If you've lost your phone help could be at hand in
tracking it down. But note that the solutions offered in this tutorial
will require your phone to be switched on in order to give you an
accurate idea of its location, and to access options to remotely lock or
wipe it. If your battery runs out or your phone is stolen and switched
off, you may be out of luck.
For that reason it's imperative that you back up everything now, just in case you can't get it back. Follow our advice on how to back up Android and how to back up an iPhone.
Below we'll consider the options built into each major
mobile operating system to explain how to track your lost or stolen
phone. For each of these you will need to be signed into either your
Google or Apple account on the phone before you begin.
Some third-party options are also available. Prey is a particularly popular option, available not only for mobile devices but also Windows, OS X and Ubuntu laptops.
If you have several devices spanning multiple platforms, it's worth
considering an option such as this that lets you track them all from a
single interface.
How to find a lost Android phone
Find My Device, previously called Device Manager, offers the easiest way to track an Android phone. It's a free app from Google Play, and you can also access the service from any browser by visiting google.com/android/find should your device become lost.
Find My Device offers options to ring, lock or erase your device, should it get out of your hands.
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 myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols and tapping on Manage Activity under Location History.
You'll now see a map of all the places in which your
device has reported its location during a time period that you specify.
The last known location is where Google last saw it before the battery
died, and if your luck's in it may still be there.
Note that location history uses Wi-Fi- and mobile signals
rather than GPS, so it won't be as accurate as Android Device Manager.
How to find a lost iPhone
To locate a lost Apple device you need Find My iPhone -
but before you lose your iPhone you'll need to ensure it's set up on
your device. Just tap on Settings, iCloud, then scroll down to and
enable Find My iPhone. Also turn on the option below, which sends your
last known location just before your battery dies.
Find My iPhone requires location services to be active, too, which you'll find under Settings, Privacy, Location Services.
Having set up Find My iPhone, you have two ways to track a
lost device. Firstly, you can use the free Find My iPhone app on
another Apple device to track your phone.
Alternatively, you can sign into your account on a desktop browser at iCloud.com, then tap Find My iPhone.
If you have multiple Apple devices select the one that's been misplaced.
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Having selected your phone, Find My iPhone will show you
on a map its last known location, and offer options to sound an alarm,
lock it or erase its contents.
Note: It was recently discovered by CNBC that Apple has filed a patent in
order to allow you to remotely switch on a stolen or lost iPhone.
Normally, you'll find that you cannot locate your iPhone due to it being
switched off, which is often the case when your phone is stolen.
This new technology would allow your phone to remotely be
switched on, if it has enough power to transmit GPS location data before
it dies of low-power. On the plus side, if a thief wants to factory
reset your iPhone they'll need to switch it on, connect it to a computer
and in-turn charge the device - allowing you to locate it. The feature
hasn't been yet released by Apple, but the prospects are positive in
reducing stolen phones being lost forever.
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