Problem: Not everyone uses the same phone operating system. In my house I have an iPhone and my wife has an Android. This means that when I inevitably leave my phone on the hotel couch, she can’t really help me find it. Sure, she can call my phone number, but usually my ringer is off and Do Not Disturb is enabled. (I’m getting nervous like this.) She apparently can’t use Apple’s Find My iPhone, which doesn’t run on her Android devices. And while both Apple and Google provide tools to view the location of devices paired to a computer, a nearby computer may not be set up with the proper permissions.
Am I doomed to keep track of where my phone is like a functional adult? No, thanks to a simple app called RingIt by Belgian developer Gaetan Van den Berge. This application, which is free for both Android and iOS, exists to make it easier for Android users to help iPhone users find their phone, and vice versa. Simply open the app, press a button, and the other person’s phone will ring loudly – helping them find your phone.
“The idea for Ringit actually came to me while on vacation with my girlfriend,” van den Berge tells me. “I would often misplace my phone with it on silent and I would repeatedly ask her, ‘Do you know where my phone is?’ I remember thinking how cool it would be if he could make my phone ring louder with his device, even though my phone was muted.”
And so they created an application that does exactly that, and nothing else. The app does not collect location or any user data – only email addresses which are used for verification.
Setting up the app is easy: just install the app on your phone. You will need to verify your email address, which is done by typing the code sent to your inbox. You’ll then need to grant some permissions—basically, the app needs to be able to send notifications even when settings like Do Not Disturb are turned on. Make sure you grant this permission: the app will not work without it.
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