Android gets Find My iPhone-like feature 3 years after Apple

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Google's Android platform has largely caught up to Apple's iOS in at least one respect: Android device owners will soon be able to track the location of their phone much in the same way iPhone owners have been able to do since 2010.



The Android team revealed in a blog post on Friday that the new Android Device Manager (ADM) feature will roll out later this month for devices running Android 2.2 Froyo or later. That covers all but 1.3 percent of Android devices, according to Google's figures.

The new feature will allow device owners to ring a phone at maximum volume in order to find it, even if it has been silenced. Users can also locate a device on a map with real-time location data. In the event a phone cannot be recovered, ADM also allows for the secure erasure of all of the data on a device.

In releasing ADM, Google is a latecomer to the phone location and remote interaction game. Both Apple and Microsoft have had a "find my phone" feature built into their mobile platforms since 2010. Apple has spent the three years since introducing Find My iPhone steadily improving the feature. In December, the iPhone maker added driving directions to the app, and the iOS 7 beta includes both a password disabling feature that locks a device out of a user's iTunes account and an activation lock feature that shuts a phone down entirely.

Additionally, other Android device manufacturers have already stepped in where Google had not. Sony, for instance, offers a my Xperia security service for its Android-powered Xperia line. That feature allows users to sound alarms, wake a device's display, lock a phone, or remotely erase data if necessary.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 58
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Kudos to Google. Android users will certainly appreciate it being built-in to the OS rather than only available via a third party. Took'em long enough.
  • Reply 2 of 58
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    It took three years for accidental thefts to be prevalent enough to need something like this.

    Though why anyone would want their Android phone back after it's stolen is beyond me.
  • Reply 3 of 58
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    It took three years for accidental thefts to be prevalent enough to need something like this.

    Though why anyone would want their Android phone back after it's stolen is beyond me.

    Every once in awhile you come up with truly funny stuff. Well done!!:lol:
  • Reply 4 of 58


    This is not the Android you are looking for <waves hand>

  • Reply 5 of 58
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Just look in the nearest dumpster. When thieves realize they stole a Sammy, they'll just toss the sucker.
  • Reply 6 of 58
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Easy phone tracking, plus a malware-friendly platform. Match made in heaven!
  • Reply 7 of 58
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    They finally answered SolipsismX's question.
  • Reply 8 of 58
    bnhfbnhf Posts: 1member


    Quote: DWL too funny


    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post



    It took three years for accidental thefts to be prevalent enough to need something like this.



    Though why anyone would want their Android phone back after it's stolen is beyond me.

  • Reply 9 of 58
    patpatpatpatpatpat Posts: 628member


    This has been available for a long time already via Google Apps account. It was never free though until now.


     


    https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/1235372?hl=en

  • Reply 10 of 58
    bro2mabro2ma Posts: 35member
    Lawsuit or not?
  • Reply 11 of 58
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    bro2ma wrote: »
    Lawsuit or not?

    :???:
  • Reply 12 of 58
    macbook promacbook pro Posts: 1,605member
    Excellent. Three more years and Google Android may catch up to where Apple iOS was three years ago.
  • Reply 13 of 58
    rjc999rjc999 Posts: 69member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacBook Pro View Post



    Excellent. Three more years and Google Android may catch up to where Apple iOS was three years ago.


     


    You mean like it took years for Apple to get a Notification Center and Control Center when Android had them for much longer (Notification pull down goes back to the very first Android device!)

  • Reply 14 of 58
    bigmac2bigmac2 Posts: 639member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by rjc999 View Post


     


    You mean like it took years for Apple to get a Notification Center and Control Center when Android had them for much longer (Notification pull down goes back to the very first Android device!)



    Which first appeared in Cyndia on iOS.  Stop nagging the notification center has the only defence adnoids fans can pull agains iOS.


     


    It took up to version 4.2 for Google to speedup and separated the graphics rending from the main thread, something any sane OS already do since the 80's 

  • Reply 15 of 58
    vorsosvorsos Posts: 302member


    Two weeks after the rollout, we see the first reports of 3rd party apps accessing this information silently, without permission, and sending it back to home servers for targeted ads and who knows what else.

  • Reply 16 of 58

    ...

    The new feature will allow device owners to ring a phone at maximum volume in order to find it, even if it has been silenced. Users can also locate a device on a map with real-time location data. In the event a phone cannot be recovered, ADM also allows for the secure erasure of all of the data on a device.

    ...

    It doesn't "ring" the phone, actually... it plays [and counts] a random 30-second YouTube commercial at full volume.


    Next, Google will expand the scope with another, similar, app called "Irritate My Friends".
  • Reply 17 of 58
    bigmigbigmig Posts: 77member
    Sure hope the location data they use for it is better than what they've got for Latitude. Latitude is a joke%u2026it put my friend in a neighborhood that he not only was not in, but hadn't even been in earlier in the day (i.e., it wasn't just stale data, it was just plain wrong data).
  • Reply 18 of 58
    People steal Android phones? OMG, why?
  • Reply 19 of 58
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post



    It took three years for accidental thefts to be prevalent enough to need something like this.



    Though why anyone would want their Android phone back after it's stolen is beyond me.


     


    What else would fandroids do to validate their lives if they're not spending their time tweaking and rooting their Android phones? They might be forced to do something useful or interact with people, which would be unthinkable. 

  • Reply 20 of 58
    nagromme wrote: »
    Easy phone tracking, plus a malware-friendly platform. Match made in heaven!

    Agreed
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