“I need to track a phone that was stolen from me. I have the IMEI number and it was a paid by a boost.”
– Question from the Google community
Have you ever come across the same theft incident involving your phone? Do you want to track your lost cell phone after it went missing? If the answer is yes, read this article. We will explore whether we can successfully track phones with IMEI numbers.
What Is IMEI Number?
IMEI is a short name for International Mobile Equipment Identity, containing 15-digit numbers, which gives the network the ability to identify which type model of the phone. Every mobile device has an IMEI number. It is considered a security code or the one human ID card alike that no one can change or delete from the device. If you find out your cell phone is missing or stolen, using the IMEI number tracking can be very helpful. However, IMEI number itself does not contain any geolocation, it can only be tracked when the device is connected to the internet.
How to Track Phone with IMEI Number?
In this part, we will try three methods to track your phone using IMEI number platforms, and apps or report the loss to the cell phone carrier or the police. Finally, we will conclude on the success rate and security.
👀 IMEI Number Tracking At a Glance
| Options | Time | Success rate | Pros | Cons |
| Online | The result comes out fast, normally within a few minutes. | Low | Free to use Simple to use | The success rate is too low |
| IMEI Tracker – Find My Device | The result comes out fast, no matter if it finds the phone or not. | Low | Free to use Simple to use | Pre-installation and low success rate |
| Contact the service provider/police | The result is pending. It depends on the work efficiency of the official staff. | Medium | Get support from law enforcement | May wait too long |
Using Online IMEI Tracking Service
Using an online IMEI tracking service is simple and easy for you to get your misplaced or stolen cell phone’s location, and it does not require you to have any other skilled knowledge or download any applications. The very important thing for the user to do is to enter a valid IMEI number, and then you can get the results. But the truth is that it is not always a success due to various reasons like phone connectivity. The search cannot react at all. It is still worth a try though.
There are a lot of IMEI tracking service platforms. Normally users will search IMEI track on Google and find many web pages that do good tracking services. But, there are a bunch of fake web pages that contain viruses and malware. It is risky to use them if you cannot verify them. Here are some products we have tried and tested for you.
Option 1: IMEI Tracker
IMEI tracker, this website is free to use with an intuitive interface. It can track the precise location of the cell phone and show it on the interactive map. To locate the lost phone, you just need to enter the IMEI number and choose the country. The tracking service will be initiated.
After you enter the phone number, the website will start tracking your phone. You may wait for a while to check the results.
However, the website requires verification to view the results and the steps seem to be inducing and misleading. It completely has nothing to do with IMEI tracking.
❎ Conclusion: Be careful using this website for its possible malware or sham.
✍ Reviews from Real Users on Trustpilot: The reviews on Trustpilot are not positive. It scores 2.5 with 5 one-start reviews.
Option 2: Track IMEI
Trackimei.net, is also a free service to use. After you enter the valid IMEI number you can click the search button to start.
But the results are always redirecting pages for users and annoying ads. It seems like users cannot get the locations. It can be seen from the options, that for some specific countries they are not available, you may need to use other IMEI tracking services.
❎ Conclusion: After we have a trial on this online IMEI tracker, it is not recommended to use it for its process and user experience.
Option 3: iStaunch
IMEI tracker by iStaunch is a free-to-use IMEI tracking service that works well on Samsung, Redmi, RealMe, Oppo, and Vivo devices. It has the same process to use with the above two pages. Enter the IMEI number and click the TRACK button. It needs the human hCaptcha verification as well and we passed it. Unfortunately, it failed to find our testing phone and showed a red line of words: No Data Found! Please Solve the Captcha & Enter the Correct IMEI Number. We tried with a different IMEI number and it has the same result.
Currently we can barely find any real user reviews and users are advised to be careful about privacy, security, etc. when using it.
❎ Conclusion: Using the IMEI tracker online page may have the chance to track your phone but you should not hold too much hope about it.
Using Mobile Apps
Apart from using the IMEI tracker online page, there is an alternative to use, IMEI Tracker – Find My Device App, which is free. The most significant difference from the online page is that you need to pre-download the app to use, and that seems inconvenient for some users in certain circumstances. To use it, follow the steps below.
Step 1. Download and install the app.
Step 2. It will require some permissions for specific functions. Offer permission.
Step 3. After installing it, log in to your Google account. You need to set it up before you can use it.
Step 4. The app will ask you to set trust phone numbers of your family or friends. The phone number is used to receive messages of your phone’s IMEI location and phone number when your phone is lost or stolen.
Step 5. After setting it up, you can go to the Security command. Turn on the buttons of Get Lost Phone, Ring Silent Phone, and Get Current Location. By enabling “Get lost Phone”, you can track your lost phone on another device via an SMS “getlostphone”.
However, from the user’s comments, the success rate of locating the lost phone is not very high.
👉 Conclusion: The IMEI track app is a bit more complicated than online IMEI tracking and requires you to pre-install it. From the users’ reviews, some people succeeded. Although it does not have a high success rate in locating your lost phone, it is worth a try. If it doesn’t work, you still get other methods.
Report the loss to the cell phone carrier or the police
Report the lost phone and provide the IMEI number, the cell phone carrier can help track your lost phone’s real-time location info through their cell towers or GPS and help you block the lost phone to prevent the thief from using it. If you report to the police and claim your phone as lost, the chance of getting your lost phone back will be increased due to legal considerations, better cooperation with a service provider, and more minor challenges. The law enforcement tracking your phone is more efficient than you do it. However, there are still many limitations, like an internet-disabled phone. It seems like having a higher success rate than tracking your phone with an online service or app by yourself, but the waiting time can also be pending because the result is not guaranteed.
How to Find the IMEI Number for Your Device?
If you want to find your lost phone with an IMEI number, you must recite or record it in advance. Here are some ways to find the IMEI number.
Physically Lookup
Packing box, You can find the IMEI number in every device’s outer page and box:
On the back of the battery:
Dial Number
It is a code to check the IMEI number of your phone. Just dial *#06# the IMEI number page will pop up on your screen instantly.
Check IMEI number from the phone settings
The above will work for you, but if you seek more alternatives, you can find your IMEI number from the phone system settings.
Android
Go to the system settings > About phone > Status (It is not an inevitable option. Some models do not require this step).
iOS
Go to the Settings > General > About. You can see your IMEI number on the screen.
An alternative way to check the iPhone IMEI number when you cannot access the system settings, you pull out the sim tray to check it.
Benefits of IMEI Tracking
IMEI number is unique and secure. In general, people do not get a big chance to access your IMEI number, although it is possible. That means that the network will better identify your device without information leaking. The IMEI is compatible with all mobile devices, an identifier of your phone device instead of yourself, the user, or the sim card, giving increased accuracy when tracking the lost phone.
Applications of IMEI Tracking
- Find your lost phone.
IMEI number makes it possible for you to get your cell phone back. The lost phone can be tracked by the IMEI number as long as the phone is connected through the network.
You can use the IMEI tracker to track your cell phone and the cell carrier and police can track the phone according to the IMEI number of the cell phone as well.
- Block the stolen phone.
If you have lost your phone, contact the phone carrier, they can block your device and prevent the phone device from being used by thieves. And will protect your properties and privacy.
- Check your bought phone.
You can get all the information about your phone by using the IMEI number, finding your phone model, brand, date and place of manufacture, and other information, by which you can determine whether your phone is authentic or not.
Can I find my phone without an IMEI code?
Yes. As finding your phone with an IMEI code is not 100% successful, you can try other solutions to locate your phone, such as locating it via a phone number. MLocator is one of the convenient and secure tools to use. You don’t need to download anything or use any other device.
The service is legal to use and does not violate the applicable laws of any country. Just enter the phone number of the phone you want to track and choose a subscription. The current user will receive a message containing a link; as long as the user clicks on it, the location of the phone will be shared, and the precision will be high, with about 3 meters of margin of error. This is the best way to track your lost phone as long as the sim card is inserted.
FAQs
🔸 Can I Track an IMEI Number through Google Earth?
No. The IMEI number does not contain any location information on the phone. You can only use some tracking services or rely on mobile carriers to find the lost phone resort on the IMEI number.
Google Earth is a mapping service program that utilizes satellites to show details of aerial imagery on your computer screen. Although you cannot use Google Earth to track your phone, you can use it to check the builds around if you have the coordinates of the phone.
🔸 Can the police track IMEI if the phone is off?
No. If others turn off the lost phone, the phone cannot be tracked by IMEI number. Only when the phone is connected to the network is IMEI tracking useful.
🔸 What information can you access with an IMEI?
By getting the phone IMEI number, you can know the brand, model, serial number of the device and other specifications.
🔸 Can the IMEI number be changed by others?
No. The IMEI number is considered an identity code of the device. It cannot be modified.
Conclusion
So, after discussing the IMEI, you have learned what it is. If you lost your phone but know your IMEI number, you can use the phone tracking service by IMEI or seek help from the cell phone carrier or police. But not everyone always has the IMEI number. In this case, a phone number tracker like MLocator may be a choice. We hope all of you will never lose your phone, but if, unfortunately, you suffer from this, we hope the methods above will be helpful.
