How Does Find My Phone Work Android With No Service

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Losing your smartphone is ane of the most frightening experiences in the modern historic period. You accept your contact data, your personal information, your personal pictures, and possibly fifty-fifty financial data on there. It'south a treasure trove for thieves and other malcontents. Thankfully, there are some things yous can do to recover your phone.

We can't stress enough that the best method of protection is prevention. Having a organisation in place really helps this state of affairs, although y'all may be a bit late if you're searching for this later on losing your telephone. However, there are some means that you can find it fifty-fifty without preventative measures. Here are the best find my phone apps and other methods also.

The best find my telephone apps for Android

Family Locator by Life360

Toll: Free

Family Locator by Life360 does exactly what the app proper noun says it does. It allows you to create a collective with your family and friends, and then you can keep track of where they are via their smartphones. Equally y'all can imagine, information technology helps recover smartphones if someone loses them. The upside is that you can command who can discover y'all or your phone.

The downside is that this app is a people locator, not a device locator. Thus, it doesn't have some popular find my telephone apps features like device locking or wiping. However, information technology's a good, simple selection, especially for parents.

Find my Device is one of the best find my phone apps for android

Observe My Phone is Google'due south native find your phone app. Information technology does all of the basic stuff. Information technology can locate your phone within a certain distance. The app also lets yous ring your phone, wipe your phone. and even show a message. That fashion, whoever has it can see that you're looking for it. The app is great because you tin can brand a good effort to find the phone. Worst case, you can wipe information technology if you tin can't. Those are the 2 large abilities for apps that find your phone.

It's also completely free, with no in-app purchases or advertising. Updates in late 2018 added indoor map support for places like malls, stadiums, and airports for easier locating in areas like that.

Cerberus has long been the name people recall of when it comes to find my phone apps. Information technology has a various set of features that includes locking and resetting your phone, sounding alarms, displaying letters on the screen, and it even has admission to the front end-facing camera so y'all can take a movie of the thief. Yous tin also hibernate Cerberus from the app drawer so people don't suspect that it'southward in that location, remote beat into your device, use it with Wear OS, and tape audio from the mic.

There is a free trial. Afterwards that, y'all can buy a single license for $5 per year and upwardly to ten devices for $43 per twelvemonth. Unfortunately, this app isn't available in Google Play anymore considering of Google'southward draconian permission policies, and so you accept to download straight from Cerberus.

Google Maps is a surprisingly decent choice for this kind of stuff, but it does require some setup beforehand. Y'all can share your location with loved ones in Google Maps and they can employ the family locator tool in the app to find your phone's verbal location. Of course, this requires having friends or family you lot trust plenty with your general location. The steps are pretty uncomplicated and you can detect them in the settings carte du jour. Afterward, if y'all lose your phone, simply inquire your family or friends to use Google Maps to show you where information technology is.

In that location are other location-sharing apps every bit well and nosotros have a list just below the button if you desire to meet more. Google Maps is just a good option since many people use it for navigation anyway.

Prey Anti-Theft

Price: Costless

Prey is an app that's been around for a while that many people trust. Its unabridged purpose is to help you find your phone if it goes missing. Nonetheless, it is as well more lightweight than something like Cerberus. It has basic features similar finding your phone, locking your device, and setting off an warning.

You'll also be able to take pictures to see where your device may exist and gather network information to see where your device has been. It seems to work for most people, and that'due south what really matters. It's non all that dissimilar from Google'due south Detect My Telephone and may function well as a fill-in to that. Information technology'south too completely gratuitous.

Find my telephone apps from carriers

Price: Varies

Almost major carriers (at to the lowest degree in the US) have find my phone apps that you tin can use. Generally, the services cost coin that gets added to your bill every month. Yet, in exchange, the carriers will help you find your phone. We tin can ostend that the three major US carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) have services like these. They cost a varying amount of money. However, if y'all called a customer service rep (like we did), pretty much all of them recommend Google's Find My Phone anyway. What makes these decent options is that you'll be able to call your carrier, and they'll really be able to help.

HTC Account screenshot for the find my phone apps list

Some manufacturers, including HTC, Apple, and Samsung, have find my phone features congenital into their OEM skins. Generally, yous accept to sign upwards for an business relationship through the visitor. Yous can then use that business relationship to notice your telephone. The services are usually gratis, and the phone will unremarkably prompt you to ready these accounts up when you kickoff turn on your phone.

Still, you tin can practise information technology at nigh any fourth dimension. Nosotros know many people don't similar OEM customizations, simply this is i of those features that'south nice to have, fifty-fifty if yous dislike them. At that place isn't a listing of what phones have this feature. Nosotros recommend digging around your Settings to look into it. Worst case, y'all tin can always autumn back on Google's Find My Device app. Nosotros know for certain that Samsung devices have an above-boilerplate Find My Phone office built-in to your Samsung business relationship.

Other find my phone methods

Okay, so your phone has been stolen, and you didn't have any of these apps installed and set up. That's not good news. However, there are nevertheless a few additional things that you can do to try to get your device back.

Seriously, effort Google's Discover My Device

This should be the beginning thing anybody with a Google-enabled Android phone does. Unlike most, the Find My Telephone app is built directly into Google's Android. That ways those with an Amazon Burn down phone or some other not-Google device won't have this choice. Unless nosotros missed something (or if your OEM disabled it for some reason), Find My Phone should be enabled by default for well-nigh people. Thus, every bit long as your location is enabled, Google should be able to detect your phone. Fifty-fifty if yous don't have location enabled, Find My Telephone can ring, lock, and wipe your phone for you.

Click here to visit the Notice My Phone website to try to rails down your phone. You'll need to be logged into the same Google business relationship on the computer as you are on your phone. You can also click here to learn more well-nigh Find My Telephone.

Try all the usual stuff

There's a certain process that comes with losing a cell phone. Without any system or app in place, your best bet is to do the aforementioned old stuff. Phone call or text your phone to endeavour to reach out to the person who might have information technology. Believe it or not, that does work sometimes. Sometimes reaching out and letting the other person know that you plan on taking activity can scare them into returning the phone somewhere. Alternatively, y'all might run into a good Samaritan who will just give it back.

Send your own phone a text or phone telephone call from someone else'due south telephone (a friend or family fellow member). Whoever has your phone tin can still respond phone calls. Unless you take them disabled, notifications can also show up on lock screens without unlocking the phone (on devices running Lollipop or college). Thus, there is a line of advice that you tin can endeavour to take advantage of.

The world has some proficient people in it. Phone call your lost telephone and see if whoever constitute it returns information technology.

Additionally, you tin retrace your steps to see if you left it somewhere. Check lost and establish bins or customer service desks at stores you visited. Caput back over to your friend'south firm to brand sure it's not stuck in the couch. Go back to where you lot parked to make sure it didn't fall out of your pocket when you got out of the car. We understand you lot're upset and a little frazzled, but it'southward of import to keep a calm head and brand sure yous've covered all the bases. It's a lame suggestion, we know, but we're trying to cover all of the bases here.

Report your telephone lost or stolen

You should definitely written report your phone lost or stolen. Doing and then volition deny list the ESN or IMEI of your phone, making things hard for the thief. Most carriers won't touch a phone with a bad ESN/IMEI number. This dramatically reduces the value of the phone. Plus, the phone will end to operate as normal so that the thief won't be making phone calls, texts, or surfing Facebook on your dime.

Short of leaving the country or making dramatic hardware modifications, the phone is useless; unless the thief intends on using it as a Wi-Fi-simply device at abode. A thief may try to activate your phone, meet that they can't, and just leave it at that place and walk away. It'south not something that happens often, though.

Immediately reporting the phone stolen to your carrier puts the telephone on a cake listing and makes life hard for the thief.

The FCC as well recommends reporting the theft to the police. That fashion, you lot have documentation that proves the prison cell telephone was stolen. The cops won't launch an investigation into a missing phone, only it'south good to have it on the record just in case. Additionally, with the ESN or IMEI number in their possession, the police would be able to return your device if they happened to find information technology.

Change your passwords immediately

This one goes without saying. Your phone remains logged into your Google business relationship, Facebook, and potentially even other apps. Thankfully, about cyberbanking apps log you out after a menstruum of time fifty-fifty if you didn't force close out of the app, just those with password managers may find them to a double-edged sword in this instance. Nonetheless, it's good do to modify the password on every business relationship you have. That way, the thief doesn't go access to all of your personal information. Those with Google's two-gene hallmark will effectively lock a thief out of every Google service immediately subsequently a countersign reset.

Information technology's annoying, but the proliferation of auto-fill password managers can also turn a lost phone into a key to your unabridged life.

You'll likewise desire to deauthorize your device. Here's the link for how you can do that with your Google business relationship. Some apps, like Spotify and Netflix, allow you to sign every device out of your business relationship from their web version. Practise this for as many services as you can. That locks up your accounts tightly. It's not much, but it's 1 less thing to worry about. Some devices, like Samsung phones, accept a function that erased all of your user data when your password is entered in wrong too many times. Nosotros recommend enabling that as soon as possible if yous yet can.

Get a Vesture Os smartwatch

Okay, and so this is more of a preemptive thought. Google'due south Habiliment Os (formerly Android Wear) connects your telephone to your wrist at all times with a Bluetooth connectedness. The neat thing is that your watch will get basics when you lose connection with your phone. Thus, y'all get updates almost immediately equally presently every bit you walk away. Additionally, there are Find My Phone apps for Wear OS devices. They permit you ring or vibrate your telephone. Thus, when you lose your phone, your watch freaks out, and when you re-establish a connection, you tin make your phone freak out to find it. Many tin't figure out a lot of reasons to have a smartwatch. This is one of the good ones.

Endeavor Google Maps with trusted family unit or friends

Google Maps has a feature to share your location with other people. You lot can turn this on and leave information technology on for good. Of course, we simply recommend this selection with trusted family unit or friends, but it's a decent way to find a lost phone. Follow these instructions from Google, and that's information technology. Then, if your phone goes missing, the other person can employ their phone to track yours. Few people would think to check Google Maps as a tracking method.

Additionally, if you allow Google Maps log your location, you can check your Google Maps Timeline (link). It'll bear witness you where your telephone has gone since information technology left your person. This only works if yous enable information technology, but it'southward enabled by default for virtually people already. This can be an excellent method for tracking down your lost or stolen phone.

If we missed any of the best find my phone apps or other notice my phone methods, tell us most them in the comments. You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.