Aug. 2, 2013 at 4:41 PM ET
The Android Device Manager will show a location, and give options to ring or wipe the phone.
Forgetful and unlucky Android phone and tablet owners will be happy to hear that their lost or stolen devices will now be trackable with a free service much like Apple's "Find my iPhone."
The Android Device Manager, announced by Google in a blog post Friday, will let you quickly locate your phone or tablet, whether it's in the kitchen or at the bar you were hanging out at last night.
Once your device is registered, you can log in to the service and it will immediately show your phone or tablet's current or last known position on a map. If it's nearby, you can make it ring or sound at max volume, even if it's in silent mode. If it's somewhere distant, at least you know where it is.
If, on the other hand, it has been stolen or can't be found, you can quickly wipe all the data from the device so whoever has it can't abuse your accounts or run up charges.
The service will go live later this month, and will work with any Android device that runs version 2.2 or above ? which is nearly all of them these days. Watch Google's official Android blog for further announcements.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
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