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Comment by scotty79 | Hacker News Reader

Wait. So I can put few simple wifi-enabled microcontrollers in corners of my apartment and be able to always check where I tossed my phone just by looking at the tv or computer screen? How's that not a product?

I could even name few usual zones and have the name of the zone that contains the phone displayed on any screen in the house and on smartwatch. Also I could do the same for smartwatch. Can it be done for bluetooth?

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Because most people aren't interested in buying a bunch of devices to plug in at the edges of their house on the off chance it'll catch a lost charged device reaching out via wireless instead of just cleaning ;).

I guess I'm not most people because I'm definitely doing it.

Most frantinc searches of my phone happen as I'm about to leave the house in hurry. Cleaning is not an option then. I would have to be 'organised' which I absolutely abhore and want to avoid at all cost.

So far my solution was to just have a second phone in a fixed place so I can call my main phone and locate it by sound.

But the wifi triangulation thing sounds like way more fun.

You might benefit from a Tile. Put one on your keys and/or wallet, they locate bidirectionally via sound blasting (e.g. keys > phone, phone > keys). Or maybe Bluetooth beacons would work just as well?

Though if you’re in it for the fun factor then go for the wifi option!

Apple has find my phone. Problem solved

To be fair, Android does as well? Just typing "Android find my phone" into google produces a scary result.

You may call your phone from the landline.

I just ask my Google home to ring my phone

I don't think this claim is true. And "Most" is not enough. "Nearly all" is required to eliminate a market for alternative.

Quite easy to locate the device using a Tile or other Bluetooth tracker that lets you ring your device. Or you can command it to ring via your Google account. Personally I've found the most expedient method is to just yell "okay Google!" at the top of my lungs and listen for the acknowledgement beep.

Just give it a ring!?

Because I can do that by saying "Hey Google, where's my phone" or logging onto Android Device Manager and asking it to ring my phone.

Likewise for iOS.

Unless you have two factor auth enabled.

To everyone downvoting: just open an incognito window and try to use Google Find My Phone. You will be asked to grant 2FA through the notification on your phone or Google Authenticator in order to log in.

Also see: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/63d9ml/google_find...

For iOS at least you don’t need two factor to access find my phone

Are you sure? This doesn't match my experience. I've had 2fa enabled on my G account for years, and it still worked.

I have two-factor auth and I use a U2F key with my phone as backup security key. It still works.

I have 2fa on my Android and this feature works fine on Google home.

This is technically a product, just not an at home type of product. If you have wireless enabled your phone is whoring you out to anybody trying to listen in, and everyone else's phone. There's a lot of things these sorta devices can pick up on especially if you're genuinely connected to a network such as MAC address.

Smartwatch <-> Phone finding via bluetooth is builtin mostly.

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