Ask Google About Your Lost Phone Now | Type “Find My Phone” in Google and Find Your Phone on the Map

Google has introduced a useful application in its search engine that finds our phone and locates it on the map.

To find your phone, go to Google.com and type “find my phone” (without quotes) and see the magic.

Take a look at the screenshot to know how it works:

When you type “find my phone” in search engine, it automatically finds the device, place and accurate distance.

You can simply send a ring if you dropped it somewhere at home or in car and searching for it. It rings with a different ringtone louder than usual and so can you find it easily.

Not showing your phone location?

If “find my phone” in Google is not showing your phones location, that means you have not enabled location sharing on your phone. You can enable it from the browser itself by doing the following.

Step #1: Sign in to your Google account by clicking on Sign in button if showed.

Step #2: It might show this following error if location sharing is not enabled on your phone.

Step #3: Click on Allow button to enable your device’s location sharing from your browser.

It then locates your device and shows the exact location within some accuracy. For example, take a look at the screenshot of my Moto E2 phone that I have tracked earlier.

To get access to this screen,

Go to https://www.google.co.in/android/devicemanager and login with your Google account that you used on your device. This screen will give you more controls than Ring. You can even Lock your device or Erase your information from it in case it was lost or stolen.

NOTE: You cannot track your device if it is rooted, Google account signed out or factory reset. This feature of Google cannot completely help you get your stolen phone back. So, don’t quit the idea of filing a complaint in the nearby police station. It might be more easy to track with their help.

Won’t that make Google password secrecy more serious?

Yes! of course. It does. Sharing your Google password to your friends and others can give some control over your phone and content for sure. So, better not to disclose your password of the Google account that you are using on your Android device.

I don’t want Google to show my location. How to hide my location?

You have full control over this feature. You can turn this off for your security purposes, just like the one you saw in a screenshot above.

To hide your location on Google, go to your phone Settings > Location > Turn Off. It then goes unavailable on Google when searched.

Always remember, you can gain control over the phone’s Ring, Lock and Erase features even though the phone’s location sharing is turned off.

Hope that clears all the doubts.

What do you think? Is it safe or vulnerable? Share your thoughts in comments.

5/Post a reply/Replies

  1. Hi Ikechi,


    When we have an advancement in technology, we should also be aware of its adverse affects. This new feature made the password secrecy more serious. Don't you think?


    Thank you by the way for sharing the thought :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a good question Siva. Are you logged in with the same Google account on the both devices? Which mobile is showing up? The old one or the latest one?


    This features works this way:


    When you are typing 'find my phone' in Google, make sure you logged in with the same credentials that you used to log in on your phone. That means if you logged in with abc@gmail.com on your phone, you should also be logged in with the same login credentials on your desktop too.


    By the way, have you enabled location sharing on both the devices? Check on that and try again.


    I am also curious to know what happens in case of two phones with same Google account. I would like to know some of my friends' opinions too @Ashutosh Jha @Awazie ikechi

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's about Google location sharing. So if there is a Google location service on your mobile, and it is enabled, it should work. I didn't tried this even.


    Though it works, the features like Ring, Lock ad Erase features may not work as the phone is not fully controlled by Google services.


    Just a hunch!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Sasidhar
    I Appreciate your sharing .Many of us would have faced the problem at some point of time i.e. missing our mobile phones. Android Device manager is great app but only problem in that you have to connect with google account if someone disconnect google account after stolen then you can't track your phone.
    Nice post!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Saurabh,


    Yeah, that's a valid point. We cannot track our device if it is rooted or disconected from Google. It'd be better to do the erase before the thief does that.


    Thank you for stopping by and speding your time in sharing your thoughts about it.


    Have a great day :)

    ReplyDelete

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