Alphabet’s (GOOGL Quick QuoteGOOGL - Free Report) Google division already allows Android users to track their misplaced or stolen smartphones through both a search and by using the standalone Android Device Manager app. Today, the company is adding another method for users to check exactly where their device is on a map.

Head to Google's My Account hub and you will now see a new “Find your phone” option. Tap or click the option, and you will be able to make your phone ring at maximum volume, lock it (with a message and contact number on the lock screen), or locate its precise position using the Device Manager.

Now all of this stuff applies strictly to Android. Sorry iPhone and other iOS device users.

But it's good to see Google making it easier and quicker to locate your handset in those panicked moments that usually accompany a missing phone. And it'll eventually get ever so slightly faster, giving you quick access to My Account whenever you Google “I lost my phone.”  

“When you entrust your data to Google, you should expect powerful security and privacy controls,” Guemmy Kim, the product manager of Google's account controls, wrote in a blog post. “These features are just the latest in our ongoing efforts to protect you and your personal information.”

The “other feature” Mr. Kim alludes to is the new way to access My Account. All you have to do is say, “OK Google, show me my account” and, poof, you’re ready to access your Google account and perform any adjustments needed, such as using the new “Find your phone” option.

Alphabet has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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