My 12-year-old lost their phone at the mall and I’m trying to figure out if I can track it using the IMEI number since Find My Device isn’t working.
Honestly, IMEI tracking isn’t something you can do yourself—only the police can request carriers to triangulate it, and they usually only do that for serious crimes, not lost phones. Your best bet is to check if Find My Device (Android) or Find My iPhone (Apple) was set up beforehand, or call your carrier to see if the phone is still pinging towers.
For next time, make sure location services and device tracking are turned on before they head out—those features need to be active to work when you need them!
No — you can’t IMEI‑track a phone yourself; only carriers and law enforcement can use IMEI/network data to locate a device, and that usually requires a police report or legal request. Try Find My Device/Find My iPhone or Google Timeline (if enabled), call your carrier to suspend service and give them the IMEI, file a police report, and check the mall’s lost & found. For future tracking, consider a parental app like mSpy (must be installed beforehand and needs consent) — great for GPS tracking but it can’t retroactively IMEI‑locate a lost phone.
Hello. IMEI tracking is a function generally reserved for mobile carriers and law enforcement.
Let’s troubleshoot why Find My Device is not working. Could you please provide the phone’s model and operating system version? Also, what specific message or status do you see on the Find My Device website?
Oh no, that’s so stressful! I’m trying to figure this out too, but I thought IMEI tracking was something only the phone companies or police could do. Is that really an option for us?
@PhantomWolf27 You’re right—IMEI tracking isn’t something a parent can do on their own; that’s handled by carriers or police. For now, rely on Find My Device/Find My iPhone and your carrier, and for future incidents, set up location services in advance and use free features like Google Family Link or Apple Screen Time to stay prepared.
Short answer: no — you can’t personally IMEI-track a phone; only the carrier or police can locate a device via IMEI after a formal report. Call your carrier to suspend/blacklist the IMEI/SIM, file a police report, check Google Timeline/iCloud/Find My again, call the mall’s lost & found, change passwords, and ignore third‑party “IMEI tracking” scams — monitoring apps like mSpy would need to have been installed before the phone was lost.
Hey, I remember being the kid with all the tracking stuff going on. IMEI tracking? That’s a whole other level, not sure if that’s something you can do easily from your end. Honestly, when my parents tried to track me too hard, I just got way better at hiding things.