If you are true smartphone addict you probably know where your phone is at all times, either in your hands or in your pocket. Unfortunately we’ve all experienced that sudden wave of panic when you realize you can’t find your phone and it seems like for a just a moment the world may actually be coming to an end. Anxiety increases as you start to frantically search your house, car, or office. For some this search may go on for days (if you can even last that long before buying a new one), and for others finding a reliable phone locator app is the logical solution. I have spent too many panic-stricken hours looking for my phone only to find it later tucked under the couch or wedged in between my driver’s seat. While I can’t control my forgetful tendencies I did decide to download the Where’s My Droid app for Android and can now rest a little bit easier.
Pros:
- Find phone by making it ring/vibrate
- Find phone using GPS location
- Text your attention word
- Control from Commander at WheresMyDroid.com
- Passcode protection to prevent unauthorized app changes
- Notification of changed SIM card or phone number
- Stealth Mode hides incoming text with attention word
- White/Black list to control who can use the app via text
- No battery drain
Cons:
- Every time you open the app you are asked to sign up for email offers
How it works:
After downloading the app and declining to receive offers from partnered sponsors I was ready to use the app. The home page provides you with seven different set up options including: ring setup, GPS setup, security settings, commander, advanced menu, help, and an upgrade option. The ring feature allows you to force your phone to ring even if it’s on silent or vibrate. You can customize this option by selecting ring when lost, vibrate when lost, use a white noise siren and the ability to create your attention word. You can use any other phone to text your attention word or phrase to your lost phone and this will turn up the ringer and play your current ringtone. A separate attention word will give you the GPS coordinates of the phone, but GPS has to be enabled on your lost device for this feature to work. The paid pro version gives you the additional options of choosing a separate ringtone specifically for the app and the ability to email a text to your phone to turn it on.
Conclusion:
Where’s My Droid is absolutely worth the download and taking a few minutes to set it up. The beauty of this app is that once you customize your settings and create your attention word(s) you don’t have to do anything else for it to work. The settings are not complicated and overall pretty self-explanatory. Essentially, you choose the attention words, and specify how long you want your phone to ring while you are trying to locate it. To optimize the free version of the app I suggest checking “Ring when lost”, “Ring for 5 minutes”, and “Reset Volume” . This will allow you enough ring time to locate your lost phone and restore ring volume to what you normally set it to.
Save yourself the stress and headache of having to search for a lost phone again and download Where’s My Droid today.
Where’s my Droid is available for free in the Google Play Store. Requires Android 2.2 and higher. Play Link
This is part of our Android App of the Day series. We take our favorite app for Android for each day and post it here for you to check out. Feel free to check out all of our App of the Day posts here.
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Wonderful article! This app is a life saver, I don’t use it often because like many & how you stated, my phone is always by my side or in my hand. The sense of panic when I can’t locate my phone isn’t as bad now that I have this app. My favorite feature is the ability to turn the sound up from silent to loud.
Everyone should download this app, it’s a must have in my opinion. After reading your well written article, I’m sure many will be convinced to download it.