Losing your cell phone or forgetting where you placed it can happen to anyone. It’s really difficult not to panic in such a situation and focus on finding your phone.
If you have recently lost your android phone in airplane mode and don’t know how to find it, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will be listing some effective methods that you can use to find your lost android phone.
What happens when your phone is in Airplane mode?
When you turn on the airplane mode, your phone’s Cellular, Wi-fi, and Bluetooth connections are disabled. This means that you can no longer make calls, use the internet or connect to a device. The following things will also get disabled on your phone:
- GPS
- Emergency calls
- Emails
- Weather Updates
- Online video, music, and games
The Mobile data stays disabled as long as the Airplane mode is on, but Wi-fi and Bluetooth connections can be enabled by turning them on manually.
Can you And how to find a lost android phone on airplane mode?
Yes, you can find your phone even on airplane mode if any of the following features are enabled on it:
- Offline Finding
- Google Find my Device
- Googles Photo location
- Google Timeline
- GPS Tracking Apps
- DropBox
What is Offline finding, and how Does it work?
The Offline finding is a feature in Samsung Galaxy phones that lets you find your phone using another device even if your Android Smartphone is on airplane mode.
In order for this to work, the device you’re using and your lost phone should have an active internet connection. You will also need to know the username and password of your phone’s Samsung account and enter it in findmymobile.samsung.com.
If airplane mode is on, but Wi-fi is also enabled, then you can use the following findmymobile features to find your phone:
- Ring: If you press on the ring, your phone will ring for 1 minute at its highest volume, even if it’s silent or vibrating.
- Lock: You can also select the lock option to secure your phone with a pin code and display your phone number on the screen so someone can contact you if they find your phone. This feature will also prevent someone from powering off your phone.
- Track Feature: You will get to know the GPS location of your lost phone on Google maps.
- Erase Data: If you have some private data on your phone or SD card and don’t want it to be seen by anyone else, you can factory reset your phone by selecting the erase data option. But remember, you won’t be able to control your phone anymore after doing this.
- Back-Up: You can also back up data into your Samsung cloud by using this option.
- Retrieve calls/ messages: Upto 50 calls and messages can be retrieved from your phone.
- Extend battery life: To prevent your phone from dying, you can also select the extended battery life option to turn on the maximum power-saving mode. Remember that you won’t be able to back up data if maximum power saving mode is enabled.
If the Wi-fi in your lost phone is disabled, you won’t be able to do any of these things and will only find the last location data of your phone.
How to Enable Offline Finding on Samsung Galaxy Phone?
Here’s how you can enable Offline Finding on your phone:
- Go to mobile Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Biometrics and security.
- Find and turn on Find my mobile.
- Now press on Find my mobile, and in its sub-menu, enable the following:
- Remote unlock
- Send last location
- Offline finding
Now that everything is enabled, you will be able to find your phone even if it’s on airplane mode.
Find Your Phone with Google and its services.
All those users who don’t have a galaxy phone can use Google and its services to find their phone if it gets lost. Below are a few Google services that can help you find your phone.
Use Google’s Find My Device to find your phone
To find your mobile on Google Find My Device, you need to meet the following requirements:
- You need to have a google account.
- Your lost device needs to be connected to that google account.
- Allow Find My Device to locate your device. (It is turned on by default)
- Enable Find My Device to erase data and lock your device.
Google Find My Device is a simple tool that you can use to track your android phones and tablets. The best thing about this is that its location tracking is enabled by default.
Here’s how you can find your phone with Google Find My Device:
- Visit google.com/android/find and log in to your google account.
- Once the site loads, it will automatically track the location of Your device.
- You can select play sound to make a ring on your phone.
- In the Secure device, you can type a recovery message and phone number, which will be displayed on your phone.
- The Erase Device option will factory reset your phone. You will not be able to track your phone after that.
Though this tool is great, it misses out on some amazing features that Samsung Galaxy Offline Finding offers. Such as Backing up data, extending the phone’s battery life, and retrieving messages and calls.
Find your phone with Google Photos location info
If you think your phone has been stolen, this is the best way to catch your thief. This feature also has some requirements.
- The device must be connected to the internet
- The backup and Sync option must be enabled on Google Photos
- Someone must take pictures with your phone.
All photos will be uploaded in Google Photos if you have enabled the Backup and Sync option. You will get the picture and the location where it was taken. So if unluckily the thief takes his selfie sitting on his couch at home, you can get him caught by the police.
You can find your lost phone with Google photos location by following the steps below:
- Go to photos.google.com and log in to your google account.
- See if any pictures have been uploaded after your phone was stolen.
- If you find an image, click on it.
- Click on the Info icon on the top right side.
- In the appearing sidebar, you will see info related to the image, like when and where it was taken.
Use Google Timeline to find your phone
Here are some requirements to find your phone with Google photos:
- The device should be connected to Google Account
- It should have an active internet connection
- Location reporting and Location History should be activated on your device.
Google Timeline is not like Google Find My Mobile as it doesn’t tell you the exact location of your phone, but you can use its data for different things. Like it can tell you about the different routes that your phone traveled. Even if your phone is switched off, you can use it to know the last location of your phone.
Here’s how you can use Google Timeline to Find your Lost phone:
- Go to timeline.google.com
- Add your google account details
- Select Today
By doing this, Google’s timeline will show you the last location where your phone was taken.
How To Use Dropbox To Find Your Lost Phone
If you have dropbox installed on your phone, you can also use it to Find your thief. Here are a few requirements to find your phone with dropbox:
- The device must be connected to the internet
- Camera Uploads should be enabled on Dropbox
- Someone needs to take a picture with it
Dropbox works just like google photos, but it doesn’t show you the location where the picture was taken. The only way you can find your thief with it is if he takes a selfie which you can then use to get him caught by the police, or if you recognize the place where the picture was taken, you can also go there and catch him.
Here’s how you can see the recent pictures taken by your phone in Dropbox:
- Go to dropbox.com and log in to your account.
- Find and press on photos.
- See if any recent pictures were uploaded.
- Use that picture to trace your thief.
Download a Tracking App to Secure and Find a Lost Phone in the Future
While it’s best to find your lost phone with Google’s Service tool, there are still some third-party apps on the google play store that we suggest you use for additional security.
Lock Watch
Google photos and Dropbox can only help you find your phone after the thief has unlocked your phone and tried to take a picture with it. But the Lock watch app can send you the picture and location of your thief while he is trying to unlock your phone.
Before we discuss more this app, let’s see a few of its requirements:
- Lock Watch App should be downloaded on the mobile
- Your mobile should have internet access
- You must have a lock set up on your phone
- The device should have location access
In the basic version, if the thief makes an incorrect attempt on your lock screen, a picture would be taken from your front camera along with the location and would be sent to your email.
If you buy the premium version, you will get the following additional features:
- You will get an email when a new sim card is inserted
- Multiple photos will be taken on an incorrect login attempt with a one-second delay between each photo
- A 20 second sound clip will also be recorded
- If your phone’s Wi-fi connection is disconnected, emails will be sent as soon as your phone connects to Wi-fi again
Where’s my Droid
Requirements for Using Where’s my Droid
- Where’s my Droid app should be installed on your phone
- Your phone should be connected to Wi-fi
- The location should be enabled on your phone
Where my Droid is almost like Samsung, Find My Device, but you need to pay for the premium version to be able to use all the features. The only thing you can do on the free version is to make a ring on your phone.
The premium version offers the following features
- Locate: Tracks the Location of your mobile
- Camera: Takes front and back photos with or without flash
- Lock: secures your phone with a screen lock
- Wipe: Clears all your phones data
- Contacts: You can see your contacts from here
- Call Logs: Here, you can see recent calls
Here’s how you can track your phone with Where’s My Droid:
- Download the app from the play store.
- Enable all permissions.
- Select the Device name.
- Verify your Email.
- Go to wmdcommander.appspot.com and log in.
Conclusion
We hope you’re reading this article out of pure interest and not because your phone got lost. But even if you did lose your phone, you don’t need to worry as the above-mentioned solutions are effective for tracing lost phones.
