How to locate your lost Apple/Android device

I pull this together from various sites in hopes it'll help some people. I used it to find my wife's phone on a horse trail. Also, a lady at our old day care couldn't find her phone. She knew one of the kids took it. Her coworker let her log into "find my iphone" and picked the "make sound" option. The sound startled the kids and she was able to find the phone very quickly.

Android

·         Open your browser to Google’s Android Device Manager site:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjDgcq1o-fOAhVFVywKHZkKCxQQFggeMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fandroid%2Fdevicemanager&usg=AFQjCNHZsjhLJlWH20acjVaFY4WrjIqR2w

·         Enter in your Google id and password

·         On the next screen, it’ll automatically start searching for the device and show the last known location and the last time it was on line.

·         If you have multiple devices on the same account, click on the little triangle and select the device you’re trying to locate.

·         Ring will ring the phone at full volume for a short time (useful if you know your close but can’t pin point it.)

·         Lock option will lock the phone with a code and give you an option to put in a phone number of where you can be reached at or a message.

·         ERASE - will factory reset your device immediately. All data will be wiped.
·         Depending on what Android version you are on -- if "Android Device Protection" (Lollipop and up) is enabled -- two things map happen.
·         No Android Device Protection: Phone is factory reset, all data is lost. Whoever finds it gets a blank phone. No passwords or locks.
·         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB3UASnCzsg
You can no longer locate your phone via GPS in Device Manager.
·         With ADP: Phone is factory reset, all data is lost. When it is turned on again, whoever finds it is prompted to log in with your Google Account.
·         If they don't know your Google Password, the device is semi-worthless to them.
·         You can no longer locate your phone via GPS in Device Manager.
·         ERASE - will factory reset your device immediately. All data will be wiped.
·         Depending on what Android version you are on -- if "Android Device Protection" (Lollipop and up) is enabled -- two things map happen.
·         No Android Device Protection: Phone is factory reset, all data is lost. Whoever finds it gets a blank phone. No passwords or locks.
·         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB3UASnCzsg
You can no longer locate your phone via GPS in Device Manager.
·         With ADP: Phone is factory reset, all data is lost. When it is turned on again, whoever finds it is prompted to log in with your Google Account.
·         If they don't know your Google Password, the device is semi-worthless to them.
·         You can no longer locate your phone via GPS in Device Manager.

·         ERASE (use as a last resort) - will factory reset your device immediately. All data will be wiped. When the device is erased, you can no longer locate it by GPS.

o    Depending on what Android version you are on -- if "Android Device Protection" (Lollipop and up) is enabled -- two things map happen.

§  No Android Device Protection: Phone is factory reset, all data is lost. Whoever finds it gets a blank phone. No passwords or locks. You can no longer locate your phone via GPS in Device Manager.

§  With ADP: Phone is factory reset, all data is lost. When it is turned on again, whoever finds it is prompted to log in with your Google Account. If they don't know your Google Password, the device is semi-worthless to them. You can no longer locate your phone via GPS in Device Manager.

Apple

·         Apple has more information on “find my iPhone” at this site: http://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my-iphone.html

·         Install “Find my iPhone” on another Apple device or lot into iCloud:https://www.icloud.com/

·         Log in with your Apple id/iCloud id

·         If you’re logging into the iCloud site, click on the “Find iPhone” icon

·         It will automatically show the last location of your device

o    If you have multiple devices on this account, click on the device that’s at the top middle of the page (tablet0000’s iPad in this example) and select the device you’re looking for.

o    Play sound option will play a sound from the Apple device. (useful if you know your close but can’t pin point it.)

o    Lost mode will lock the device with a passcode and lets you put in a custom message on the screen.

o    Erase iPad/iPhone (use as a last resort)- After you set a device to erase

§  If your device is online, the remote erase begins. A confirmation email is sent to your Apple ID email address.

§  If your device is offline, the remote erase begins the next time it’s online.

§  If you erase then find your iOS device, you can restore the information on the device using iCloud Backup (if backup was turned on before you erased it) or iTunes. For more information, see iCloud storage and backup overview, or the “Safety, handling, and support” section of the iOS user guide for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. For a device that doesn’t use the latest iOS version, get the user guide for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from the Apple Support manuals website.

§  If you erase then find your Mac, you can restore the information on the Mac using a Time Machine backup, if you have one. For more information, see the Apple Support article Recover your entire system. If you set an EFI firmware password on your Mac before it was lost, then erase it and later find it, you may need to take your Mac to an authorized repair center to unlock it before you can use it again.