It’s a horrible situation to experience when your phone gets lost, or in the worst case, your phone gets stolen. And from here on, you start googling “how to track the lost android phone?”.
There are various methods available on the Internet for tracking your Android phone. However, in this article, we’re going to be more specific, i.e., how to find a lost android phone that is dead?
Track And Locate Lost Android Smartphones
First of all, an active internet connection is required to keep track of the current location of your Android phone. But if your phone’s battery becomes dead, you may not be able to pinpoint the exact location.
In this case, you can speculate the approximate location using your android phone’s last recorded position and travel route history.
The methods used to locate your Android phones are:
- Google’s Android Device Manager(now Find My Device).
- Google Timeline/Use Location History.
- Use Samsung’s Find My Mobile.
- Use Dropbox ‘Camera Upload’ Feature.
- Use Android Lost Tracking App.
Google’s Android Device Manager(how to find a lost android phone that is dead)
The Find My Device feature, formerly known as Android Device Manager, is Google’s native service to track and locate your Android phones. So you can activate the Find My Device service when you lose your phone. With this feature, you can play sounds on your phone, secure/lock your device, and erase your Android mobile device.
Before moving on to learn more about how to find your lost Android phone using the Find My Device feature, you need to fulfill some preconditions about this Google service. Below are several conditions required for the ‘Find My Device’ feature to work:
- Your phone is linked to your Google Account.
- The phone is turned on(for live location sharing).
- The phone has an active internet connection(mobile data or Wi-Fi).
- The phone is visible on Google Play.
- The device Location service is turned On.
- The ‘Find My Device’ feature is enabled.
How To Enable Or Turn On The Find My Device Feature?
If you have noticed the last condition in the previous section, which says ‘The Find My Device feature is enabled.’ So how to enable this feature?
Note that on multiple Android brands, you can find the Find My Device feature in different locations. For example, Google Pixel’s Find My Device is located in the Security section of the Settings app. While in Samsung, it’s in the Biometric & Security section.
Whatever the Android phone brand you are using, the steps can be generalized as follows:
- Open the Settings app.
- Navigate to the location where the Find My Device feature is located.
- Alternatively, you can type in ‘find my device’ in the Settings search field.
- Also, enable the Device Location service and Google Location Accuracy option.
Read the below specific steps to enable Google Find My Device on Google Pixel and Samsung Android phones for reference:
Enable The Find My Device Feature On Google Pixel
Follow these steps:
- Launch Settings by tapping on the Settings app.
- Navigate to Security-> Find My Device.
- Turn On or Toggle this feature by tapping on it.
Along with the Find My Device feature, you also need to turn on the Location settings on your phone.
- Open Settings.
- Tap on Location.
- Toggle the option On/Off button if the option is turned Off.
Enable the Find My Device Feature On Samsung
- Launch the Settings app.
- Find and tap the ‘Biometrics & Security’ option.
- Tap on the ‘Find My Device’ option, and slide the On/Off button to On.
Similarly, you need to enable the Location function on your Samsung Android phone.
- Navigate to Settings-> Location.
- Tap on the ‘Location Services’ option.
- Further, select the Google Location Accuracy option.
- Keep this option turned On.
How To Find The Device Location Using Google Find My Device Feature?
- Open the default web browser on a PC or phone.
- Visit the website “www.google.com/android/find.”
- Login to your Google account. This Google account is the one that is linked to your phone.
- Select the correct device model you want to locate if the Google Account is linked to multiple devices.
- Suppose your phone is active and connected to the internet. In that case, you can see its current location on Google Maps and other info.
- But if your phone is dead, the map will display the last recorded position and the time since the last location update.
Alternatively, you can also use the Google Find My Device app on another Android phone. Then sign in to your Google Account and track your lost Android phone.
Google Timeline/Use Location History
Another feature that Google has launched is Timeline. The Timeline records the locations where you have traveled. It is your history of visited places or simply location history.
- Open your default web browser.
- Visit the Google Timeline website.
- Log in to your Google account linked to your lost Android phone.
- On the left pane, you can see different periods. Choose the last recorded date.
- In the right pane, Google Maps will display your location using dots. The line connecting the scattered dots is the travel route of your lost Android phone on that particular day.
Note that there are some conditions before using the Google Timeline location history to speculate about your phone’s location.
- Your phone should have an active internet connection before showing the dead status.
- Your phone must have one Google account linked.
- Enable both the Location service and Location Sharing option on your Android phone.
Suppose any one of the above three conditions remains unfulfilled. In that case, you may not be able to use this method to find your Android phone’s location.
Other Methods To Find Your Lost Android Phone That Is Dead
Use Samsung Phone’s Find My Mobile
Find My Mobile is a twin of Google’s Find My Device. But it is only applicable for Samsung Android phones and has a Samsung account. Using this feature, you can track your Samsung device’s current location, provided that your phone has an active connection to the internet. If not, then the phone’s last recorded position will work.
Additionally, you can make your phone ring at full volume, erase your data, keeping your privacy out of reach from others.
- Open the Settings app on your Samsung Android phone.
- Navigate to Biometrics & Security->Find My mobile.
- Tap the button beside the option. It will turn blue when enabled.
- Also, enable the Send Last Location option. This option allows your phone to transmit the device’s last location when the battery percentage falls below the warning limit.
Now that you enabled the Find My Mobile feature on your Samsung Android device. Then let’s proceed with how to find your lost Android phone using this feature.
- First, visit the “findmymobile.samsung.com” website on your default web browser.
- Log in using your Samsung account credentials.
- Once logged in to the Samsung account, you can see the current location of your Samsung device if it is connected to the internet(mobile data or Wi-Fi).
- Or, if your phone is dead, the map will display the last recorded position. Why? Because in the previous section, you have enabled the Send Last Location option
Moreover, Samsung Find My Mobile provides different actions that users can undertake. Ring, track, erase, lock, backup, retrieve calls/messages, etc.
Use Dropbox
Before using Dropbox, you must fulfill some conditions to locate your lost Android phone.
- Your Android phone should have the Dropbox app installed.
- You must have enabled the Dropbox ‘Camera Upload’ feature.
- The phone must have an active internet connection before it becomes dead.
- You must have taken a picture before your Android phone goes dead.
Locating your Android phone using Dropbox’s ‘Camera Upload’ feature works similarly to Google Photos. If the above three conditions are fulfilled, you can use the last uploaded picture to speculate the location of your Android phone from the background of the image.
This solution works best when your phone gets stolen by a thief. If they take pictures or a selfie using the stolen Android phone, it will get uploaded to your Dropbox Cloud account.
The chance of locating your dead Android phone is relatively low. If a picture has been taken just before your Android phone becomes dead. Then there is a high chance of finding your lost android phone.
Unfortunately, Dropbox doesn’t provide the IP address of the Android device from which the picture gets uploaded. This feature is only available on Dropbox PC/Laptop.
Use Android Lost Tracking App
The Android Lost app can be downloaded & installed from the Google Play Store. It is a third-party app that you can use to locate your lost Android phone. Erasing data, erasing SD card data, recording sounds, and remotely taking pictures are extra features of the Android Lost app.
- Download & Install the Android Lost app from Google Play Store.
- Launch the app after the installation is complete.
- Grant Administrator access to the app.
- Visit the Android Lost website.
- Log in to your Google account. The one linked to your lost Android phone.
- Click on the Controls tab. You can use some features such as track, erase, and take pictures remotely. Note that the phone must have an active internet connection.
Alternatively, you can send SMS containing specific action commands from other android phones to your lost Android phone. Using SMS commands, you can remotely control your lost Android phone. Even if your phone doesn’t have an active Internet connection, you can use this feature.
Below are some of the import SMS commands used by Android lost.
- androidlost status (sends back the status)
- androidlost alarm 5 (sounds the alarm for 5 seconds)
- androidlost vibrate 3 (vibrates 3 seconds)
- androidlost wifi start (starts the wifi connection)
- androidlost wifi stop (stops the wifi connection)
- androidlost call 12345678 (calls the number 12345678)
- androidlost hangup (hangs up the active call)
- androidlost recordsound 30 (records 30 seconds from microphone)
- androidlost gps (locates the phone and returns an SMS)
- androidlost lock 1234 (locks the phone to Pincode 1234)
- androidlost unlock (unlocks the phone)
- androidlost erasesdcard (erases the sd card)
- androidlost wipe (wipes the phone)
- androidlost register (records messages and status remotely through your google account)
Conclusion
If you lose your Android phone, and on top of that, your phone is dead. You can try to track your phone using several proven methods. The first thing you can use is Google’s native services like the Find My Device, Google Timeline, Google photos, etc.
Other than that, you can use the Dropbox Camera Upload option and the Samsung brand’s Find My Mobile feature, to help you find your android phone.
