Well, three years after Apple released their Find My iPhone application, Google has finally released their own application for Android devices which will allow users to find out where their phone is located. Google’s Android Device Manager will be released to users later this month and will allow them to find missing or stolen devices, just like Find My iPhone currently does.
Along with locating and ringing the phone, users will also be able to wipe their device in case they are unable to locate it. Ringing the phone at its maximum volume is also included in the Device Manager’s features.
Microsoft and Apple have both included a ‘Find My Device’ feature for years now, forcing Google to play catchup. Device location features have been deemed so important that some phone manufacturers even developed their own apps while waiting for a standard Android one, such as Sony with the Xperia security service.
Even though the iPhone has included this feature since 2010, Apple is still trying to perfect it with new abilities such as activation lock and its new password disabling feature.
Any device running Android 2.2 or higher will be able to use Android Device Manager once Google pushes it out near the end of August. According to Google’s blog post regarding the Device Manager, “losing your phone can be stressful, Android Device Manager can help you keep your data from ending up in the wrong hands. If your phone can’t be recovered, or has been stolen, you can quickly and securely erase all of the data on your device.”
A new application named ‘Tiles‘ will also be coming out in the Winter for iOS devices, allowing them to stay a step ahead of Android once again. Tiles offers many of the same ‘Find My iPhone’ features but instead of tracking your phone, individual Tiles attach to your bike, keys, etc so that you can keep track of them.