How do you find your lost or stolen phone?

The scary scenario of a morning when everything has gone wrong can culminate in the disarming sensation of feeling empty in the pocket where you thought your mobile phone was, as soon as you got off the bus or subway.

The same thing can happen at a concert or at the pool, and the damage is not limited to the value of the gadget, but can be amplified by the value of the data you had stored in the device. You can have no guarantee that you will never lose your phone or that it will never be stolen, but you have a lot of solutions at your disposal to limit the consequences of such an event.

For this, we have prepared some extremely useful information for you in this material, which we invite you to read in the lines below. Here’s what you’ll learn from this article:

If you were wondering how to find a lost or stolen phone without GPS, it’s good to know that the main means at your disposal in this situation is to locate the smartphone by IMEI.

Under the acronym International Mobile Equipment Identity we find the unique code of each device, which consists of 15 digits, is unique and can be included as vital information in a complaint submitted to the police when your phone is lost or stolen. In case you don’t know your phone’s IMEI, all you have to do is type the code *#06#, which will generate it on its screen.

Write it down ahead of time and keep it safe in case you lose or get your phone stolen and you want to solve the problem first and foremost through legal means. If your complaint will be accompanied by the documents proving that you are the owner of the smartphone, the chances of recovering the phone increase.

Before contacting the law enforcement, however, use a friend’s phone to contact the telephone operator you were subscribed to or from whom you purchased a prepaid card. The GSM operator will be able to immediately block your device, also based on the IMEI code.

Also, you can register the IMEI of the stolen or lost phone here, if you want to report the incident, and the authorities can take action when the phone returns, in one form or another, to the market.

How do you locate a phone with GPS?

Although many users do not keep the GPS function constantly active when using the phone, it can prove to be a lifesaver in case of theft. The basic condition is that the gadget is switched on and in the coverage area of a GSM cell.

The signal emitted by the phone can be quickly picked up by satellites, regardless of whether the device is connected to the data network or a Wi-Fi router. These phone features, combined with a specific app or dedicated program, can prove crucial in your quest to recover your stolen phone.

What phone trackers are available for iOS?

If you use an Apple phone, you have more than one app to find it:

Find my iPhone: Useful for both phones and tablets, the free app is available in the AppStore and requires registration with your iCloud data. What you need to know about this application is that if you use an iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max or a phone from the iPhone 13 range and you have updated to iOS 15, Find My it will locate your iPhone even if it’s locked, out of battery, or factory reset.

FoneHome: based on the same working principle used by Gadget Track, FoneHome helps you to permanently monitor the position of your missing phone.

Gadget Track: This paid app is designed as a trap for thieves, who will receive a notification on their phone. After opening the message, your phone will discreetly send photos and GPS coordinates to the other devices you have registered in iTunes.

What phone trackers are available for Android?

Google Photos: if you take care to activate the Backup & Sync function on your Samsung, Huawei or any other Android smartphone in advance, the photos automatically uploaded to your Google Photos account will help you see where your gadget has been and who takes photos with him

Google Timeline: Even if it requires a little detective skills, this app is as useful as it gets. Based on the history of marked places in Google Maps, where your phone has been recently, you can determine from a laptop an area where you could find it.

Android Device Manager: available for free, the application helps you complicate the mission of a possible villain, either by triggering an alarm at maximum volume, or by deleting all data from the device’s memory.

What other programs or applications can you use to find a lost or stolen phone?

If you have a smartphone but don’t use Android or iOS, you have an app to find your phone. You can install Find My Phone for your phone