Well, it turns out you can, you can use email to find it. It’s not magic, it’s simply having your Google account set up, which you surely have. Here the key is not sending an email, it’s using the radar that Google has built in. The first thing is to understand that to nbsp;find my phone with gmail what you’re actually using is the “Find my device” tool, which is linked to that account. If you’ve never gone into settings to activate it, it might not work, but normally it comes activated by default on almost all Androids.
If you have a computer or a friend’s phone, the fastest way is to open the browser and type “Find my device” into Google. Just like that. It’ll ask for your account password and immediately pull up a map. It’s the most direct way to find my phone from gmail, even though you’re actually using Google’s search engine and not your inbox. It once helped me see that mine was in the taxi my wife had just taken, I mean, a lifesaver.
Careful, because not just anything works. To be able to find my phone gmail it has to be turned on, with data or wifi connected and, obviously, location enabled. If it gets stolen and they turn it off right away, you’re left with the last known position. It’s not one hundred percent exact, but it gives you a clue. A lot of people think it’s useless, but I’d rather have an orange dot on a map than have no idea at all.
What many people don’t know is that you can also find my phone through gmail from the phone‘s own settings. If you have another Android device on hand, go into Settings, then Google, and there the security option usually appears. It’s a bit more of a hassle, but if you don’t have a computer nearby, it gets you out of a jam. I’ve done it to help my mother-in-law and it works, although you get lost a bit among so many menus.
If your phone is the Korean brand, you have a bonus. It turns out you can find my samsung phone with gmail just like any other, but on top of that they have their own network. If you activate offline finding, the phone “hitches” onto other Samsungs passing nearby to send its signal. It’s as if it were asking other phones for help. I’ll tell you one thing, it’s not instant by any means, but if you live in a big city, the odds go up a lot.
And if you want to go all out, from the map you don’t just see where it is. You can make it ring even if it’s on silent (ideal for when it falls between the sofa cushions) or directly lock it and send a message to the screen so whoever finds it calls you. There’s also the nuclear option of erasing everything, but keep in mind that then you lose it forever. I’d only do that if you have your ID photo saved on there or something like that.
