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How to Find a Lost Galaxy S5

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There’s nothing worse these days than losing a smartphone. Especially if you lose your brand new Samsung Galaxy S5. Smartphones are an essential part of most owners lives and often contain an array of sensitive data. If the unfortunate event happens, or it gets stolen, you’ll want to be prepared for the situation.

When it comes to protecting or recovering your smartphone from loss or theft there’s a few different options available for Android users. If you happen to lose your Galaxy S5 you’ll want to have Google’s Android Device Manager installed to save the day.

Read: How to Find a Lost Smartphone or Tablet

Similar to Apple’s Find My iPhone, Google has its own system called the Android Device Manager users should know about. It has been available for quite a while, but last year was finally updated to offer enough features worth talking about. Users can find a lost device inside their own home, or on the other side of the city. Read on for more details on how to find your lost Galaxy 5.

Samsung-Galaxy-S5-Review-005-X3-620x444

Surprisingly April and May are the highest months when it comes to smartphone theft, which has passed, but the chances of your new Galaxy S5 getting lost or stolen is still somewhat high all summer long. People are out and about, going shopping, hanging out at the pool and an array of other things. If you value that brand new smartphone, you’ll want to be prepared in case of an incident.

You’ll want to be protected year-round because finding a lost or stolen Android device can be a rather tough task, not to mention trying to secure all the important and often times sensitive information that’s on our smartphones these days. Android Device Manager isn’t talked about too often by Google, but it should be. It was updated back in Mid 2013 with tons of features that makes it something everyone should install and setup, and below we’ll go over the benefits and how to do it.

Read: How to Take a Screenshot on the Galaxy S5

The new Android Device Manager will let users locate their Galaxy S5, and remotely wipe and delete all data and information if needed right from their home PC or laptop. There’s also a lock feature if you’d rather not wipe all your data, but clearing out your information may be the safest bet.  Then Google added an option to make your device ring if you simply can’t find it, which is pretty neat.

Instructions

If your Galaxy S5 is lost at home or a friends house the Android Device Manager will let you crank the volume to 100% and ring at full blast to help you find it, or wipe out all the data and lock the screen if you fear its been lost or stolen. These are essential to protect your information, so lets get started.

To activate your new Galaxy S4 head to the Google Play Store and download the official Android Device Manager application. Not only will this application explain how the ADM works, let you setup the device you’ve just installed it on, but you can also manage and access other devices right from this app on a mobile device. Meaning you can use your smartphone or a tablet to track, find, lock, or wipe your smartphone all with the Android Device Manager. It’s quite powerful.

devicemanager

Once installed you’ll want to open the app and learn about the Android Device Manager, and hit the “Setup Lock & Erase” button down below to get everything setup. It’s all self-explanatory and very easy to do, so give it a try.

Users can also get started and all set up by going to www.google.com/android/devicemanager on your computer. This will instantly launch the ADM service which will let you scroll through your list of devices. Here is where you can name your Galaxy S5, find its location, or wipe all data as mentioned above. Scroll through the list if you have more than one device, and let the ADM do all the work.

ADM-list

Find Your Lost Galaxy S5

Using the ADM on another device, or from a PC you’ll navigate to the Android Device Manager page and track your Galaxy S5. In my case I’m looking for my Google Play Edition Galaxy S4, but you’ll be looking for the Galaxy S5 (or any Android device for that matter) so simply find it from the dropdown. The Android Device Manager uses GPS to track the location, often times down to a few feet, and you’re all set.

From here the GPS locate button will track the lost or stolen device for you. Google warns users to never try and retrieve a lost device themselves, and to contact the police. We’d have to agree. Bringing an officer of the law with you to try and retrieve a stolen smartphone would be a good move.

Screen Shot 2014-05-07 at 2.00.05 PM

My screenshot above isn’t extremely accurate, showing 24 meters, but that’s because I’m in a gated community and I usually have GPS disabled on my smartphone. For most users this will be deadly accurate, and you’ll find that Galaxy S5 in no time. However, this is also the time where you can hit the “Ring” button to make some noise and find your lost Galaxy S5 at home, or even wipe all your data if your fears come true and someone steals it. Darn thieves.

To sum things up all you need is the Android Device Manager installed on your Galaxy S5, then you can use any other Android device or your desktop to find, retrieve, make ring, wipe, or lock your Galaxy S5. Whatever the case may be, Google has you covered.

17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. S.I

    07/20/2014 at 12:27 pm

    Mine went missing a week ago. The device manager said I hadnt looged on for weeks yet I was using it constantly, therefore rendering it useless. My phone is well and truly gone.

    • Cory Gunther

      07/20/2014 at 3:51 pm

      You should still be able to locate it, lock, or wipe using the ADM.

    • Isaac

      05/03/2015 at 3:47 am

      I feel the pain. a few days ago i lost my samsung galaxy s5 at someone elses house i have a suspicion that it has been stolen and its not showing up on android device manager

  2. Jeremy

    08/09/2014 at 5:47 am

    My galaxy 5 went missing n I’ve tried doing everything possible.I fear whoever took it factory reset it n switched the sim card.is there anything at all I can do from this point?

  3. Damien

    03/15/2015 at 2:29 am

    if I haven’t registered my S5 to android manager and it is stolen can it still be found

  4. Dude

    04/09/2015 at 5:47 pm

    Mine’s is accurate to about 1,758m, so I’m having bad luck.

  5. Theresia

    05/03/2015 at 1:53 pm

    I was distracted by some women in a shop yesterday, And my Samsung S5 was stolen out of my handbag. I’f tride almost everthing but it stil show no location.

  6. yesenia

    06/09/2015 at 8:32 am

    how can i turn on my locations to find my device i just lost it yesterday and it seems like the phone haven’t been found it still rings. i downloaded the app but cant find it due to the fact that my location settings are off :(

  7. Gladys Silverberg

    10/03/2015 at 2:02 am

    Based on the above blogs, it would seem that the AMD doesn’t locate stolen or lost s5’s!
    Also, where can I find location of details of my phone, i.e., 4g or exynos or snapdragon

  8. SHI

    10/28/2015 at 7:49 pm

    Well written but AMD will not ring my S5. It rings my S2. Does anyone know of an app that will ring an S5.

  9. martha

    11/16/2015 at 2:53 am

    good day

    I would like to know if my phone got stolen but i didnt had this done woukld i be able to track my phone

  10. Sam

    12/07/2015 at 2:18 am

    Can I trace it without it been registered on apps

  11. Nuno

    12/09/2015 at 12:52 pm

    guys for all of you who lost their phone and you know it is still on, you can use the app find my mobile on samsung site it helped me alot

    • Shi

      12/12/2015 at 5:28 pm

      What Samsung site?

  12. SHI

    12/16/2015 at 7:12 am

    Thank you Nuno. I can now ring my S5.

  13. wills

    05/21/2016 at 12:24 am

    My samsung S5 is lost or srolen by 30 of April 2016 cannot find can you help trace it pls W Oosthuizen .356318068880232

  14. John

    08/02/2016 at 11:48 am

    My device is registered but the location is unavailable does this mean it is turned off? Can it still be tracked if someone wipes the data off it?

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