Barbara Fisher 
Have you lost your smartphone? Don’t be desperate because, fortunately, you can locate it single-handedly even if you disabled the standard GPS tracking option on it beforehand (which we’d recommend you don’t).
For instance, you can identify the location of your lost or stolen device by either knowing its IMEI or by simply having installed a specialized spying service, like mSpy, uMobix or Flexispy. Such apps work in the hidden mode, which means that a person who stole or found your phone wouldn’t even know that the device they’re holding is tracked online, in real time.
Moreover, you’ll see if any calls were made or messages were sent (SMS, MMS, messenger, social media, and email messages).
Let’s go through the most common ways you can access your stolen or lost Android or iOS smartphone without going too far.
What to Do If You Lost Your Android Device?
If you really care about the security of your private data in the case if your smartphone gets into the stranger’s hands, you should keep it online all the time. As such, once you lose it out of your sight, you can simply go to your Google account on the official website and locate the device via the ‘find my phone’ feature. Apart from that, you can also install some third-party tracking software that will help you find your smartphone via GPS.
These are the most reasonable methods to go for unless you have your IMEI code ready to give it to the police so they could track your device down using their own methods. But let’s look at the main methods you can use to find your Android phone in more detail.
Tracking the phone via Google account
The most standard way to track down Android-based devices. Thus, if you have your own Google user account, all you need to do is:
- go to google.com & use the ‘find my device’ feature;
- Now, you can either try to call up your phone or block it and delete all the info stored on it.
Using Find My Mobile feature for Samsungs
There is also a special feature for Samsung devices, which works similarly to the previous tracking method, only via your Samsung account. Just go to the Samsung Find My Mobile website and enter your account (you’ll need to specify your Samsung identifier). You will see the location of your device, block it or unblock it in the case of entering the wrong PIN code several times.
What to Do If You Lost Your iOS-Based Device?
There is a similar phone tracking option by default in iPhones as well.
Using Find My iPhone service
Find My iPhone will help you find out where your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, iPod touch, Mac or AirPods are located online. You just need to specify your Apple ID and you’re gold. The nuances are that you can track devices even if they are turned off, but the device moving history is stored in Cloud only for 24 hours.
What to Do After You’ve Just Lost Your Phone?
If you’ve just lost your smartphone and wonder what to do immediately after, the first thing you should do is ask someone to call up your number. Thus, you may find out whether anybody found your device, stole it or turned it off.
If you cannot reach the phone, you should get on with the above-described methods and start locating your device via Google’s Find My Device for Android or via Find My iPhone for iOS. In such a way, you’ll be able to delete all private data and fully block your device.
You should prepare everything beforehand, however, making sure the online monitoring feature is enabled by default. Otherwise, you can also do the following.
Turn to police
In any case, it may so happen that any of the mentioned methods don’t really help you resolve any issues with your lost or stolen phone. If that’s the case, then it’s time to go to the police who will surely help you locate and, most probably, get your device back.
Use Location History
Location History is a special feature in Samsung smartphones that allows you to see where your device was situated at particular periods of time. Even if the device itself is out of your reach.
Use Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud-based storage that can be synchronized with the Gallery in your smartphone and you can see all that’s going on with it remotely, via your Dropbox account. If your phone’s thief starts to use a camera or other media capabilities of your phone, you’ll see at once.
Use Google Photos
Google Photos is another cloud-based service, with which you can synchronize and enable the backup features beforehand to see any new photos a thief may take from your phone. This is the last but not least method you can try to go for in your attempts to return the device.
Summary
All the methods of tracking a smartphone are pretty efficient, but you should always be prepared for such happenings so that you could prevent any outcomes beforehand rather than simply accept the ‘cruel fate’ of your device afterwards. Be careful with your phone and make sure it’s always by your side.
