On Spot Techs

By Eric Geier (Our Founder & Owner)

Originally published by Cox Media Group on 8/23/21

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Mobile devices can easily be lost or stolen. They can slip down cushions on a couch or seat. Or you can simply forget them at a friend’s, store or restaurant. The good old trick to help find them is to call it repeatedly with another phone and hopefully the ringer is turned on so you can locate it. But if it’s on silent mode or not close-by, this trick may not help.

If you have a smart phone or tablet that runs Android or an Apple iPhone or iPad, you likely have better phone location abilities.

Nearly all these devices by default enable the remote location features, but you should double check now before you lose the device.

If they are turned on and the device is powered on and connected to the cell service or Wi-Fi, you’re in luck. You can login to your Google or Apple account from another mobile device or a computer and do the following: See device location: You can see the device’s approximate location on a map, so you can see if you’re nearby it.

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Play a sound: You can make the device play a sound even if it is on silent or vibration mode.

Secure the device: You can lock the device with a password if it’s not already password-protected, to keep strangers off the device.

Erase the device: If it doesn’t look like you’ll get the device back and you want to ensure no one accesses your personal data, you can try to remotely erase or wipe the device.

If you have a device running Android, you’d go to this website from another mobile device or a computer: https://www.google.com/ android/find. If you have an Apple product like an iPhone or iPad, you’d go to https:// www.icloud.com/find/.

You can also utilize the location sharing features of Google or Apple to always share your location with trusted family or friends.

That could be for general safety reasons and also used to help you locate your device if it becomes lost or stolen. For those taking care of kids, it’s a great way to track where they are at.

It’s a good idea to ensure you know and verify your Google login or Apple ID and it’s password now, before you lose the device. If there’s any chance you could forget the login details, write them down in a safe spot or safely save on the computer.

I suggest going to the website already mentioned and try to login now and ensure it can remotely locate your device. One reason to do this is because the first time you login you might have to do 2-factor authentication, which is harder if you don’t have your mobile device. If you do have to do 2-factor authentication, ensure you “trust” the browser or computer so you don’t have to do this later when you might not have your device.

I also suggest you review your Google or Apple account details to ensure your email address is correct.

Also, provide recovery or trusted email addresses and/or phone numbers of people that could later help you get into your account if you’re locked out.

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