Lost phone

A misplaced phone is usually somewhere close by, which is why sound beats searching. The questions in this section cover the ordinary case: the handset is in the house or the office, nobody has stolen it, and you simply cannot remember where you put it down. You will find answers about ringing a phone that has been switched to silent, about asking someone else to ring it for you, and about what the free tools built into iPhone and Android already do before you install anything. RingIt fits in here as a way to make the phone make a noise, not as a tracker. It does not show you a location on a map, so the pages that need one point you at Find My or Find Hub instead.

• Is there a free way to find a phone on silent?

  Yes. Find My on iPhone and Find Hub on Android are free, built in, and their Play Sound works with the ringer off. Ringing a phone with RingIt is free too. None of them can be set up after the phone goes missing, so the free options only exist if you turned them on beforehand.

• What app makes your phone ring when it's on silent?

  Find My on iPhone and Find Hub on Android both have a Play Sound that ignores the ringer, and both are free and built in. RingIt does the same on request from someone you invited. All of them have to be switched on before the phone goes missing, because none of them can be installed on a phone you cannot find.