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Find a Lost Phone or Laptop: Set Up Find My and Find Hub Before You Need Them

By Web Asset House Studio ·

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How we wrote this: A summary of Apple Support and Google's Android Help pages on Find My, Find Hub and Remote Lock (linked below), checked October 29, 2026. Menu names vary by software version and phone maker, so follow the official page for your device if a step looks different.

Locating, locking or erasing a lost device only works if the feature was switched on before the device went missing. Ten minutes now saves a lot of stress later, especially for a work phone or laptop full of client data.

Apple: turn on Find My

From Apple's Find My setup page:

iPhone or iPad

  1. Open Settings, tap your name, then tap Find My.
  2. Tap Find My [device] and turn it on.
  3. Turn on Find My network so you can see the device even when it's offline.
  4. Turn on Send Last Location so the device's location is sent to Apple when the battery is low.

Mac

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click your name, then iCloud.
  2. Click See All, then Find My Mac, then Turn On.
  3. Click Allow when asked to let Find My Mac use your Mac's location. Location Services must be on.

Apple describes the Find My network as a crowdsourced network of over a billion Apple devices that use Bluetooth to detect nearby devices and report their approximate location back to the owner, anonymously and encrypted. The same page explains how to add AirPods, Apple Watch and AirTag-tagged items.

Android: check that Find Hub is on

Google's Find Hub help page says Find Hub is turned on automatically when you add a Google Account to an Android device. To get help from the crowdsourced Find Hub network, set a PIN, pattern or password on the phone.

To find, secure or erase it later, Google says the device must:

Turn on Remote Lock too

Google's theft protection page describes Remote Lock, which can lock your screen using just your phone number, without signing in. To turn it on: Settings > Google > All services > Theft protection > Remote Lock. You need a screen lock, an active SIM, a verified phone number and Find Hub turned on. If the phone is offline when you send the request, it locks as soon as it reconnects.

If you use 2-Step Verification and your phone is how you get codes, save backup codes now. Otherwise you may struggle to sign in to Find Hub from another device after losing the phone.

The first hour after a device goes missing

1. Locate it.

2. Play a sound if it's nearby. On Android, Google says Play sound rings at full volume for 5 minutes, even if the phone is set to silent or vibrate.

3. Mark it as lost. This locks the device. On Android, Mark as lost locks it with your PIN, pattern or password and lets you show a message and contact number on the lock screen. On Apple devices, marking a device as lost turns on Lost Mode: Apple says it locks the device with your passcode, suspends Apple Pay cards and passes, and can show a phone number and message. For a fast lock on Android without signing in, go to android.com/lock and enter your phone number (Remote Lock).

4. Erase only when you've given up on getting it back. Apple says erasing can't be undone, and that you shouldn't remove the device from Find My even after erasing it, because removing it turns off Activation Lock and makes a stolen device easier to resell. Google warns that a factory reset permanently deletes the data, and after that the device no longer appears in Find Hub. If you find it after erasing, you'll need your Google Account password to use it again. This is why a current phone backup matters: it makes erasing an easy decision.

5. Secure your accounts. Change passwords for email and banking apps that were signed in, and sign the lost device out of your accounts. Our passwords and MFA guide covers this.

6. If it's gone for good, contact your mobile carrier. Google suggests you may be able to have the device deactivated, and you may need its IMEI number. If you suspect someone may also try to take over your number, read our SIM swap guide.

For small offices

Sources

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