Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

How to track an Android phone, tablet, or smartwatch

Losing your mobile device — especially a smartphone — is the ultimate stressor. Our devices carry the bulk of our private information and potentially sensitive data. If lost or stolen, that can mean disastrous or heartbreaking consequences. If you use an Android device, there are ways to find its location if it ends up out of your hands. Here are some handy resources that you can use as long as your phone is on and connected to a mobile or Wi-Fi network. Note that we strongly discourage using phone trackers to follow people or for any illicit purpose.

Built-in options

A number of manufacturers offer their own way of tracking phones. Here are the options from Google (for any Android phone) and Samsung (for Samsung devices).

Find My Device

Google’s Find My Device app is a must-have for Android users and one of our favorite Android apps. If you’ve added a Google Account to your Android device, then Find My Device will be enabled automatically. You can check that the service is running by going to Settings > Google > Security > Find My Device and making sure Find My Device is toggled on. The following sequence was recorded on an LG V40 ThinQ running Android 10. One search tracks all devices you’re signed into. Features include tracking your phone, tablet, or smartwatch via GPS, and remotely erasing, playing a sound, or locking your device.

The app makes it simple to locate your lost device, and it’s free to download from the Play Store. After you install the app, it will ask you to log in and make sure location tracking is enabled. Once the app is installed and running, you can locate your device, as long as it’s turned on and connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data.

To track your device, you can also use Find My Device’s website in any browser, whether on your computer or another smartphone. If you’re logged into your Google account, you can type “find my phone” into the Google search box. If your lost device has access to the internet and location tracking is on, you’ll find out where it is. One of the outstanding features here is that you can lock the device and write a message with an accompanying phone number. That way, if someone finds or has your device, all they have to do is press the Call Me button on the screen to call the specified phone number. You can also play a (very) loud sound or erase the phone remotely.

Android Find My feature for tracking your phone.

If you use a browser to track down your smartphone, go ahead and sign in to your Google account. Since you’ll usually only access this service when your device is missing, you’ll probably be logging in from a device that belongs to someone else. Don’t forget to log out of all your accounts when you’re done. If you leave yourself logged in, anyone who accesses that device later will be able to track your phone. It takes about a minute to download the app and start setting it up. Since it’s incredibly easy and user-friendly, it should honestly be your go-to for recovering your lost Android smartphone.

Find My Mobile

Samsung offers the Find My Mobile phone locating service for Samsung users with phones like the Samsung Galaxy S10. Only people with a Samsung account can use this particular feature. Check your settings to find the Find My Mobile option. Navigate to Settings > Biometrics and Security > Find My Mobile. Once you’re there, switch the toggle on. From here, you also need to choose whether or not you want to enable the Remote Unlock and Send Last Locations settings. In the Remote Unlock setting, Samsung will record your PIN, password, or pattern, allowing you to unlock your device even if you happen to forget. Once this is set up, you can control your phone even remotely. The Send Last Location setting is an important one, as it senses when your battery is about to die and sends your last known location to Samsung’s servers. Samsung users also have a second option to log in to Samsung’s website on any browser to trace their lost phone or tablet.

Apps to find your phone

If you can’t find any native way to find your phone, you can use third-party phone-tracking apps to do the job. They will probably hit you with a subscription fee or save your information to their server, so it’s a trade-off you’ll have to think about when trying to find your phone. Make sure to thoroughly read the privacy policy before signing up if you choose to use a third-party app.

Life360: Family Locator & GPS Tracker

Geared toward families, this free-to-use app lets you keep track of where all your family members are by tracking their smartphones. This way, even if one member loses their phone, others can instantly find out where it is.

Google Play

Cerberus

Cerberus Phone Security for preventing data theft from a stolen phone.

If you are worried about your lost phone getting stolen, Cerberus may be the best phone tracking app for you. It offers a variety of security features that let you access your lost or stolen device remotely. You can sound alarms, wipe the data, lock your device, and even take photos from the front camera to detect any thieves. It’s a family app with different options for adults and children. The price starts at $5 to $6 a month for tracking one device and goes up to $50 for 10 devices.

Cerberus

Where’s My Droid

Where’s My Droid is a free app (with paid options) for finding your phone. It lets you look for your device by making it ring, taking pictures of the surroundings, tracking GPS location, setting a password, and wiping phone data as a last resort. Note that most of these features are only available for paid members, so you’ll likely have to spend some money to get the most out of this app.

Google Play

Editors' Recommendations

Simon Hill
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Simon Hill is an experienced technology journalist and editor who loves all things tech. He is currently the Associate Mobile…
This new Android tablet has an e-ink screen that destroys the Kindle
Tab C Ultra by Onyx

Onyx is one of the few brands that seem bullish about the potential of e-ink screens, and it makes fairly impressive products while at it. I recently got my hands on the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra with a monochrome e-ink display and was pleasantly surprised by its unique appeal. Now, the company is taking a big leap with a new variant that replaces the black and white screen with a full-color e-ink panel on its latest tablet — something the Kindle has never been able to achieve.

Say hello to the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C, an Android tablet that stands out with its 10.3-inch color e-ink screen. This one boosts the resolution to 2480 x 1860 pixels, offering a higher pixel density compared to its monochrome sibling. Onyx has deployed what it calls a Kaleido3 screen on its latest tablet, which promises “soothing and soft tones.” The electronic ink panel looks and feels more like a newspaper than a glossy screen and also happens to be easier on the eyes without minimal risks of visual fatigue.

Read more
The best parental control apps for iPhone and Android
best parental control apps

One big new aspect of parenting in the 21st century is keeping an eye on your child in both physical space and cyberspace. Children now are more online than any other generation before, and while that offers a lot of benefits, there are dangers and problems with that too. Controlling what your child does on the internet isn’t always easy, but there are a variety of tools you can use to make the task less difficult. Parental control apps are the best way to make sure your child is safe while they spend time online, and most also come with ways to track and limit the amount of time your children spend on screens and online.

There are lots of parental control apps available on Android and the iPhone, so how do you know which one to trust? That's why we've put together this list that includes both in-built options and powerful subscription-based services, so you can make the choice that is right for you and for your kids.

Read more
Your next Samsung phone might ditch Google Search for Bing
The screens on the Galaxy A54 and Galaxy S23 Ultra.

When you buy an Android phone, you expect Google Search to be installed out of the box as the default search engine. But that may not be the case when you buy your next Samsung phone. According to a report over the weekend, Samsung might abandon Google Search in favor of Bing as the default search engine for future Samsung Galaxy phones.

The possibility that Samsung is considering replacing Google Search with Bing on its smartphones sent Google into a "panic," according to the New York Times, Why? As the report explains, "An estimated $3 billion in annual revenue is at stake with the Samsung contract." If Samsung doesn't want to keep using Google for the default search engine on its phones, that's $3 billion per year Google will no longer get. And if Samsung decides it wants Bing instead of Google, who knows how many other companies will follow suit and do the same.
Why Samsung wants Bing over Google

Read more