Android Phone Hiding From You? ‘Find My Phone’ In Google Search Will Smoke It Out

Here’s a nifty little tip for you Android users out there. While Google already makes available Android Device Manager to locate a lost or stolen smartphone or tablet (after which you can Ring, Lock, or Erase the device), the search giant now has an even easier way accomplish the same task.

All you have to do is type “find my phone” without the quotes into Google’s omnibox and you’ll be presented with a map showing the current location of your smartphone. Of course, the features won’t work if you have Location Services disabled (I ran into some issues getting the feature to work initially, only to realize that my recent update to Lollipop had disabled Location Services). 

Besides giving away your phone’s position, you can also Ring the device. The ringing will last for 5 minutes at full volume or until you press the device’s power button. You won’t however, have the ability to Lock or Erase the device when using a simple web query.

So while it’s not as full featured as the Android Device Manager, it will work in the pinch. And you don’t have to install any additional software to get it to work.