I Lost My Android Phone! Help!

/ terrinakamura

SGNOTE4- Alt_© Terri Nakamura 2015 IMG_0012

Have you ever had that sick feeling when your Android phone goes missing?

It happened to me!

After a day of work, errands and the usual rigamarole, following dinner, my husband and I settled in for an hour of TV. That’s when I process and post my Instagram photos that were shot during that day.

When I went to grab my Samsung Galaxy Note 4, it was not to be found!

Hmmm. I looked through my office, my car, and the usual places in our house, then started to quietly freak out. Where is my phone?!

Tried to call it — nothing. But I distinctly remember having it here when I got home this afternoon. Weird!

If you’ve linked your Android to Google, you’re in luck. I used the My Timeline link (https://www.google.com/maps/timeline) on Google to retrace my steps. I wanted to see where in the world my phone could be:

My Timeline August 4, 2015

It’s interesting, but a ton of people must lose their Androids. If you type “I lost my Android phone” into Google, you’ll get something like this:

I lost my Android - Google

When you sign in, Google gently urges you to have a back up phone designated to receive 2-step verification (if you’ve set it up that way)

Don't get locked out

After you sign into Google with your password, Google will attempt to contact your phone. You can choose to have it can ring your phone at full volume for 5 minutes to help you find it. The only thing is, in order to do that, your phone’s battery needs to have some juice. Mine was dead, dead, dead.

So I selected the option to lock my phone, put a message on the lock screen, then changed the password. Pretty cool you can do all of this from your computer. You also have the option to erase your phone, or change the name of the device. Since I was PRETTY sure it was in my house, I didn’t want to erase the phone. I hadn’t backed up the contents for a week, so I would’ve lost some photos.

Ring, Lock, Erase

During the 3 days my phone was missing, I checked the location each day and saw that it hadn’t moved, and I also saw that the phone hadn’t been re-charged or turned on. Yep, Google can tell!

Contacting my phone

Google says the phone location is accurate to 33 feet, and it’s not kidding. So I had to believe the phone was someplace in my home. But where? I thought I’d looked everywhere.

As an added measure to make sure the phone couldn’t be used, I had Verizon suspend the service but continue billing. If you suspend service and maintain billing, there’s no penalty. But if you suspend service and billing, for each day service is suspended, you add 1 month to your current contract.  www.verizonwireless.com/support/suspend-service-faqs/

VZW suspend service

When you suspend your phone service, Verizon will send you an email verifying you’ve requested to do so. Included in the email is a link to reactivate it — super convenient!

So, how did I find my phone?

The first half of the week, after an epic run of hot weather, it had finally cooled down. So I’d been wearing black skinny jeans and black socks with my Arcopedicos.

I don’t know what other people do, but I keep my sports socks in a separate drawer.

On the day I found my phone, Seattle was back to hot, sunny weather. It was time to break out the shorts and tennis shoes! That meant I needed some low socks!

When I opened the drawer, lo and behold…

Samsung in the sock drawer © Terri Nakamura

I activated the link on the Verizon email and the phone was back online in a few minutes.

It was freaky being without my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 for so long. I take it with me everywhere, because it’s the best camera I’ve seen on a smart phone.

I hope this article will help you in case you find yourself in this predicament!

Happy ending for me. I hope it is for you, too!

Alki Surf Shop: http://www.alkisurfshop.com

Terri Nakamura on Twitter: https://twitter.com/terrinakamura

Alki Surf Shop on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlkiSurfShop

The Horsfall House on AirBNB: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1229224

More from Terri Nakamura: http://seattledesigner.blogspot.com/

20 thoughts on “I Lost My Android Phone! Help!”

    • Harold, it was actually a bit creepy to realize how MUCH Google seems to know about us Android users, but on the other hand, I guess because I’m not doing anything I think would be of interest to most people, I was grateful to know they’re there to help when we can’t find our phones!

      Thanks for checking out the post and I hope you never have to go through this!

      Cheers/Terri

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  9. So sorry you had to go through this experience of loosing your phone, but happy to hear it was in a safe place. I used a similar app on Scott’s ipad when he realized he left it in his hotel in San Jose. He was half-way home when he called the hotel and they said it had not been found. When I used he ‘find my ipad’ app, it said it was still there. The manager had put it in his office for the night, then he mailed it back to us he next day. What a life saver! Good to know they also have this for androids. Thanks too for the info on Verizon; good to know about the stop service and billing info. Thanks for all this information. 🙂

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    • Dear Vickie,
      Thanks for checking out this post. As I’ve said to others, it’s sorts of creepy how much Google knows about us, but I was glad they had resources available to track Androids. “Find My Phone” on my iPhone is an indispensable app and it’s great that it’s built into the iPhone OS! It’s a bit more trouble with the Android, but better than feeling helpless! So glad Scott got his iPad back quickly! Missing you guys and hoping we get to see you during the holidays!
      Lots of love, Terri

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