung account as the case may be.
Check if the device is visible on Google Play
To control your device’s visibility on Google Play:
- Click here to go to the Google Play installation page from your computer
- enter inside visibility and select your device
Enable location mode
To enable location mode:
- enter inside Settings > Security & Location > Location
- enable option
Re-enable Find My Device
Normally this feature is enabled by default. But if you had disabled:
- enter inside Settings > Security & Location > Google > Security
- Do not touch find my device
- enable Find device remotely and Allow Remote Lock and Erase
Take a test when all is well
There’s nothing worse than trusting something, only to find out it’s not working. Try to find your smartphone as if you lost it and test remote locking and stealing.
How to find a lost Android smartphone
To find your lost Android smartphone:
- Click here to access the Find My Device map from your computer
- Click on the smartphone you lost at the top of the screen
You can also use the app find my device on another Android smartphone or tablet. In any case, you will be able to see its approximate location on the map or the last place it was located if the latter is no longer connected to a data network or is turned off.
You can then do a few things:
- Make your smartphone ring : a buzzer sounds for 5 minutes at maximum volume even in silent mode
- Lock with password, pattern or password to protect your data – as a bonus you can have it display a message on the lock screen, for example a phone number to call you when the smartphone is found
- Erase all data completely : as the name suggests it will erase everything to prevent smartphone data from falling into the wrong hands. Be careful though, because this doesn’t delete microSD cards
Samsung smartphones
An alternative is available for these smartphones due to functionality. mobile tracking – provided you have already configured it. To access and remotely lock/steal/wipe your smartphone’s last location:
- Go to Mobile watch from a computer by clicking here
- Sign in using your Samsung credentials
Alternative solutions
There are sometimes free alternative apps with more advanced features to achieve the same result. A reader tells us about the Lost Android app, for example. We haven’t tested it yet – and given that such an app can send all your data to a remote server, we urge our readers to be careful and opt for solutions provided by Google and Samsung – more built-in and reliable.
Has this feature ever saved your day? Tell in the comments!
