Android phone:
Cloud location services
This course shows you how to locate your other Android devices and your friends and family using your Android phone, the Google Maps app and the cloud.
When you're ready to start, scroll down and click or tap the play button on the video.
Sign in to save your progress
Transcript
Welcome to the "Android phone: Cloud location services" course. When you create a Google Account to sign into your Android phone, you also get free cloud services. In this course, you'll learn how to use the cloud to help find your device if it becomes lost or stolen. You'll also learn how to use Google Maps and location sharing to let family or friends know where you are and to ask others to share their location with you. Now, there are lots of different models of Android phone and they're all slightly different, so some of the steps in this video might look a bit different on your phone. Don't worry, though. You'll still be able to follow along. It should take around 15 minutes to complete the video but you can pause or rewind to check any steps you're unsure about. Before you begin, check that your phone is fully charged and has the latest version of its operating software. You'll also need an internet connection over home Wi-Fi or access to mobile data via a mobile phone account and plan. And you'll need to have a Google Account and be signed in to your phone with its email address and password. Finally, your Android phone should be switched on, unlocked and showing the Home screen.
We're going to start by setting up your phone so that the cloud can help you find it if it becomes lost or stolen. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to show all your apps. Find the Google app icon, which looks like a letter G, and tap on it. Now locate your Google Account profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen. In our demonstration, it looks like a circle with an initial, but you may have set yours up to show a picture or photo. Now tap on it. A pop-up box will appear. Tap on Manage your Google Account to see information about your Google Account. Below your account name and email address is a line of headings. Swipe left through the headings until you can see Security. Now tap on it. A new page opens.
There are lots of security features here that you can explore later, but for now, scroll down until you see your devices. This is a list of all the devices that you are signed into with your Google Account. It might include such devices as your computer, your Android tablet if you have one, or a smart speaker. Because you are looking at this list on your Android phone now, the top device will show your phone with a blue tick underneath it labelled This device. This means your phone is ready to report its location if you use another device, such as your computer to, look for it. To test this, you can use a computer's web browser to sign int o your Google Account with your username and password and see your mobile's location on a map. To learn how to use your Windows computer to locate your Android phone, watch the video called "Sharing photos and location with the cloud".
Now, let's look at how to share your location with friends. You can share your location or ask friends and family to share their location with you by using the Google Maps app. To exchange location information, you need to be signed into your phone with your Google Account and your friend or family member must be signed into their device with their own Google Account. It's worth noting that people you share your location with on Google Maps can see your name and photo, information about where you've been and your saved destinations, such as a work or home address. Google may also send you advertising based on your location. Your phone should still be running the Google app so tap the Home button to return to the Home screen. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to show all your apps and find the Maps app icon, which looks like an upside down teardrop. If you can't find this icon, you can download or update Google Maps using the Google Play Store. Tap the Maps app icon to open the app, Google Maps opens showing a map.
If your Android phone has its location services turned on, this map will display your local area. If the map is not showing your current location, you can tap the compass icon in the bottom right of the screen to centre the map on where you are right now. The icon looks like a circle with a dot in the middle. Tap on it, and it will change colour and the map will update to show your current location. If you can't see the compass icon and there's no search bar at the top of the screen, tap the map once in the centre to make these appear. Now, if the compass is red and showing a question mark in the middle, that means your phone's location services are not turned on and so Google Maps can't see your precise location. This means you can't share your location with friends or family.
To fix this, tap the red compass and a pop up will appear asking if you want to turn on the device location feature. There is a little grey arrow after the word 'service'. You can tap it to see some information about exactly what Google Maps will use your phone's location services to do. When you are ready, tap OK to turn on your phone's location services. The pop up will disappear and you will see the compass become black. Tap the compass to turn it blue and the map will centre on your current location. It might take a few seconds to do this. You're now ready to share your location with a friend or family member, so look for the circle in the top right corner of the screen and tap on it. A pop up showing your Google Account appears. Tap on Location sharing. On the next screen, tap the blue Share location button. The map will reopen along with the 'Share your real time location' panel. In the middle of the map, you will see a panel with your name, your current location and a battery symbol showing how much charge your phone has left. Next to 'Share your real-time location' is a small question mark in a circle. Tap this now to see another pop up that explains exactly what information is visible to a person you share your location with. To get even more information, you can tap the blue words, Learn more about Location Sharing, but for now, tap the blue OK button. The pop up will disappear and you can see the share panel again. Under the title is a pale blue button that says 'For 1 hour'. This means that the person you are about to share your location with will only see it for one hour, then location sharing with this person will turn off automatically. Tap the pale blue button and the panel will expand. Tap the blue minus or plus buttons to share your location for less time or for more.
The minimum amount of time is 15 minutes and the maximum is three days. If you want to share your location permanently, perhaps with a close friend, carer or family member, tap Until you turn this off. The person you choose in the next step will see your location until you tell Google Maps to stop sharing. Under this, you can see a list of your contacts. Swipe to the left to see more contacts. If you can't see the person you want to share your location with, keep swiping left until eventually you will see an option for 'More'. Tap 'More' to see a full list of your contacts. Scroll the list to find the person you want to share your location with and tap their name. The circle next to their name will turn blue and show a white tick. When you are sure you want to share your location with this person, tap the blue 'Send' button at the bottom right of the screen. The panel closes and the screen shows the map again. At the bottom of the map, you will see the person's name with 'Not sharing with you' and 'Can see your location' underneath. Tap their name and the panel will change to show information about this person.
To stop sharing your location with them right away, tap the blue Stop. To ask the person to share their location with you, tap 'Request'. Google will check that you don't mind sharing your email address with them. If that's fine, tap Request once more. They will get a notification on their own phone letting them know you want them to share their location with you. Once they agree, you will receive a notification saying the person has shared their location with you. Your phone will now show the location sharing screen on Google Maps and the person's name will appear at the bottom. A circle with their name next to it will appear in the map and the map will become centred on the screen. In the panel at the bottom under their name, it will show how far away they are from your location. and it may show the battery charge of their phone too. Next to the battery, it may say 'Just now', in which case the location you are seeing on the map is current. If it says '5 minutes ago' or longer, you might need to refresh the location.
To do this, look for the three dots to the right of the person's name and tap them. A menu will pop up, tap Refresh and wait a moment for their location to update. When you're finished, tap the Home button, but be aware that your location will still be visible to anyone you have shared it with until the timer expires or you turn it off. Congratulations. You have completed the course and learned how to locate your phone if it goes missing and share your location with a friend via Google Maps. When you're ready, you can learn how to use your Windows computer to locate a missing Android device by watching the Windows desktop or laptop video called "Sharing photos and location with the cloud".