Mr. Stapler tends to lose things that aren’t nailed down. Let’s just say his brain is always whirring in different directions and not paying close attention to where he left his sunglasses in the locker room or his skateboard on the train (true story).

This week, he left his phone on the bus.

We use Republic Wireless,* which requires you to buy your own phone. So, it’s not like he’s due for an upgrade any time soon. The phone is nothing short of awesome, and worth $300. You can imagine how upset we both were at the prospect of buying him a new phone.

Thankfully, he had installed the Android Device Manager, which allows the owner to lock the phone if it’s lost. When locked, the only thing the phone can do is to call the phone number the owner specifies in case of a lost phone.

Less than an hour after locking the phone, I got a phone call from a good samaritan, who arranged to meet Mr. Stapler that night to return the phone.

If you have an Android phone, download the free Android Device Manager and save yourself $300 if you ever lose your phone!

*PS: That’s my referral link to Republic Wireless. If you sign up, we both get $20. I’m not making any money if you download the free Android Device Manager.