Gadgetory

if you've been jealous of Apple's Find My iPhone service you've probably wondered why Google doesn't give Android owners the same thing well it took a few years but that locator tool is finally here the Android device manager lets you find an Android phone or tablet make it ring and if you think it's in the hands of a thief you can even remotely erase it to show you how this works let's say I lost this phone and I'm trying to find it with this tablet first head on over to google.com slash Android slash device manager and log in with the Google account associated with the device you're looking for use the drop down menu in the white box to choose the device you want to locate now if we look at my lost phone we can see that the GPS is working to find it back in the browser the blue circle on the map shows you where your device's it's not a precise location but it's usually accurate within a few dozen meters at this point you can make your phone ring by clicking this button and it'll sound off even if it's on silent if you think your phone was stolen it's probably a good idea to leave the investigation to the police in the meantime you can use this erase device option to remotely wipe all the data for this feature to work you'll have to set it up on that device ahead of time head to your phone or tablet then go to Google Settings Android device manager and check this box just know that if you are forced to use that erase device option you completely lose access to it meaning you can no longer locate it now it's great that Google is finally giving us this feature but it could use a little help for starters you can't remotely lock your phone so be sure to set a secure lock screen passcode and this probably goes without saying but this feature only works when the phone you're looking for is online and still registered to your account if you have any questions along the way hit me up on Twitter and check out how to cnet.com for the written guide to this tutorial for cnet.com Sharon Backman