How to enable Find My Device on Android

Why this matters

If your Android phone is lost or stolen, Find My Device lets you locate it on a map, play a sound at full volume, lock it remotely with a custom message and contact number, or wipe it remotely if recovery is hopeless. On Android 14+, Find My Device can locate your phone even when it’s offline by pinging nearby Android devices on Google’s encrypted Find My Device network — similar to Apple’s Find My.

Combined with a strong screen lock and factory-reset protection, a stolen Android becomes useless to a casual thief and trackable for everyone else.

How to do it

1. Open Settings → Google → All services → Find My Device.
2. Toggle Use Find My Device to On.
3. Under Find your offline devices, choose With network in all areas (uses the encrypted offline network — recommended).
4. Make sure Location is on under Settings → Location, and set to High accuracy.
5. Verify by visiting google.com/android/find in any browser — your phone should appear on the map.

What you don’t need

You don’t need a paid family tracking app like Life360 or Family Locator for the security use case. Find My Device covers lost-or-stolen recovery; family location-sharing is a separate (legitimate but different) need that doesn’t require a paid service either — Google Maps Location Sharing handles it for free.