Find My Device

Find My Device is a feature that allows you to locate your device(s) if you lost it or it was stolen. You must have certain settings on. 

You can use Find My Device on the internet or you can download the app from Google Play Store. It’s not 100% necessary to download on to your phone but it can be helpful if you have multiple devices on multiple accounts because you can view and manage devices much quicker.

To locate, lock, or erase a device:

• The device must be turned on.
• The device needs to be signed into and connected to a Google Account.
• It needs to be connected to Mobile Data or Wi-Fi.
• It needs to be visible on Google Play.
• The devices location needs to be turned on.
• Find My Device needs to be turned on.

Note: All of these conditions need to be met prior to you losing your device or having it stolen. You should also have all of your information backed up on a cloud service so that if this event does occur you can take action immediately. Especially if you cannot get your device back.

Devices 

When you open the app, all of the devices that are linked to your Google Account will appear at the top of the screen and you can toggle through them as needed.

Underneath the map you will see the current device that you are looking at on the map. If you need information on the device, you can tap on the Information Icon (the lower case i in the circle) to see device information.

Play Sound

If you think you may have misplaced you device somewhere near you, you can tap on Play Sound and the device you’re looking for will start to emit a sound so you can locate it.

Secure Device

If you lost your device you can leave a message on the lock screen and a phone number to reach you at if a good samaritan happens to find your device and wants to return it.

Erase Device

From here you can erase your device remotely if you think it was stolen or if you think it will be if someone finds it. 

It is highly recommended that you have your phone backed up to a cloud service and your Google Account for this reason. If information is only stored on your device you will not be able to get it back.

Note: Before you call your wireless carrier to report your device as stolen you will want to erase it first because your phone needs to be connected to service for it to be erased. If you report it stolen first, your wireless carrier will block the phone number and the IMEI (the device ID) and unless the phone magically connects to Wi-Fi you will not be able to remotely erase your phone.

Find My Device Settings

To access Find My Device Settings, open the app and tap on More Settings (the three dots in the top right corner of the app screen) and you will see a few options:

• Switch Accounts

  • If you have devices linked to different Google Accounts you can toggle between accounts from here.

• Refresh

  • This will refresh the map and the devices location so you can see if the device has moved to a different location if you lost it or you think it may have been stolen.

• Rename Device

  • You can remotely rename devices that are connected to your Google Account from here

• Require Sign In

  • You can tap on Require Sign in, if you chose to remember your password on the Find My Device app but you want certain devices to require sign in when the app is accessed.

• Help & Feedback

  • Any additional help you can find here. But hangout with me here and I’ll show you everything.

App Privacy And Security

For more information on App Privacy and Security, click on the links.