You can’t type your IMEI number into a website and watch your phone move on a map. Any site or app that promises that wants your money, your Google or Apple password, or both.
What the IMEI does is quieter, and still worth knowing. It’s the number your carrier uses to shut a phone out of the network, so a thief can’t pop in a new SIM and carry on. Finding the phone is a separate job, and the free tools from Google, Apple and Samsung got noticeably better at it this year.
This guide covers both, in the order you’ll need them. We checked every step on an iPhone 18 Pro running iOS 27.0 and a Galaxy A17 5G on September 30, 2026. If your phone is missing right now, do the first section and come back for the rest.
Do this in the first 10 minutes
Grab a laptop or borrow a phone. Every minute counts here, and none of these steps need your IMEI.
- Open your phone’s finder. For Android, go to google.com/android/find. That’s Find Hub, the new name Google gave Find My Device in 2025. For iPhone, go to icloud.com/find. Samsung Galaxy owners can also use samsungfind.samsung.com. Sign in with the account that’s on the phone.
- Mark it as lost. On Android it’s called Mark as lost. On iPhone it’s Mark As Lost, sometimes called Lost Mode. Both lock the phone with your passcode and let you put a message on the lock screen. On iPhone it also suspends the cards in Apple Pay.
- Choose the lock screen contact carefully. Use an email address or a friend’s number. Skip your home address. A thief can use personal details to talk their way into your accounts.
- Ring it if the map shows it close by. It plays at full volume even when the phone is on silent.
- Don’t erase it yet. Erasing can’t be undone, and Google says Find Hub can’t track a phone after it’s been erased. Save that step for when you’ve decided the phone isn’t coming back.
- Never remove the phone from your account. On iPhone, removing it from Find My switches off Activation Lock, the feature that stops anyone else from setting the phone up as their own. Apple is blunt about this: take it off your account and you’ve made the phone easier to resell.
If you’ve lost an Android phone and can’t remember your Google password, Google’s Remote Lock works with just your phone number at android.com/lock. It locks the screen and buys you time.
What your IMEI is actually for
IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity. It’s a 15-digit number tied to the phone itself, not your SIM card or your number. Phones with two SIM slots, including eSIM, usually have two IMEIs. Give your carrier both.
Here’s the honest version of what it can do: it gets the phone flagged and blocked. It does not get you a location. Carriers won’t track a phone for a customer, and the public has no tool that turns an IMEI into a dot on a map. Police can request information from carriers through legal channels. You can’t.
That block still matters. A phone that can’t connect to any network is worth far less to a thief, and a buyer who checks the IMEI will see it’s been reported.
Get the phone blocked: call your carrier, then the police
Call your carrier. On AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon, ask them to suspend your line so nobody runs up charges on your account, then report the phone. If it was stolen, say stolen, not just lost, and ask them to block the IMEI. US carriers share stolen phone reports with the GSMA’s global block list, the same list behind CTIA’s free Stolen Phone Checker at stolenphonechecker.org. Anyone about to buy a used phone can run the IMEI there and see it flagged.
On MTN, Airtel, Glo or 9mobile, visit a customer service center with your ID and proof of ownership and ask for the same two things: your line suspended and the IMEI blocked. Blocking is getting stronger. In September 2026 the Nigerian Communications Commission began rolling out a Device Management System that keeps a central register of every phone’s IMEI. On September 9, the NCC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, said stolen devices reported through the right channels could be identified and blocked across all Nigerian networks. Importers, dealers and vendors have until October 6, 2026 to register their stock. The NCC has not yet published a step-by-step reporting process for owners, so for now, your network and a police report are still where you start.
File a police report. Bring your IMEI, the phone’s serial number if you have it, and proof you own it: the receipt, the box, or the order confirmation email. You’ll need the report for insurance, and a carrier may ask for it before blocking. If you have phone insurance or AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss, file the claim after the report.
How to find your IMEI when the phone is gone
You don’t need the phone in your hand. Try these in order.
iPhone: account.apple.com
Go to account.apple.com, sign in, open Devices and select the missing iPhone. The IMEI and serial number are listed there. On another Apple device signed in to the same account, you can also go to Settings, tap your name, scroll down and tap the missing phone.
Android: Find Hub
Sign in at google.com/android/find and select the phone. Tap the settings gear at the top of the map to open Device settings. The IMEI is listed under the phone’s name, along with its model number.
Your carrier, the box or the receipt
Most carrier apps and websites list the IMEI under your device details. If not, customer service can look it up once they’ve verified who you are. The IMEI is also printed on the barcode sticker on the box, and often on the receipt or order email.
Still have your phone? Do this now instead. Dial *#06# and the IMEI appears on screen. On iPhone you’ll also find it at Settings > General > About. On Android it’s under Settings > About phone, though the exact menu varies by brand. Take a screenshot and email it to yourself, so it lives somewhere other than the phone.
Android now shows your IMEI on the lock screen. Leave it on.
This summer, a Google Play services update started showing the IMEI on the lock screen of phones running Android 12 or newer. It appears if you’ve turned on emergency sharing in the Personal Safety app. Google’s reasoning: police, carriers and repair shops can confirm a found phone belongs to you without unlocking it.
The trade-off is real. Anyone holding your phone can read the number. Android Authority pointed out that someone determined could try to clone an IMEI, or falsely report your phone as stolen to get it blocked.
Our call: for most people, keep it on. The risk needs someone to physically hold your phone and then go to real trouble. The benefit kicks in the moment an honest person or a police officer picks it up. If you regularly hand your phone to strangers, or you just don’t like it, you can turn it off at Settings > Security & privacy > Lost device protection > Theft protection > Device identifier on lock screen. Samsung and other brands use similar names.
New in 2026: a stolen phone is harder to use
- Mark as lost is tougher on Android 17. Switching it off now takes your PIN plus your fingerprint or face, so a thief who watched you type your PIN still can’t undo it. A lost phone also hides Quick Settings and blocks new Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections.
- Theft protection is on by default. Theft Detection Lock, which locks the screen when the phone senses a snatch-and-run, and Remote Lock now switch on by themselves on new Android 17 phones and ones that are reset or upgraded.
- Fewer PIN guesses. Android 17 cuts the number of wrong attempts allowed and makes the wait between them longer.
- Phones that can be found when they’re off. Pixel 8, 9 and 10 phones can be located for several hours after they power off or the battery dies. Turn it on at Settings > Security > Find Hub > Find your offline devices. An iPhone 11 or newer keeps sending its location through Apple’s Find My network for up to 24 hours after being switched off. Turn on Send Last Location in Find My so it reports where it was before the battery died.
- Stolen Device Protection on iPhone. It asks for Face ID or Touch ID before sensitive changes when you’re away from familiar places, including switching off Lost Mode. Turn it on at Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Stolen Device Protection.
The scam that shows up after you lose a phone
Weeks or months after an iPhone goes missing, the owner often gets a text saying it’s been found. It looks official and gets the model, color and storage right. The link leads to a fake Apple sign-in page. The goal is your Apple Account password, which is the one thing the thief needs to remove Activation Lock and resell the phone. Switzerland’s National Cyber Security Centre warned about a wave of these in November 2025.
Apple says it will never contact you to say your device has been found. Delete the text. If you’re not sure, open icloud.com/find yourself and check. Here’s how to spot a phishing message before you tap.
The same rule covers “IMEI tracker” websites and apps. They either charge you for nothing or ask for your Google or Apple login. Skip every one of them.
Five minutes today saves you a bad day later
- Dial *#06#, screenshot your IMEI and email it to yourself.
- Check that Find Hub or Find My is on, and turn on offline finding.
- Turn on theft protection on Android or Stolen Device Protection on iPhone.
- Set a SIM PIN, so a thief can’t move your SIM to another phone and receive your bank’s one-time codes.
- Make sure you can sign in to your Google or Apple account without this phone: a password manager on a laptop, or printed recovery codes somewhere safe.
If something already feels off about your phone, read how to tell if your phone is hacked. Upgrading soon? Move your data to a new iPhone before you trade in the old one.
Write down your IMEI today. It takes 30 seconds, and it’s the one step on this list you can’t do after the phone is gone.
