What is Google Find My Device? (Android Device Manager)
We can´t live without our smartphones. Everywhere we go, we carry them around like as if they were an extension of us. Most of us agree on that – that smartphones have become part of our lives.
About 2 billion monthly users run on Android OS today. For a fact, Android is an open source software, which means that anybody who has skills in developing can do whatever they want with it. It can be good or bad. We don’t know.
With the rise of malware attacks today, Google has put security as the top priority for this open source software. Google introduced Google Find My Device to allow users to control their Android smartphones remotely from the web or a friend´s Android phone to locate, reset and erase data in case it is lost or stolen.
Google Find My Device was formerly known as Android device manager, but later on rebranded to Google Find My Device in 2017, similar to the tracking app on iOS called Find my iPhone. This is a relief for users who just love using Android and want to protect their data from falling in the wrong hands.
For those who are hearing about Google Find My Device for the first time, this article will help you get a better understanding of what it is all about and how it works. To those who already know it, I hope you can walk away with something new.
Let´s get started!
What is Google Find My Device
Google Find My Device is a feature on your Android phone that provides security in case it is lost or stolen by remotely locating, locking or erasing the data in it.
Note: You can use Google Find My Device when you are connected to a Google Account.
How to activate Google Find My Device (2 Steps)
It is simple to activate the settings on your phone, so that you can start remotely control it from anywhere. Follow these 2 steps and you´re ready to go.
Note: We used the Redmi 4A to demonstrate this procedure.
1. Turn on Location Access
- First head to Settings and tap Additional settings
- On Additional Settings window, tap Privacy
- On the Privacy window, go to Location
- On the Location window, you can choose a location mode you want. If you choose High accuracy, you’ll need to use GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks to determine location. But if you decide that you want to save your battery, you can choose the Battery Saving mode. With this, you use Wi-Fi and mobile networks to determine location. If you only want to use GPS to determine location, then set it to Device Only.
2. Enable Google Security Settings
- To enable Google security setting, open settings. Scroll down and tap Google.
- From the Google window, Tap Security
- In the Security tab, head to Find My Device to remotely locate your phone
- When you are there, turn it on. You’ll be given turn three options to choose from, select one.
To Find My Device with App
Must Read: How to Find Your Phone Using Google Find My Device
Using Web
https://www.google.com/android/find
Using Google
Go to Google. On the search tab, type find my device
What does Google Find My Device do?
Now you know what this security feature on your Android Phone is. It is high time we discuss what it actually does when you´re use it for the following:
1. To locate
If you lose your phone and don´t remember the last place you misplace it, simply go to Google Find My Device and sign in your Google account. Once you are there, it will show the current location of your device using Google Maps. You will also see when it was last seen and battery percentage.
You can use the Google Maps to navigate through the area and once you are nearby, you can tap the option play sound. This will allows your phone to ring for 5 minutes on the loudest volume even if it is set to silence.
2. To lock
When you select secure device, this will automatically allow you to lock your phone remotely by simply setting a new password so that no one can access it. It will also display a message on the screen to call back in case a stranger finds it.
3. To Erase
If there is no hope of finding you´re device, you can simply choose to erase it. This will delete all the data in your phone so that no one can get their hands on it. This however, should be your last resort.
Once you have wiped your Android phone, you cannot access it remotely on Google Find My Device anymore.
People who use Google Find My Device on Android also used an Android Smart watch to find it via voice command.
What Users Are Asking About Google Find My Device
1. Will Google Find My Device work if the phone is off?
Google Find My Device is effective if the device is turned on, but it is not very useful if the thief turned it off. Furthermore, to ensure data safety, data must be wiped remotely when it is switched on.
2. Does Google Find My Device work without internet?
Yes, it has the ability to track the location of your phone without an internet connection. With GPS activated on your phone, you can still get a fix from the satellite and your cached memory. Note that the accuracy of the fix depends on some factors that are beyond your control.
3. Does Google Find My Device erase SD Card?
No, it will not delete data stored in your SD card, therefore we recommend not saving any sensitive information on your phone´s SD card.
Conclusion
This article has told you everything you need to know about Google Find My Device and its wonderful features that enable you to locate your lost or stolen smartphone.
I hope this article has helped you know how to protect your data from thieves. If you are using Google Find My Device to secure your phone, we would love to hear how it has been useful to you in the comment section below.
Next Read: Find My Phone Android
“Google Security”? What a wonderful joke. That you don’t seem to find this an oxymoron worries me.
Of course, google would never use any of the information it harvests for nefarious purposes, would it?
If google is my only option for finding my missing phone, I’ll call it lost and move on. There is nothing I trust about google (or, for that matter, facebook) and I do not use it in any way.