Find My Phone ... useless?

[Jeff Allen1]

Because my watch can vibrate, I have my phone set to silent. I'm assuming that more than a few people do this too.

However, this pretty much renders the "Find My Phone" app on the Gear S3 pretty much useless.

Is there a way to find a phone whilst increasing the volume on the phone? Is there a way to put Google's "Find My Device" app on the Gear S3?

 

[Jaycemiskel]

Because my watch can vibrate, I have my phone set to silent. I'm assuming that more than a few people do this too.

However, this pretty much renders the "Find My Phone" app on the Gear S3 pretty much useless.

Is there a way to find a phone whilst increasing the volume on the phone? Is there a way to put Google's "Find My Device" app on the Gear S3?

What kind of phone do you have? My phone can be on silent and even be in DND mode and it still rings when I use find my phone. This is on my S8+ and it did the same on my S7 edge.

 

[Jeff Allen1]

I have the S8+. Are you sure you are using the "Find My Phone" app from your Gear S3?

 

[buzzy3970]

I have the S8+. Are you sure you are using the "Find My Phone" app from your Gear S3?

He's definitely sure. Find my gear/phone is the app I use most. I'm always misplacing my watch or phone in my place. I love the fact that it turns the ringer on because I keep my phone on silent, but it always works even when my gear s3 is on remote connection.

 

[Jeff Allen1]

Re: Find My Phone ... USEFUL NOT useless!!

Wow, thanks to both of you for confirming it was possible. I hunted around and found the key is to keep your ringtone assigned before muting the phone.

I have my phone set to mute but I also have my ringtone set to silent. Why? Well, it is becasue of those stupid volume buttons on the side. Handling such a big phone (in and out of pocket, texting, etc...) invariably and inadvertently raises the ringtone volume to the point where a 5 am call or text will wake up the entire family.

Somewhere along the line Android was updated to allow us to reassign those volume buttons to ringtone or media. I just set mine to media so that my ringtone volume is now protected.

 

[afblangley]

Re: Find My Phone ... USEFUL NOT useless!!

Handling such a big phone (in and out of pocket, texting, etc...) invariably and inadvertently raises the ringtone volume to the point where a 5 am call or text will wake up the entire family.

I avoid that by setting my phone to go into Do Not Disturb mode everyday from 1-6 am

 

[Jeff Allen1]

I'm on call. I need to be reached 24x7. This is why I need the watch!

 

[Jaycemiskel]

I'm glad you got it working! I also have my volume buttons set to control media. I'm glad they gave us that option.

 

[Jeff Allen1]

I've been begging for years for Android phones to put some sort of "hard-switch" on their phones to lock out inadvertent button presses. iPhone was designed like that from the beginning, so Android devs must have some sort of God-complex to avoid such an easy "borrow".

 

[ClintRo]

I think the One Plus 5 has the hardware silent key you are looking for. However, that phone is GSM only and doesn't have as many features as the S8 line.