Google announced a few months ago, the Android Device Manager. But on Monday, they added a few more features to the Android Device Manager. Basically,Android Device Manager allows you to find your device remotely, ring the device, lock it or erase it. This is done mostly from android.com/devicemanager. Of course, you need to set it up on your phone to begin with. So we’ll start this tutorial there.
- Go into Settings
- Tap on Security
- Tap on Device Administrators
- Tap on Android Device Manager
- Tap on Activate
Now you can see some more of the settings for the Android Device Manager by going into Google Settings. The reason why this is important is because you may not have location enabled on your phone. Which it needs to be enabled for the Device Manager to find your phone.
Android Device Manager is now set up on your phone. So now you can head over to the Android Device Manager’s website and you’ll be able to choose what device you want to search for. It’ll show the codename for the device. So for example, I’m using the Sprint Moto X, so it’ll show me XT1056. But don’t worry, you can edit that. Check out both images below.
How to Ring your device:
- Allow the Android Device Manager to find your device
- Click on Ring
- Click on Ring again.
Now your phone will ring for 5 minutes until you can find it. Easy enough right?
How to lock your device:
- Allow the Android Device Manager to find your device
- Click on Lock
- Enter a new password
- In the next field confirm the password
- Click on Lock
Now your device is locked, and this does override the current password on your device. So if the person that took your device knows your password, they won’t now.
How to Erase your device:
- Allow the Android Device Manager to find your device
- Click on Erase
- Click on Erase again, after reading the confirmation
That’s just how easy it is to use the Android Device Manager. We’ll be sure to update this post once more functionality is added to the Android Device Manager.