Getting Comfortable With The Basics

Find, Lock, or Erase a Lost Phone, Tablet, or Computer

Find and Secure Apple Devices 
Find Your Lost or Stolen Android Phone 
Remotely find, lock, or erase 

Whether your device is lost or stolen, you can track, lock, and wipe it. Don’t wait until you’ve lost your hardware to think about this; these features need to be enabled ahead of time. If you misplaced an iPhone or Android phone, tablet, or watch, you can find, lock, or erase it, if you've set up "Find My iPhone" on your Apple devices or added a "Google Account" to your Android devices.

Bring the following to the presentation:

  • All of your devices – iPhone, iPad, Mac – Your Apple ID (also called iCloud ID) and password
  • Android phones and tablets users you'll need Gmail name and password  
  • If you have only one Apple or Android device, then you must also bring your laptop (doesn't’ have to be an Apple product) 

Find and Secure Apple Devices

iPhone Users – Do you Know How to ‘Find My iPhone’?

OK, we’ve all done this. Left our iPhone in a jacket pocket or dropped it under the car seat. Lost our iPad somewhere. Now we go crazy tearing things apart, calling the phone repeatedly. We can solve this for you.

Apple has a great feature in all of their devices to help you locate a missing or stolen iPhone, iPad, or laptop. Are your settings correct so you can use this feature if needed? Come see a demonstration of ‘Find my iPhone’ and see how it can quickly help you. Then get individual assistance to be sure your device settings are correct.

Track and find your missing Apple device

When you turn on Find My iPhone, iCloud can help you get your missing device back. And if your device is ever lost or stolen, Activation Lock keeps your information safe and makes it hard for anyone to use or sell it.

 

Android Phones and Tablets

Find Your Lost or Stolen Android Phone

Android’s built-in Android Device Manager allows you to track, lock, and wipe lost Android phones and tablets. You must enable this feature on each Android device you own.

Find, Lock, or Erase a Lost Android Device Using Google Website

If you lose an Android phone, tablet, or Wear watch, you can find, lock, or erase it. If you've added a Google Account to your Android device, Find My Device is automatically turned on.

To use Find My Device, your lost device must:

  • Be turned on
  • Be signed in to a Google Account
  • Be connected to mobile data or Wi-Fi
  • Be visible on Google Play
  • Have Location turned on
  • Have Find My Device turned on

Add an account to your device

  1. Open your device's Settings app Settings app.
  2. Tap Users & accounts and then Add account
  3. Tap the type of account you want to add.
    • To add your Google Account, tap Google. When you sign in with a Google Account, the email, contacts, calendar events, and other data associated with that account automatically sync with your device.
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions.
  5. If you're adding accounts, you may need to enter your device's pattern, PIN, or password for security.

Lost Android Wear watches must also be running Android Wear 2.0 and up.

Learn how to make sure that your device can be found if it gets lost.

Tip: If you've linked your phone to Google, you can find or ring it by searching for find my phone on google.com.    


Remotely find, lock, or erase

  1. Go to android.com/find and sign in to your Google Account.
  2. If you have more than one device, click the lost device at the top of the screen.
  3. The device gets a notification.
  4. On the map, see about where the device is.
    • The location is approximate and might not be accurate.
    • If your device can't be found, you'll see its last known location, if available.
  5. Pick what you want to do. If needed, first click Enable lock & erase.
    • Play sound – Rings your device at full volume for 5 minutes, even if it's set to silent or vibrate.
    • Lock – Locks your device with your PIN, pattern, or password. If you don't have a lock, you can set one. To help someone return your device to you, you can add a message or phone number to the lock screen.
    • Erase – Permanently deletes all data on your device (but might not delete SD cards). After you erase, Find My Device won't work on the device.
      Note: If you find your device after erasing, you'll likely need your Google Account password to use it again. Learn about device protection.

Find with an app

  1. On another Android phone or tablet, open the Find My Device app. If the other device doesn't yet have the app, get it on Google Play.
  2. Sign in.
    • If your own device is lost, tap Continue as [your name].
    • If you're helping a friend, tap Sign in as guest and let your friend sign in.
  3. Follow the same steps as for the website.

How to Remotely Track Any Lost Smartphone, Tablet, or PC by How-To-Geek

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