How I Tracked Location of my Lost Nokia Lumia Phone

How does it feel to misplace a brand new smartphone? Let me tell you how I felt: I was devastated.

My cousin staying in the US gifted me a Nokia Lumia 920 phone this summer. Red in color, this is a heavy — in terms of weight and price — smartphone that is powered by Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system.

I was delighted to move from my 4-year-old iPhone to a new Lumia device. The experience was great, but it didn’t last longer.

How I lost Nokia Lumia 920

I usually go to parties on Friday; that’s when all my friends are available. On our way back home, I took a taxi at around 11 PM. Then I realized my phone was missing. At first I thought it was stolen. Then I told the driver to stop near a phone booth and made a call to my Lumia. It was ringing but no one picked it up.

I also called all my friends, asking them about my phone. As these are my best buddies, I also asked them if they are playing around. They were serious.

A geeky friend, who was at the club also has a Nokia Lumia (must be 800 or 720… not sure) told me that I can track the phone through a computer. I wasn’t so sure, but he told me he will do it for me as he was near the club we went to.

I gave him my Hotmail email ID along with the password.

After 10 minutes I called him again, and he told me the phone is still in the club. I took another taxi to visit the club once again. All this was simply unbelievable — first I was happy to meet my buddies at the club, then really sad to have lost my phone (I regretted to have gone to this new club), and now I am happy once again.

I reached the club within 20 minutes and after inquiring the bartender we found the phone. He kept the phone aside as soon as he found it on the table.

It was a memorable night, that’s all I can say.

How to Track any Windows 8 Phone

I asked my friend how he did it and he explained me all the steps involved in tracing a lost or stolen Windows phone. It’s super-easy, and you will be able to track location of any Windows 8 smartphone easily.

All the Windows 8 smartphones have “Find my Phone” service — a free phone tracking service that lets you track the location of the smartphone, erase the content, remove backups, phone settings, etc.

Note: The service must already be activated on your phone (go to Settings -> find my phone) and there must be a working Internet connection on your phone. Though there are GPS techniques and many cell phone tracking apps available, this method is much more easier and its the one I am familiar with.

Step 1: Go to this URL: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/my

Step 2: Go to My Phone section. Make sure you are logged in.

Step 3: Your phone will be shown in the map. Zoom in, if required.

That’s it. Super-easy, isn’t it? Apart from tracking the location of the Lumia, I can also erase the content or type and send a message to my phone.

To everyone reading this article, the messaging facility is really powerful. You can always send a powerful message like this: “Hey, if you find this phone… please return it back to me. Call me on this number: XXX.”

Or you can also say: “Hello club_name member, I am outside the club. Appreciate if you can return the phone to me.”

Just be creative. Oh, and make sure to activate Find my Phone feature on your smartphone. Right now.

– Andy