How To Find Your iPhone With Google

Losing your phone is not something I think anyone ever wants to contemplate, but if you do experience that misfortune, there are options to minimize the damage. For instance, you can now "find your iPhone with Google thanks to the new "Find My Phone" option through Google's My Accounts service. That's right: Even if you have an iPhone, My Accounts can help you get your phone back — or at the very least make sure no one gets anything incriminating off of it. Because pass codes really only do so much.

If you're like most Americans, your cell phone is way more than just a way to talk to people. Phones store our photos, our confidential information, even information about our movements. In other words, there's a reason we're so reluctant to let other people borrow our phones, even our close friends. And letting a stranger who picked up your missing phone — or the thief who stole it — access all that information sounds infinitely worse.

That's why it's important to have options if your phone ever goes missing. Google unveiled a way to find Android phones last year using the Google Android app — and now they've introduced a way for iPhone users to do the same using the My Accounts page. Or for people with any sort of phone, really. All you need is a Google account, and a phone.

Here's how it works.

1. List Your Phone On Your Google Account

If you have a Gmail address, Gmail has probably already prompted you to input a phone number attached to the account in case you ever forget your password and they need to verify your identity before resetting it. So if you haven't ever done that, you should do it now; not only is it a good idea in general, it also makes it possible for you to find your phone through Google. Go to MyAccount.google.com and click on "Personal Info and Privacy to find a place to input your phone number.

2. Go To "Find Your Phone"

Still on your My Accounts page, look under "Sign In and Security" and select the "Find Your Phone" option.

3. Select Your Phone

You'll also have to input your password at this stage — and note that it doesn't even list your phone number until you've put in your password, so no one else is going to sneakily figure out your number this way, either.

4. Pick Your Options

You can use this page to call your phone in the hopes of finding it, reach out to your carrier to let them know what's going on and ask for help, sign yourself out of your Google account on your phone so that no one else can access your email or personal information, or just make sure your phone is locked. Or, all of the above!

And best of all, you can do it all without downloading any extra apps or features. Isn't technology grand?

Images: Emma Cueto/Bustle (4)