How to track a stolen cell phone
I know how you must be feeling reading this post right now, frustrated, confused, angry, sad, but you need to try and calm down because we can help you track a stolen cell phone. And if the phone you are looking for is Xiaomi product, there’s a 90% chance you will get a precise location of your stolen cell phone in minutes.
As technology gets advanced, to track a stolen cell phone has never been easier. We now have software in place to help narrow our search, but for this post, we are focusing on more practical ways to track a stolen cell phone. However, there are precautions to be taken for this to work and below are some of them.
Viable ways to track a stolen cell phone
Currently, we have two major operating systems (OS) powering most smartphones, which are Android and iOS. These companies have in place anti-theft measures to help their customers, who might have misplaced their phone or have it stolen. For Android users, they can make use of “Find My Device while iOS uses “find my iPhone.
How to track stolen Android phone
This option is probably the simplest way to track a stolen cell phone, with everything being equal. Being equal in the sense that the thief hadn’t logged out your account and the phone has internet access. Then navigate to google.com/Android/find to get the location of your device, and also perform some operations remotely. There, you find the location of your device, play sound (alarm), secure device, and erase the device.
The play sound option lets you remotely trigger the alarm system on the highest volume, seizing the volume key from working. The only way around this will be unlocking the screen, which is virtually impossible without a password. The option is important when you don’t have a precise location or spot, and hearing the noise alerts you that your phone isn’t far from you.
The secure device option allows you to lock your device with a new password if the old doesn’t control the device again. Once there’s a new password, the device becomes useless pending the use of the correct password.
The third option allows you to wipe all the data on the phone because leaving your personal information on the hands of a stranger can be very risky. When prompted to “Erase device” confirming it means wiping all the data on the phone, including the ones on your external SD card.
Track a stolen iPhone device
Apple is aware of theft arising and has also established a way to successfully track a stolen cell phone. As in Android, it works only if your iCloud account is still active. This option allows you to track your device remotely and also erase all the data on the phone.
More interesting is that this action when the phone is switched off, works immediately the phone gets back on. You also have an option for a prompt notification to be sent to your email when the phone is online again.
Tracking a Stolen Xiaomi phone
To track a stolen cell phone gets easy and fun when it is a Xiaomi device because you’ve two options at your disposal, giving that Xiaomi runs Android. However, the MI cloud is preferable here.
Also, this works when Find My Device on your Mi Cloud is on, but this option becomes active once the Mi cloud is working. The first step to finding your device is by logging in to Mi cloud with another cell phone or computer then locate;
- Make sure the phone is active (online) and proceed with “Find my Device”
- You’ll be able to see the precise location of the device after some minutes
- Now, you can be able to perform all the actions listed above like;
Ring my device
First, you should click on the button on the Find device page, then click play alarm when promoted. Your phone will now play your alarm at the highest while seizing the volume keys.
Enable lost mode
Enabling lost mode will lock your device once it comes online, pending when the correct Mi account password. This option also notifies you when the thief swamps your sim card.
Wipe my data
This option becomes necessary when the device is out of reach. It’s important to wipe your data to avoid leaking or personal or classified documents you must have stored on your phone.
Nevertheless, a smart thief knows you’ll be tracking your cell phone and will try to take precautions. The best thing is to act fast, at least be able to wipe all your data when necessary. Also, know that once the thief wipes the device, it would be difficult to locate but not for most devices these days, because you need to unlock the bootloader.
