Find your smartphone via Google Search

In a bid to increase the security level of Android smartphones, Google on Thursday announced that users can utilise the search engine to find their lost smartphone.Google made the announcement on a Google+ post, users would have to simply type 'find my phone' in the Google search bar when logged in with the same Google account as registered on their smartphone.

In the search results, they can see the handset last used and Google Maps showing the location of the handset. Users have to have the latest version of the Google app (aka Google Search app) installed on their smartphone for the 'find my phone' command to work.

"If the pesky phone is hiding nearby, Google can ring it for you - or you can see it on the map if you, say, forgot it at the bar. Just make sure you've got the latest version of the Google app!" says the post.

An option to ring the smartphone will also be shown, clicking on which will ring the smartphone on full volume for five minutes. Users can stop the ringing by pressing the handset's power button. We tried both the ring and 'find my phone' features, and found the lost smartphone's GPS also needs to be active, otherwise the new feature will not locate the handset.

Google last month rolled out an update to Android Device Manager that was meant to help users find their lost device via an Android Wear device. The feature can either work with voice command "Ok Google. Start. Find my phone" or by selecting the 'Find my phone' option from the start menu.

If your device is mapped with Android Device Manager, it will start ringing at full volume till the time your Android Wear device/ smartwatch is in range (Bluetooth range). The Android Device Manager was introduced in 2013 and essentially allowed locating, resetting and deleting data for Android devices from Web.