In what way is Android Device Manager wrong about my phone?

October 10, 2016 6:27 PM

Android device manager claims that my phone is somewhere in my house. But when I tell it to ring my phone at full volume, it claims that it's doing so, and then...nothing. My house is small. I have searched it from top to bottom, while the ringer should theoretically be sounding. I hear nothing. Which is more likely to be malfunctioning - the locator or the ringer?

I've checked the location several times: it always shows my house on the map, along with the following (most recent) info:

Last located at 9:21
Accurate to (this keeps shifting) 36 meters.
Last online: October 6, 2016.

That 'last online' date is a little confusing to me - what is that referring to? The fact that my phone is in my house jibes with my memory, but I swear to God I've searched it top to bottom, and while there may conceivably be places the phone could be that I'm not thinking of, I don't think there's anywhere it could be that I haven't searched where I wouldn't hear it ringing at full volume. When I call the phone from another number, it rings, so I don't think it's dead yet, though it probably will be soon.

I last know had the phone right before I went to the dog park. I got a ride with my friend, and as I was waiting for her on the porch, I thought, 'Oh well, it's just a trip to the dog park, I'll be fine without my phone." If Android Device wasn't so insistent that my phone was here, I'd be sure I was remembering wrong, and that I'd actually brought the phone to the dog park and lost it there. I really don't want that to be true. I want it to be in my house! But if it's here, why isn't it ringing?

posted by pretentious illiterate to Technology (6 answers total)

It is in your couch.
posted by Oyéah at 6:31 PM on October 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

It is in your pocket in the washing machine, or laundry basket. Or, it is in a coat pocket in the closet, because you had to wear a coat recently, but put it back. It is under the seat of your car, because you bent in to do something. Or, even outside, under your car.
posted by Oyéah at 6:33 PM on October 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: UPDATE: I wrote this question out and as I hit post, I literally heard in my head a Mefite telling me, reasonably, "Neither. Both are working. The phone is somewhere between your house and where she picked you up in the car."

I went outside. I walked from the porch in the direction of where she'd waited to pick me up. My phone was on the lawn, between the porch and the car.

Thank you, internalized voice of Metafilter. You have done me a great service today.
posted by pretentious illiterate at 6:33 PM on October 10, 2016 [54 favorites]

FWIW, last time I used Android Device Manager to look for my phone, it didn't ring at full volume - it rang at notification volume, which I had set to mute, which obviously wasn't going to work. Turned out to be a known issue at the time. I don't know if they've fixed it yet.

So it's entirely possible that your ringer was also malfunctioning.
posted by Xany at 9:07 PM on October 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's on the lawn in front of the house.
posted by AugustWest at 10:17 PM on October 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

haha yeah, I was totally going to say its in your garden - 36 meters is pretty far.
posted by missmagenta at 5:28 AM on October 11, 2016