How to ring your phone with Google Assistant

No one likes to lose their phone. I am the type of person that will even become anxious when someone else has misplaced their phone. Google’s Find My Device service is a great tool to help with this problem and you can use it to find, lock or erase your device. But there is another quick trick that I remembered over the weekend: you can use the Google Assistant to ring your phone.

This is one of those features that has been around for a while but because I don’t use it very often, I had simply forgotten about it. But I think it is worth a quick refresher to make sure everything is set up properly for the next time your phone slides between the couch cushions.

First of all, if you are in a home or office where multiple people are using the same Google Home devices, you will need to set up each device in the Google Home app. Following these steps will connect a Google Account and Voice Match to each phone so the Assistant can tell everyone apart. This process is a bit convoluted but it is important to make sure your account is linked properly.

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From there, as long as your location is turned on and the device is connected to mobile data or Wi-Fi, you can simply say, “Hey Google, ring my phone.” The Assistant will read off a phone that is associated with your voice or last used devices and then it will start ringing. This will work with Andriod and iOS devices but there are a couple of other steps for iPhone and iPad. When using an Android phone, the device will even ring if it’s set to “Do Not Disturb.” It is also important to note that this voice command method is limited to the audible alert can not be used to lock or erase your phone.

If you are prone to losing more than your phone, you can now also use your Google Assistant to ring a Tile tracker. The new Tile Stickers are perfect for household items that you have a tendency to misplace. The small, waterproof trackers have an adhesive back that can stick on nearly anything, from laptops, keys or remotes. A 2-pack of the Tile Stickers will cost you $39.99.

I know this sounds like a simple trick but it can be invaluable when you have been looking around your house for 30 minutes and can’t seem to find your phone. Add this to the list of already awesome features packed into the affordable Nest Mini and it quickly becomes a no-brainer smart home purchase. For a retail price of $49.99, the Nest Mini is a great smart home speaker and now with this quick refresher, it can also help you find your phone. As an added bonus, this trick will also work on any device with the Google Assistant built-in, so you can ring your phone from your Chromebook or any Google smart speaker/display.