I've lost my phone in the house and spent at least 6 solid hours looking ... and I still can't find it!!

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Just starting to panic now as obviously I need it for work ... and all my photos and contacts . I hate myself for this. I'm always losing things but I've never lost my phone for over 24 hours now. It's already causing me lots of inconvenience.

Where the hell is it? I know I had it yesterday morning. It was charging by my bed. I might have left it in the bedroom or brought it downstairs with me ... it was my day off work so I spent the morning pottering about, generally tidying and putting things away. Then I had a shower. Then I went to check my phone at about lunch time ... and it's gone somewhere and I haven't seen it since.

FFS. FML. etc.

If I’ve lost my phone at home, I have usually placed it on a high place like a book shelf.

I always do the quietly retracing my steps thing. Good luck.

Take a deep breath and start again by looking in the obvious places

Almost certainly youve already looked where it is. I don't know if there's a name for it but there's definitely a kind of blindness that can operate when you're looking for something

Mine is always either in a pile of laundry, or on a random shelf that I would never dreamed I would have put it on. Think really hard and mentally retrace your steps from the last time you know you had it.

One time I found my phone under the duvet.

I often leave mine on top of the laundry basket as it’s next to the loo - do you have a similar surface near your loo it might be on or near?

Check inside pillows, under fitted sheets, between furniture. Have you checked the charging cable you used? If that’s still where it ought to be, surely your phone is nearby? Fallen in a drawer, knocked under furniture, dropped into an open backpack accidentally?

Do you have a child/children who may have “helped” by “tidying it away”?

Been there done that. 😂

Op my advice is to stop looking for it. The minute you stop is when you either find it or suddenly remember where you put it.

I understand this can be very useful and it would be my first port of call, aside from getting someone to ring me, but not everyone has Alexa.

Would it really be flat if it was fully charged yesterday morning and hadn't been used at all? Gah! I've tried "find my Android device" and "find my Samsung" - both say they can't locate it.

Fuckityfuckityfuckityfuck!

Open all your curtains and check windowsills.

Look in pockets, even if you doubt greatly that that's where it is.

I vote you've put it away with the other things somewhere.. it'll be under some clothes etc

If you have linked your phone number to your Google account, you can log in and ring your phone. It will ring even if on silent.

Says the person who tried this and then couldn't locate where the ringing came from. Until 5 yo DS pointed out that it was in my back pocket.

Have you the pockets of anything you wore yesterday.

In a handbag?
I absentmindedly put things in drawers a lot try opening everything.

Laundry basket?

I've completely stripped the bed, checked inside the duvet and pillow cases, got a torch and shone it under the bed (eeek at horrendous amount of dust) took the opportunity to hoover under it and under the bedside table and chest of drawers. Still no bloody sign.

Been through the laundry basket, looked in every drawer in the bedroom and kitchen, looked in my son's and daughter's bedrooms (both not living at home at the moment but I would have been in both rooms during my rare "putting things back in their rightful place" spree yesterday).

I'm just so cross.

Thanks for all the encouraging posts though!

Most makes of phone have the option to log on to a website which forces the phone to ring even if it is on silent. We do it all the time with both Samsung Galaxies and iPhones in our house.

Have you checked in the fridge?
Shoe cupboard?

I've done that too.

I would check all your pockets, I found my driving licence in a dressing gown pocket after sending away for a new one.

It will be somewhere random, like the pantry cupboard

I have found mine down the door side of a car seat: also, incredibly, balancing in the inner triangle of a bike frame.

I lose stuff a lot and if Find My Device isn't working I usually have to retrace my steps from the last time I know I had it.

Are you sure it's in the house?

Majority of the time mine has been eaten by the sofa.

Do you ever wear aprons with pockets to cook? That's always where mine is when I lose it.

I once found mine in the washing machine, luckily I hadn’t turned it on yet. 🥴 I hope you manage to find it!

Slightly off topic but why do you turn it off overnight? Mine has an automatic setting that puts it on silent at 10pm and turns it back off silent at 6am on weekdays. Anyone who messages me won't ping my phone but I have starred contacts that allow my phone to ring through the silent setting so basically anyone who would want or need to get in touch with me in an emergency. This can be set up on most phones.

This also means that should you lose your phone someone on a starred setting can call it when it is on silent if you lose it during those hours.

Has someone else who has left the house in that time picked up your phone thinking it’s theirs, and taken it out with them? Check that everyone has the right phone.

I did the same, but unfortunately I did turn the machine on 🙈.