Can a phone be tracked and located even while it is off? Although it’s challenging, there are a few things you can attempt to find your lost phone.
One of the worst experiences is losing one’s phone, particularly in light of how much of our lives are digitally stored on them, including contacts, wallets, and even vehicle keys. If your phone has a passcode, you can relax.
By pinging the GPS position of your misplaced Android phone, there are clear services in place to assist you. What happens, however, if your mobile phone is off? Is it still possible to trace it?
In This Article
Can You Track a Turned-Off Phone?
Yes, in a nutshell; in a longer response, it depends on how long it has been off. When your phone shuts off, it ceases connecting with the cell towers, which also applies to all GPS activities. To improve your chances of finding your phone, you must move rapidly.
If your phone has been stolen, reporting it to the police can improve your chances of recovering it using the IMEI number.
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Locate Your Android Phone With Find My Device
Google’s Find My Device feature allows users to locate any Android device that is connected to a Google account. It functions similarly to Apple’s Find My app and lets you lock or delete the data on your lost Android phone in addition to pinging it.
- Go to the Find My Device page on a computer or another phone.
- Connect to the same Google account that is associated with your lost or stolen phone.
- To the left, you can see compatible devices, and to the right, you can see the last known location of your missing Android phone.
You will only be able to see the position where your phone last pings Google, assuming it is off. If your phone was lost as opposed to stolen, it could be sufficient. You can quickly ping, lock, or factory reset your phone using Find My Device in case someone discovers it and turns it on.
Use Google Maps Timeline to Retrace Your Steps
Using the Google Maps Timeline to check where you’ve gone is another brilliant method for finding a missing mobile phone.
Given how often we use our phones to locate directions and commute, there is a good likelihood that Google Maps maintains a thorough record of your phone’s travels—as long as Location History is turned on.
Every route you’ve travelled and every store you’ve visited are shown in Google Maps Timeline. This is a fantastic method to find your lost or forgotten Android smartphone, even though this is not how it is supposed to be used.
- Open Google Maps on a computer or mobile device and log in with your Google account.
- Choose Your Timeline from the choices by clicking the menu button. A chronology of your most recent excursions will appear after clicking this.
- Use the drop-down options to choose the day that your phone was lost to focus your search.
- You could finally find where you dropped your phone by going back over your previous actions.
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Use Third-Party Apps to Track Your Phone
You won’t likely be able to find your phone using Google’s services if you don’t often use Google Maps on your phone and have background data turned off for it.
Thankfully, a few applications and services continue to periodically ping your last known position. One excellent example of this is Snapchat.
If you have the option enabled, you can ask your friends to check for your most recent locations since Snapchat allows users to observe another user’s location.
You can view your most recent photographs from another device and examine the image metadata for the place it was shot if you shoot a lot of photos and use Google Photos to store them. Once again, you must have the camera app’s location feature enabled.
Consider if any other applications on your phone may have logged your most recent location. In these desperate times, any piece of knowledge is helpful.
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Locate a Lost Android Device
Although finding a lost or stolen phone might be stressful, you have a high chance of doing so if you use these useful location services. You always have the option to ask the police for assistance, which will significantly improve your chances of finding your missing mobile phone.
Of course, misplacing a priceless piece of equipment is just one aspect of the problem. Your contacts, financial information, personal information, and business papers are all at risk if you lose your phone. It is best if you locate it as soon as possible.