A misplaced phone is where advance setup pays off. On iPhone, check Find My iPhone and the Find My network in your account settings. On supported Android devices with Google services, check the account, Location and Find Hub settings. Offline-finding options depend on the device and configuration.

Confirm that the device appears in the service while you still have it, and that you can access your account from another device. Finding tools can help locate a phone; they cannot guarantee recovery. We rank this third because it addresses an expensive, disruptive problem, even though most readers will use it less often than a scanner.

Official guides: Apple Find My · Google Find Hub.

Illustration: Topnilo; phone icon by Assaf Katz, adapted. All artwork: CC0.