Wallet, keys, check. Cellphone? Gah! Where did I put that darn thing?
Icantfindmyphone.com lets you type in your cellphone number and it will dial it for you so you can locate it underneath the pillow, couch cushion or pants pocket it’s hiding in. Handy in those situations where there’s not another phone nearby but you do have an internet connection.
A cheery robo voice calls you up and says “It looks like you found your phone. Have a great rest of the day.” The site says that it’s for entertainment purposes only and he’s not harvesting your number for anything. It doesn’t seem to work with Google Voice numbers, however.
It’s like an ad-free version of wheresmycellphone.com.
icantfindmyphone [Official Site via Swiss Miss]
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That’s a fun and potentially helpful idea…but I’d still be careful about where my cell phone number goes. Maybe numbers aren’t being harvested now, but I can envision seeing the site being bought up by some corporate entity for exactly that purpose…
I just tried it and it works. I hope that my phone number isn’t now being passed around like a $2 whore to robo-callers.
Wow, Consumerist… way to bring us news on the cutting edge of TWO YEARS AGO. So someone created an ad free version of wheresmycellphone.com? Great, now let’s take bets on how long the site stays running before Mr. Dawson ends up putting in ads or selling analytics.
Wow, Consumerist… way to bring us news on the cutting edge of TWO YEARS AGO.
I’m sure next time they’ll ask you first before posting anything since it apparently it only matters whether or not *you’ve* heard of it.
My point is that services like this have been around and quite popular for years, so what’s the point in reporting on yet another new one? Plus, it’s a “call my cell phone” service, not some sort of incredible yet obscure tax rebate which is worth reminding people about from time to time.
It’s like posting “hey, guys, have you heard about this crazy new thing called the iPhone? You can run apps AND call people on it!”
I don’t own an iPhone but from what I’ve read you can’t do either of those on it very well.
You can also go to Amazon and have a customer rep call you. It’s an automated service so when your phone rings, it hasn’t connected you to an actual person yet. You can end the call without feeling like you’ve actually hung up on someone.
thank you for this WONDERFUL tip!
I love that function of Amazon. The first few times I used it it was kind of creepy… my phone is ringing right away, they were right!
Oh login to Gmail and make a free call from there!!
I should also mention that you can call your cellphone from Skype or Google Voice for a small fee, which, at least IMO, is preferable to punching your number into some random website where it’ll be stored/sent to God knows who.
” The site says that it’s for entertainment purposes only”
For whose and what kind of entertainment?
“and he’s not harvesting your number for anything”
Is he letting someone else harvest them?
Is this cynical thinking? Yes. Does this kind of questioning apply to the world we live in now?
Absolutely.
For doing it as many times in a row as I can to my office mate until he flips out.
same here lol…
trick or treat…
I always look at someone offering a service like this for free (no ads, either) with an extreme level of suspicion. He can say “I won’t spam you/sell your info, promise” all you want on the page; perhaps it’s even true at the moment, but that doesn’t guarantee that 6 months down the line when his hosting bill has gotten out of control he won’t take that list of every phone number ever entered into the site and sell it off.
Maybe the entertainment value is to decide at 3am that your boss must have misplaced his cellphone, and being the loyal subordinate that you are, you’ll help him locate it… Every 10-15 minutes. And being the true team player that you are, you won’t even tell him of your personal dedication in ensuring he can keep tabs on it at all hours of the night.
*snicker* Oh if I only dared…
You could also email yourself a text message, if your text alert is loud enough to be useful. For example, Verizon Wireless customers can be texted via email using this format: 8008675309@vtext.com.
If you use gchat, all you have to do is type the phone number in and it’ll send a text message.
No way am I inputting my phone number into some random website so they can collect it in their database…
Good point.
What about an enemy’s cellphone number? Would that be OK?
Oh yes, it’s confusing indirect prank call time at my apartment now!
That would be great if my phone wasn’t always set on vibrate.
LOL, seriously. I just about always have my ringer turned off (or it’s dead because I forgot to charge it – I don’t use the thing very much), so it wouldn’t do me much good.
That’s a great idea. Why didn’t i think of doing that in the first place with another phone? Oh, I did. But since it’s on vibrate, thank goodness this counters that. Oh wait…..
I have wheres my droid installed on my phone just for this purpose. I sent a text message from anywhere using a certain word, it unmutes my phone, sets the volume to max, and rings for 30 seconds so I can find it.
whaaa? fucking awesome.
Why didn’t i think of doing that in the first place with another phone?
A better question is why you didn’t think of RTFA:
Handy in those situations where there’s not another phone nearby…
i’ve always just dialed a random number on google voice, then my phone rings and I hang it up.
It actually starts calling the other number too. I used to do this until my BF asked me why I was constantly calling him from my GV number and hanging up.
Didnt gizmodo.com post this link 3 days ago…
Gee, good thing I still have a land line.
The site says that it’s for entertainment purposes only and he’s not harvesting your number for anything.
Awesome! I know it’s true, because it’s written right there on the internet, and no one on the internet lies.
Other free services coming soon:
ismycreditcardstolen.com – Enter your credit card number and expiration date and we promise to check it against a database of stolen cards! We never keep your card information!
mySSNchecker.com – Enter your Social Security Number and name, and we’ll check FREE to be sure your name exactly matches Federal records. Safe! Secure! Trustworthy!
It’s not coming soon. It’s already here.
http://ismycreditcardstolen.com/
Luckily that is **hopefully** just a warning website for idiots on the interwebs. Just to be sure I put in all my credit card information.
well i’m going to use it for that person that drunk dials me all the damn time and still can’t get it through their head that I am not the person that they were trying to get a hold of the time. This is much more fun that blocking a number.
I have always used:
http://www.wheresmycellphone.com/
Just another IQ test: are you:
A) Smart enough to not misplace your phone, and
B) Smart enough to not give, and verify as working, your cellphone number to a potentially malicious company?
C) Smart enough to use google voice and ring your cellphone before the battery runs out?
We made our own cell phone finder at home. Of course, it took twelve years and then we had to buy her a cell phone…
I will never put my phone number into an online form unless it is a popular entity that I am making purchases from (like amazon or newegg etc). This is a view I have had since 1993.
A fear years ago, after having the same cell # for 5 years, a naive girlfriend of mine put my number into some site (to receive something free or get coupons or some random garbage) and that very week I received my first ever unsolicited marketing call, AND text messages.
I always use phonemyphone.com ….easier for me to remember I guess
Yeah, that the one I’ve always used as well. Works pretty good and never had random calls sent to it, so I assume they’re not pawning the numbers they get.
My girlfriend works just fine for this purpose and when she isnt around I have skype. And if neither of those work than my phone is on vibrate and it won’t matter who I call it from.
If you have an Android phone, there are several (free) Apps in the market that will allow you to send yourself a Text/SMS message (either from email, or from someone else’s phone), and when it sees a “special word” in the message will automatically turn on the ringer (if it was on silent), turn the volume all the way up, and play your ringtone until your battery either runs out of juice, or you find the darn thing and shut it off.
There are of course also apps that will allow you to text/sms your Android phone (with other “special words”) and get it’s current GPS location, lock it, etc.. Useful I guess if it were lost or stolen..
wheresmycellphone.com/
is what I use
time to do some crank calls?
What’s keeping some fun-ster from loading in phone numbers of friends/enemies at 3 a.m. for some good times?
Just did it to my mother’s landline. Absolutely nothing, that’s what.
This is basically the only reason I keep a Skype account.
Isn’t it quicker just to call it from your house phone?
Sorry, missed this line:
“Handy in those situations where there’s not another phone nearby but you do have an internet connection.”
But really, how often are you someplace where you might not know where you’ve left your phone, where you would also have an internet connection, but not another phone?
I have no house phone, and havent in since I moved out of my parents house 8 years ago (And I hadnt used their since I got my first cell phone at 14 or 15 – Im 25 now). I dont even remember the last time I used a phone in a house that wasnt a cell phone.
Houses can have phones?
Or, you could use your house phone. Problem is, what do you do if your phone is off, or on Vibrate?
Haven’t had a house phone since… 2001, I think.
Might use this every once in awhile – but their other site http://www.wakeupdialer.com I would use everyday.
Just for your information: this will not work if your cell phone number is on the “DO NOT CALL” list.