Physically (but digitially) find a wifi-connected device?

February 3, 2024 6:53 AM

Is there a not-too-technical way to hone in on the location of a phone still connected to home's wifi? The elusive handset is a quite old Android (not attached to any Google account and thus lacking Find-My-Device capacity) last used yesterday but showing on the (stock Linksys) router's network map. I'm hoping I can run something on another newish Android phone that might help triangulate and narrow the analog search?
posted by glibhamdreck to Technology (9 answers total)

May I ask why you don’t call the phone number?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 7:02 AM on February 3, 2024

If Bluetooth is on, there are various Android bluetooth scanner apps that will give signal strength readings, though I've found those to be less reliable for triangulation than I had naively expected.

Alternatively, this 2013 Superuser thread has some ideas.
posted by Not A Thing at 7:16 AM on February 3, 2024 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I should have mentioned: no sim installed.
posted by glibhamdreck at 7:23 AM on February 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

Is it attached to any account (e.g. a non-Google email account)?

That is, is there anything you could do to trigger an alert that would cause it to buzz or beep or whatever?
posted by Not A Thing at 9:07 AM on February 3, 2024

Response by poster: I tried a few different means of Bluetooth scanning; however, even if Bluetooth is on, it may not be generating a signal in whatever battery-saving state it's in.

And, yeah, it's a "phone" only technically; this only-used-in-the-home-by-kids device has no accounts/assistants or useful notifications turned on or communication-adjacent apps (really except Duolingo).
posted by glibhamdreck at 9:48 AM on February 3, 2024

Does it have any kind of voice assistant feature that might respond to verbal inquiries?
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 9:49 AM on February 3, 2024

Most routers that show a list of connected clients also show the Wi-Fi signal strength to each client. Due to signal attenuation through walls, you might be able to use the Wi-Fi signal strength to locate the missing device. If you're lucky the signal strength will be best when the router is in the same room as the device (I wouldn't expect any better precision than this). If you have an external cable modem / ADSL modem you'll need a long extension cord, and either own or borrow a 100' ethernet cable or, if the router has an integrated cable modem, a barrel connector and 100' of coax cable.
posted by RichardP at 11:03 AM on February 3, 2024

If you put a wifi scanner on your new phone it should show the old phone's signal strength. That would probably be more convenient than dragging your modem around.

I don't have an Android to try it on but this one looks pretty good.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en&pli=1
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:27 AM on February 3, 2024

Farproc Wifi Analyzer is a really useful tool, but unless I've been missing something all these years it only shows signal strength for access points, not for clients.
posted by flabdablet at 2:58 AM on February 4, 2024