[AC Question]

A friend with dementia wandered off and died as a result of exposure.
Is there a phone which could have been used as a locator, assuming he carried it. I would want one which was cheap, with a week long battery life, and a good locator. It would not be used as a satnav, music player, or even as a phone.

[Brian W1]

Not sure what would have a week long battery unless it was never used, but iPhone has find my friends app that will do what you want. It of course isn't that cheap but used would be close.

[sfoLAX]

As long as you have access to their Google account and Password, yes.

Sorry to hear about your friend.

You can get a Motorola Z Play which has exceptional battery life on it's own, but has a Moto Mod accessory of an Incipio battery pack which cliips over the original case.

In recent years there have been extra large battery packs (extending the rear cover) for those devices with removable batteries. Those by Anker (a trusted brand) in the 10,000 mah range, usually for Samsung or LG models, iirc.

You would ideally have a sim installed to aid Location services (High Accuracy mode uses cell towers, GPS and Wifi, Battery Saving Mode uses Wifi and cell networks oddly, and Device Only uses just GPS.)

The trade off I guess is the sim card will drain the battery in poor reception areas particularly, while in deep rural / remote areas then only GPS will help with less accuracy I think.

You would need to configure settings and sync options to minimal use.

But as the previous poster said, 5 days is still a stretch.

That's my 'first thoughts' take on it. There have been threads on this in the past.

I invite others to input their ideas and device recommendations. I'm sure there are others I haven't considered.

A final thought; if you are concerned about a particular area, say with a radius of 5 - 10 miles, is speak to local authorities if they would be able to trace a regular cell phone signal.
I have had a candy-bar dumbphone by Samsung for 5 years (GT-2121E or something) and the battery will last 2 weeks easy, is seemingly indestructible and un - drownable!. Miraculous device!