Why Won't My Android Device Manager Find My Phone When It's Missing?

[AC Question]

Android Device Manager Won't Find Phone When It's Missing

So I set up Android Device Manager on my wife's phone. And we have tested it successfully. And it works fine ... except when she loses it.

Twice now we didn't know the whereabouts of her phone. The first time she dropped it out of her pocket while walking outside. Some nice teenager picked it up on her way to school and over the course of the day was able to set up a time to get it back to my wife. Very nice of her. But Android Device Manager WOULD NOT show me where the phone was. When my wife walked into the house after getting the phone, Android Device Manager was suddenly able to find it again.

Recently, we didn't know if she left it at mini golf or it was in the house somewhere. Easy check with Android Device Manager. After the last problem, I had been checking Android Device Manager periodically to make sure it worked so I had no hesitation. But Android Device Manager WOULD NOT show me where the phone was. Turns out it was in her purse (deep deep in her purse) on the chair in the kitchen.

So the question is: what random or environmental conditions would cause the Android Device Manager to fail to be able to find the phone? And how does it know when its lost so it knows to fail

Thanks.
Jason

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Android Device Manager Won't Find Phone When It's Missing

Welcome to the forums!

Personally, while I have this activated, I don't use it. I use Wheres My Droid, paid version. I've had that before ADM came out. Also it has more features and one of those features is I can choose a loud downloaded sound, that will override a silent phone and ring for 10 minutes if I have lost my phone.

The GPS locating has always been great with it also. You can activate any of the features by texting from another phone also or online.