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I'm ALWAYS losing my phone at home, in various obscure places (on a shelf in the basement, under the coffee filters, behind the toilet, etc.,) and I was wondering if there's any way to find it.
The thing is, I have no cell package at all. None. No call, no text, no data. It doesn't even have a number.

I do have Google Voice, and GrooVe IP, but the likelihood that a call will actually ring the phone is.. unreliable, at best. I've given up on it as a method of locating the phone.

So what I need is a way to "ring" the phone over Wi-Fi. I've set up a static local IP, and I set it not to ever disable Wi-Fi during the daytime, but I need some way to contact the phone.

The phone is a Rooted Droid X with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. I am fairly tech-competent, and enjoy tinkering with electronics, so if the solution is difficult or complicated, don't knock it immediately.

The phone is lost extremely often while at home, but never while out, so it's perfectly OK if the solution requires a Wi-Fi connection.

P.S., this is not a duplicate of Question 2603, that concerned phones with the ability to recieve Calls/SMS/Data, and as such, all its answers are irrelevant to this question.

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3 Answers 3

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There are plenty of apps on Play supporting that already. The first coming to my mind is PAW Server, which allows that and many more things (basically, you can remote-administrate your device via WiFi with this app). Other, similar apps might offer the remote-ring as well. Several anti-theft apps for example.

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  • Bingo! PAW Server seems to be what I'm looking for! Everything else I could find needed a data connection, but thin works over Wi-Fi and is free. Accept goes to you.
    – JamesTheAwesomeDude
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 23:41
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    Cheers for that mate! Was about to plot up a coding session.... :D
    – t0mm13b
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 23:42
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    :) I may add that the dev is quite active and responsive, so it's a double recommendation. And it's not his only good app. He might not be a "graphic designer", but he makes a pretty good technician I'd say.
    – Izzy
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 7:45
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Hmmm.... Suggestion:

  • Create a simple android app that is listening for a broadcast on socket - over UDP broadcast? Once it receives the broadcast, start playing a loud tune a la "ring"
  • From your workstation, make a simple python app to execute by transmitting a simple broadcast packet destined for your said device
  • Profit \o/

Edit

Fairly recently Google rolled out Android Device Manager, which it gets downloaded stealthily and sneakily, not confined to just JellyBean, it applies to all versions of Android going back to Eclair (2.1).

This can be found in:

  • Settings > Location & Security > Device Administrators (for Gingerbread)
  • Settings > Security > Device Administrators (for JellyBean)

Using this device manager and even if its not activated yet, go to the web interface https://google.com/android/devicemanager one can actually instigate:

  • ringing the handset by way of the website contacting your handset provided the handset meets the criteria:
    • Signed into your google account
    • Geo Location is activated
    • Handset registered with Google Play
  • If location is activated, the web front end will actually locate the device for you on the map right down to the GPS coordinates.
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  • Your answer was very creative, I haven't started developing APKs yet, so it won't work just yet, but you get an upvote for creativity and originality!
    – JamesTheAwesomeDude
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 23:43
  • @JamesTheAwesomeDude cheers mate, glad it helped you and gave you a "spark" :D
    – t0mm13b
    Commented Jul 18, 2013 at 23:43
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For your purpose you can use Android Lost.

EDIT: as with many others, with this app you can force the phone to ring at max-volume even when it is in silent mode. HOWEVER...

...the main difference of my recommended app compared with the Device Manager (suggested by other user) is that here you can select the ring duration, and what's more, if the WiFi mechanism fails for some reason (phone sleeping) your command will be queued until wakeup... and you can send as many as you wish (by using google API).

Additionally, even it does not apply to your case, you also have other alternatives as a desperate failover (sms, etc), and location is not only GPS but also network location. This is just a bonus for other users of the community.

Please, if you find my answer better than others, vote up!

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  • Can you expand on that? How, exactly, will this solve the problem?
    – ale
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 13:49
  • Their web site uses the google push API (it's a google app), to send the information to your phone (through your gmail account), and it will ring even in silent mode (it's an android app).
    – JCM
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 14:03
  • Comments are impermanent. Please edit your answer.
    – ale
    Commented Jul 19, 2013 at 14:04

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