Rita El Khuri / Android Authority
tl; drag
- Google recently discovered as a hub seeking its device.
- Perhaps as a result, the “Find your phone” in Google Account settings no longer allows you to play your device.
- You can still play your phone from the web, though, as long as you find the search page.
Between Google I/O 2025, the content 3 expression, Android 16 Qpr1 beta 1, and now Samsung’s One 8 beta, Android has been an incredibly busy month for everything. With a lot, it is easy to lose the track of all these little things that are changing, especially when this effect is not immediately clear. And this week we’re taking time to remember what we need to change next time we want to find a lost phone.
In one of the site’s Android thread, they bring our attention to a potentially disappointing situation when users face them when they go to the web in an attempt to find lost phones. In the past, you have been able to view Google’s “Find your phone” page within account settings, displaying the devices recently and lets you ring them to help them keep track of them.
Stephen Shank / Android Authority
Although you can still access your devices, this is no longer the option of ringing your phone. Instead, now you will get a message as you see here, which is a bit disappointing – the straightforward “color” button is now basically a shrig emoji, which you have been asked to detect.
Stephen Shank / Android Authority
If it looks like suddenly half a donkey, then at least a good reason for the loss of functionality. Instead of accessing this page in your account settings, Google now wants you to visit its web destination for the search center. There, you will find the absolutely lost options you are looking for, including the ability to play a lost phone. And now they are all tied to a more attractive, map -based interface simultaneously.
The real failure here is that Google is not working much to instruct users to the search center from the old screen – or that Google Search does not rank it more than the account page of the “Find My Phone”. Although these two can change the Change (and the search can improve its rating naturally over time), for this moment you will want to bull the center so you will know where you need to see where you need.
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