Have you ever lost your phone? When you did, was it ever located? If not, has there ever been a case where someone with bad intentions might find that phone, break into it, and… well, you know the rest of that story. Based on Identity theft awareness:
- About 12% of phone thefts result in bill fraud.
- 9% lead to identity theft.
- About 60% of smartphone theft victims report it to the police.
- 10% of victims make no effort to recover their phone because they don’t know where to start looking.
- Victims of phone theft are likely to pay $500-$1000 to get their personal data back.
- 44% of burglaries happen because victims leave their phones in public.
- 14% of phones are stolen from burglaries.
- 11% of phones are stolen directly from the owner.
- Phones are more likely to be stolen in the middle of the day.
- Most common places of phone theft include restaurants, bars, nightclubs, workplaces, public transport and streets.
The only positive outcome is if the person who found the phone returns it to you. I actually had that happen (on one occasion I lost my phone). I’m not saying it won’t happen, but the reality is that you should plan accordingly.
One of the first things you can do is register your phone in Google’s Find My Device feature. It’s free and the benefits you get from it are important.
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As far as what you get from this feature, the list is pretty short but very engaging. Once your phone is registered in Find My Device, you can:
- Send audio to it — in case you know it’s in the building but you don’t know where.
- Lock your device and sign out of Google.
- Erase the device.
Once upon a time, you could also change the password for a device. But because of new features, such as biometrics, that is no longer possible. Even without that feature, the peace of mind you can get from issue factory reset For a lost phone it’s worth the few seconds you spend turning on the feature.
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That’s right, it’s very simple. Let me show you how.
What is Find My Device and how to enable it for your Android phone
This will work on devices running Android 8.0 or later, so these steps should apply unless your phone is more than two years old.
The first thing to do is open the Settings app, which can be done by swiping down twice for the Notification Ball and tapping the gear icon, or opening the Settings app from the App Drawer.
In the Settings app, you’ll see a Security section. Tap that entry.
Privacy options are easily accessible from within Settings. Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
In the Security page, you’ll see a Find my device list. Tap that list.
To enable this feature, you must first tap Find My Device. Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
In the results page, tap the ON/OFF slider to Use Find My Device until it is in the ON position.
Enable Find My Device in Android 13. Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Once you’ve turned on Find My Device, open a web browser on your desktop or laptop and go to https://www.google.com/android/find. Give the service some time to register your device and it should show up. When you see it listed, assume you’re connected to your phone, whether you know where it is or not.
List my Pixel 7 Pro in Find My Device. Photo: Jack Wallen/ZDNET
When to use Find My Device
The truth is that we all lose our phones from time to time. Usually those phones can be located pretty quickly but if you’ve scoured your home, car, and place of business, it might be a good time to visit the website above and take action. .
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If you think you might know the location of your phone but can’t access it right away, I strongly suggest you go to the website and secure your phone. If you’re pretty sure it was stolen, I wouldn’t hesitate to erase the device. And that last point is key — don’t hesitate. Even if you delete and find it, you can always sign back in to your Google account and some of your data will be restored (though not all).
The Find My Device feature should be considered a must-have. Make sure your Android phone is signed in to the service, so if your phone is lost or stolen, the option to erase it is one click.
