Searching for a Needful Gadget: Playing a Detective

(2022) LOST or STOLEN iPhone?? Here’s What You Need To Do! [Video]

Video uploaded by Daniel About Tech on January 5, 2022

Playing a Detective or How to Search for the Gadget You Can’t Do Without

Yes, you (most likely) have guessed correctly: it is yet another argument in favor of the point that losing your gadget is not necessarily the end of the world. Now granted, these days discovering that the device which most likely contains pretty much your entire life, from identity proof to all your life contacts and support networks, is not where you were sure you left it and you can’t seem to place it is a very solid reason for a mighty stress if not a full-on despair. But we are not just doing an empty pep talk when saying that it is still not an immediate reason for attempting any serious (or even slight) self-harm or going into catatonic state. Major as this loss is, it’s not necessarily as irreparable as it looks, and we are going to prove it, right here, right now, by showing you what you can do about it, regardless of whether you are an iPhone believer or Android fan.

Because this – among quite a few other things – is exactly what the GPS trackers are here for. And thankfully, they are now present in both aforesaid platforms (and then some) and included in multiple kinds of devices, from cell phones themselves to tablets and laptops. Of course, this method does require some precaution on your part, but a) nothing is perfect; and b) there should be some limits even on our sacred right of carelessness. In other words, you better activate your Find My feature (in case you are a proud iPhone owner) or your Find My Device app (should you be an Android team follower) well in advance of forgetting or misplacing your electronic pal you-can’t-quite-tell-where.

You better activate your Find My app well in advance of forgetting or misplacing your electronic pal you-can’t-quite-tell-where.

Especially since it is not that much of a bother, in all honesty. All you have to do in iOS is go for your own name in your iPhone’s settings, select “Find My” in the pop-up menu and consequently switch on the location sharing and Find My iPhone. And in Google-friendly Android the process is even faster and easier: just slide your finger down the quick panel and switch on the location symbol. Or, if you are an ardent stickler for settings, there is the location option there as well. Oh yes, and stay in your account at all times (as if you’d ever log out of it, anyway).

And that’s it, job done: with your Find My app in working state, once your mobile goes MIA, you can either look for it on the Find My Device website if it is an Android phone, or use another Apple gadget otherwise… what do you mean you don’t have any more of them, what kind of an Applehead are you then? OK, OK, just kidding, you can do it even on a non-Apple machine, as long as it is online. Of course, on MacOs or iPadOS it’s enough to choose Devices in Find My, and the system will do the rest, displaying the phone’s locale on the map, complete with its address, and explaining how to get there. But you can get the same result on another system too, simply by logging in to your iCloud and tapping All Devices… provided it knows your Apple ID.

And as for the Google’s Find My Device, it might be less accommodating than its Apple’s counterpart (it will only give your mobile’s map location with just a call sound for help, and only when you’ll allow it the access), but there’s one additional – and very important, if you ask us – security option there: you can delete all your info from the phone remotely in case you feel it’s in danger of being misused. Plus, you can choose between two ways of searching for your Android phone if it’s made by Samsung: there is Find My Mobile service coming with those devices. (But don’t complain about “brand perks” just yet: it differs from the Google options in pretty much nothing but name).

What is even better, all this – and some more searching apps, with additional functions, such as iSharing, Life360 or the Family Link by the very same Google – won’t cost you a cent (unless you’ll choose a premium version), while saving you a lot of what no money can buy, from time to nerves. So we seriously hope you have read this before your gadget did a disappearing act on you and still got time to prevent this disappearance from turning permanent.