HOW TO TRACK ANYTHING
Whether you’ve lost your phone, your laptop or your pets, technology can find out where they are. Nik Rawlinson goes in search of tracking solutions
I t’s easy to misplace your phone. Or your wireless earbuds. Or your laptop. Sometimes they will be in the house or the office, which isn’t too problematic. Other times they’ll be in the back of a taxi, on the train or in a burglar’s swag bag. That’s when things start getting tricky.
Luckily, so many of the devices we use every day have wireless features that they’re becoming much easier to track. Even if they don’t have the chops to maintain a network connection themselves, stickers and dongles from the likes of Tile make adding such features trivial.
In this feature, we’ll walk through your options for tracking not only computers and phones, but everyday items such as your car, bike, family member – or even your pet. In many cases you’ll already have everything you need to get started. Where not, there are often inexpensive and even free options you can try.
TRACK YOUR TABLET OR PHONE
To enable tracking on your Android device, open Settings and tap
Security, followed by Find My Device. Make sure the switch at the top of the next screen is set to On. On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings and tap your name at the top of the screen, followed by Find My, then Find My iPhone or Find My iPad. Turn on the Find My option on the following screen.
With tracking enabled, you can find your lost device using the web or an app.
If you logged into your Google account through a browser, and Find My Device is enabled on your Android phone or tablet, search for “Find my phone” in Google, and the results will include a panel showing a map and the location of any devices it’s found. For a more comprehensive view of your devices, click through to
google.com/android/find to check on the various phones and tablets tied to your account, plus Google Pixel Buds. You can also lock and sign out of an Android device, play a sound (to help you find it), or erase it if there’s little likelihood of its recovery.
If you prefer to use an app to track your lost Android device, install Find My Device from
Google Play ( pcpro. link/325androidfind) and log in with your Google Account. If you’re tracking an Apple device through the browser, log in at icloud.com/find. If you don’t want to see a comprehensive over lay displaying not only iPhones and iPads, but Watches, AirPods, AirTags, Beat products and Macs, click All Devices at the top of the screen and select the device you want to find.
On an iPad or iPhone, you can achieve the same using the Find My app, which is an integral part of iPadOS and iOS. TRACK YOUR COMPUTER
Microsoft has built tracking features into Windows 10, where they’re tied to your Microsoft account. It works for PCs, laptops, Surface devices and Surface pens, but needs to be enabled before you first use it.
Press Windows+I to open Settings, then click “Update & Security” followed by “Find my device”. Make sure “Find my device” is set to on. If it isn’t, click Change.
Once enabled, you can track your device by pointing a browser at
account.microsoft.com/devices and signing in with the same account you use to manage the lost device. Scroll down to the device you want to track, then click “Find my device”.
If you’re a Mac user, you can track your computer in the browser and app-based Find My tools by following the steps we outlined above. Again, you can find it through the browser or the Find My apps for iOS and iPadOS. It will only work if you have Location Services enabled on your Mac. You can check by launching System Preferences and clicking “Security & Privacy”, followed by Privacy. Click Location Services, then select Enable Location Services. Now return to the System Preferences home pane and click Apple ID. Click iCloud in the sidebar and then tick the checkbox beside Find My Mac.
If you’re running Linux, you’ll need to use a third-party service such as Prey ( preyproject.
com), which has clients for Ubuntu and a personal plan for tracking up to three devices a month for $5 (other plans for education, enterprise and home users are also available). This lets you track your comp uter’s movements and set up geofencing, so you’re alerted if it moves into or out of a specified area. If your device is stolen , you can use it to gather evidence, including Wi-Fi connection details, sc reenshots and pict ures from the built-in webcam. Tracking with Dropbox
If, for any reason, you’re having trouble tracking your computer using Microsoft’s and Apple’s own tools, or they’re not enabled, but you are syncing to Dropbox, you can check where your device last synced from. Log in to your Dropbox account, click your account icon at the top of the screen, then Settings, followed by Security. Scroll down to your missing device in the Devices section, and hover over the “I” to the right. This will reveal the IP address it was using. Paste this into the search box at
iplocation.net to query a selection of publicly available IP reverse lookup services. Some are more accurate than others, but we managed to find an exact match for the location from which we were working this way.
TRACK A THING
For devices that don’t have their own network connections – think wallets, keys, cats and dogs – you’ll need to use a dedicated tracking tag. (Vets recommend that pets should also be microchipped to improve your chances of a happy homecoming should they go missing.) Tile has long been one of the most recognised names, but it’s far from the only player here, with Samsung (via its Galaxy SmartTag), Chipolo, Vodafone and lately Apple all trying to eat into its market.
In most cases, trackers rely on being within range of a Bluetooth connection and a phone or tablet running their companion apps. As the apps are continually searching for the nearest compatible tag, and updating a central database, it pays to buy into a platform with plenty of