How to track and recover a lost smartphone

So, the one thing you dread has finally happened – you've lost your phone. We have all been there. It can be very troubling to realize as it leads to a feeling of being cut off from the world. And then there’s the prospect of someone gaining access to your phone and data.

However, there are ways in which you can track a lost smartphone now. In many cases, you can even recover a phone even if it is stolen by a thief. Both Android and iOS have the ability to track lost smartphones built in to the system, so you don’t even need a special app for this anymore.

Without wasting any more time, let’s get to finding your lost phone. Note that these methods only work as long as your phone is switched on.

How to track a lost Android phone

On Android, you can simply open the Find My Device page to track all your connected smartphones.

• Open the Find My Device page and sign in to your Google account.
• Google will list all your smartphones including the Wi-Fi network it is connected to and the battery level. It will also show the location of your phone on the map.
• The Find My Device page has three options – Play Sound, Secure Device and Erase Device.
• If you think you’ve simply misplaced your phone, click on Play Sound. Your phone will ring loudly for 5 minutes even if you have set it on silent mode.
• The Secure Device option signs you out of your Google account on your phone and locks it. This helps in safeguarding the data on your Google account. You can also choose to display a message or your phone number on the lockscreen, so anyone who finds your phone can get in touch with you.
• The Erase Device option wipes all the data on your lost smartphone. You will not be able to locate it using Find My Device after you select this option, so be very careful when you use it. We suggest you use it only after you have tried the first two options.

How to track a lost iPhone

On iOS, Apple has included the Find My iPhone app that can be used to track your lost iPhone.

• Open iCloud in any browser and login to your account.
• Click on the Find my iPhone option.
• Apple will now list all the iOS devices connected to your iCloud account. It will also show the last time the device was located, in addition to the location of the device on the map.
• Just like Google, Apple also has three options – Play Sound, Lost Mode and Erase Device. These features are exactly like the ones on Android mentioned above.

See also:
There's a super-simple way to find your lost smartphone hidden in Google