Computer Tricks and Secrets

Short answer: you cannot personally track a lost phone by its IMEI number, that is done by your carrier and the police, not by an app or website. What you can do yourself is use Find My Device / Find My iPhone to locate it, and report the IMEI to your carrier and police to blacklist and trace it. Here is the honest, effective process. What the IMEI is and what it can (and cannot) do The IMEI is your phone's unique hardware ID (dial *#06# to see it). Carriers and law enforcement can use it to identify a specific handset on mobile networks and to blacklist a stolen phone so it cannot be used. But there is no legitimate public tool that lets an ordinary person GPS-track a phone by IMEI, sites promising that are scams or malware. What you can do yourself right now Locate it: use Find My Device (Android) or Find My iPhone (Apple) to see its location on a map, ring it, lock it, or erase it. Lock and display a message with a contact number in case someone honest finds it....

Short answer: Dial *#06# on your phone to see the IMEI instantly, or find it in Settings, on the original box, or in your Google or Apple account. If the phone is already lost, retrieve the IMEI from your online account and report it to your carrier and the police so they can blacklist the device. Every phone I have ever owned carries a 15-digit fingerprint called the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity). It identifies the physical handset on any mobile network, independent of the SIM card inside it. When a phone is stolen, that number is what lets a carrier blacklist the device so it becomes useless on their network, and it is the first thing the police will ask for. How do I find my IMEI number right now? If you still have the phone in your hand, this takes about five seconds. Here are the reliable methods I use. Dial *#06# Open the phone dialer, type *#06# , and the IMEI appears on screen instantly. You do not press call on most phones; the code triggers automatica...