By akademiotoelektronik, 27/08/2022

How to locate your lost or stolen Android smartphone?

Have you misplaced your Android smartphone and are you starting to panic? Nothing is lost yet. Futura presents you with a very fast and very simple way to locate and find it.

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For most of us, losing our smartphone is a real nightmare . Beyond the value of the device, the latter frequently contains personal data, sometimes sensitive.

If you find yourself in this very unpleasant situation, do not immediately lose hope. Indeed, Google comes to your rescue, provided that you have an account on the services it offers (Gmail, YouTube, etc.) and that your smartphone is running Android. You will thus have the possibility of locating your smartphone, ringing it but also, if you cannot get your hands on it, disconnecting it from your Google account and erasing the data it contains.

Prerequisite: an Android smartphone currently connected to your Google account

See alsoDownload Google Chrome

How to locate your Android smartphone?

First, open a google.com page on your usual browser and type “find my phone” in the search field. Start Google search.

Search for “find my phone” on google.com. ©Google

The first result that appears on the screen is a plan. Click on it to view it larger and have access to all the available options. NB: you may be asked to reconnect to your Google account for security reasons.

Log in if necessary and click on the map. ©Google

Once on the "Find my device" page, the search for your device is launched. Note that all your mobile devices (smartphone, tablet, connected watch) connected to your Google account appear, choose the one you lost at the top left of the screen. The search is generally short, a few tens of seconds at most.

Localization is usually very fast. ©Google

It may happen that your smartphone is not located the first time. In this case, restart the search by clicking on the circular arrow.

Click on the circular arrow to make another attempt to locate. ©Google

You can see which network your smartphone is connected to and the remaining battery percentage when tracking is successful.

The smartphone has been located. ©Google

The location of your smartphone is now clearly visible on the map.

See at a glance where your smartphone is. ©Google

How to ring your smartphone remotely?

You have finally managed to locate your smartphone on the map, but it is still impossible to get your hands on it. Then click on "Ring".

Click on "Ring". ©Google

As noted, your device will ring continuously for five minutes. When you find your smartphone, you can stop the ringtone by clicking on the “Stop ringtone” button or by pressing the On/Off button on your smartphone.

Stop the ringtone once you have retrieved your smartphone. ©Google

How to lock your smartphone remotely?

If, unfortunately, you have not been able to find your smartphone, you can always lock it and log out of your Google account. To do this, click on “Secure device”.

Click “Secure device”. ©Google

If you wish, you can write a message to the attention of the person who finds your device and enter a telephone number on which you can be reached. Thus, the person in possession of your smartphone would only have to press the telephone-shaped button displayed on the screen to contact you directly. Click on the green button "Secure the device" to validate the operation .

Leave a message and a phone number to be contacted more easily. ©Google

How to erase data from your smartphone?

If your smartphone cannot be found and it contains important data that you prefer to delete, click on “Erase device data” .

Click “Erase device data”. ©Google

A message tells you that the deletion is irreversible and that it will then be impossible to locate your smartphone. Click the green "Erase device data" button to confirm your choice.

Click on the green button to permanently erase the data contained in your smartphone. ©Google

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