We’ve all been there. Losing a cell phone can be a very annoying and sometimes panic driving event. Sometimes losing your phone is the result of a crazy night out on the town which often means you may never find your phone again however sometimes it’s as simple as misplacing your phone around the house. Most times however I have wondered how to locate my lost cell phone because of an event that falls in the middle of these extremes. Maybe I’ve left my phone at a friend’s house or in the car, or simply forgot to pick it up leaving the restaurant. Luckily there are a few resources available that can help make the process of finding a lost phone a little easier.
The first and most obvious way to find a phone is to simply call it. This almost needs not be mentioned, but sometimes the most obvious solution is what trips us up. If you know, for sure, your phone is somewhere in your house or a specific area then get close to the area and call it from someone else’s phone. If this is not the case then your options are a little more limited and may be dependent on your level of preparedness ahead of time.
The best way to make sure your phone doesn’t get lost permanently is to plan ahead and attach a tracking device. These can be somewhat simplistic in that they simply glow when you search for them or they can be more robust. A thorough tracking device might attach to your phone and send out a remote tracking beacon that you can track from the internet. Based on a signal it transmits you can always see the general location your phone is at. This is really handy as a preparation mechanism but it does little if you lose your phone before attaching a device of this nature.
There are a few other resources which may or may not help such as calling your phone provider and see if they can triangulate your phones location based on the signal. They may also be able to see you location from the last time your phone was used. There are a few other online resources that allow you to triangulate your phones location however many of these options require setup before you lose your phone and thus aren’t an option of discovery for many people.
The moral of this is that most options to locate a lost cell phone require preparation before the phone is lost. If you have lost your phone make sure to prepare for easy location once you get your hands on your phone again or get another phone. Basic preparedness goes a long way to peace of mind and easy retrieval of lost items.