How to Find Your IMEI When Your Android Phone Is Lost

Your phone is gone and your stomach has dropped. Here is the calm, ordered sequence: secure the device, find the IMEI, call your carrier, file a report. The IMEI helps a carrier or the police block the handset, but it will not let you personally track it, so do the steps in order.

Your emergency checklist

Panic makes people skip steps. This is the sequence that protects your data and your money, fastest payoff first. Work down it without stopping to research each item, then come back for the detail below.

Secure the phone first

The most valuable thing on a lost phone is not the phone. It is the email, banking apps, photos, and saved passwords inside it. Securing the device buys you time to handle a lost or stolen phone calmly.

Google’s lost-device service is now called Find Hub. It was known as Find My Device for years, and you may still see that name in older menus. It is built into every Android phone signed in to a Google account, and it is the right first move.

Open google.com/android/find in any browser, or the Find Hub app on a friend’s Android phone, and sign in with the Google account that was on the lost device. Find Hub gives you four actions. If the phone is online, you can see its approximate location on a map and play a sound at full volume for five minutes, which is handy when it has slipped under a car seat. You can lock it, which secures the screen with your PIN and lets you add a message and callback number. And you can erase it.

Lock the phone now. Locating it can come later, and erasing it should wait. Do not wipe a phone you might still get back, for the reason explained further down.

What the IMEI can and cannot do

The IMEI, short for International Mobile Equipment Identity, is a 15-digit number that identifies your specific handset on any mobile network. It is tied to the hardware, not the SIM, so swapping the SIM does not change it.

Here is the honest part. The IMEI lets a carrier or the police block or flag a device. It does not let you personally locate it. Tracking is what Find Hub does using the phone’s location signal. The IMEI is what gets the handset blacklisted so a thief cannot use it or resell it cleanly. Two different jobs, two different tools. Anyone promising an app or website that pinpoints a phone from its IMEI alone is selling you something that does not work.

The IMEI is also not your serial number. The serial number is the maker’s internal code for warranty and parts. The IMEI is the network identifier. Both are worth keeping, but they do different jobs.

Where the IMEI hides

You only need to succeed at one of these. Start at the top and stop when you have the number.

Find the IMEI inside Find Hub

This is the best path when the phone is gone, because you are likely already in Find Hub from step one. Google documents the IMEI specifically so you can hand it to a carrier that needs to disable the device.

Find the IMEI in your records

If Find Hub does not show the number, three offline records usually carry it. This is also where the reader who never opened Find Hub should look, and it lines up with the standard ways to find your IMEI number.

One detail on the Google account. The general security page that lists devices signed in to your account does not show the IMEI. The Google Store “Your Devices” page does, but only for Made by Google hardware such as Pixel phones. For everything else, Find Hub or the box is your route.

If none of these work, call your carrier. With proof of identity matching the account holder, most carriers can read the IMEI of the handset registered to your line. It takes a phone call rather than a self-service page, but it is a reliable last resort.

Call your carrier

With the IMEI ready, your carrier is the next call. Ask for two things. First, suspend your service so calls, texts, and mobile data stop on that number, which also stops a thief running up charges. Second, ask them to block the handset by its IMEI.

Blocking by IMEI is how a handset gets flagged as lost or stolen. The carrier adds the number to a shared blocklist. In many countries that is a national register, often called a Central Equipment Identity Register, which feeds the GSMA Device Registry. The GSMA registry is a central list that mobile operators around the world can check, so a phone blocked at home can be denied service when it surfaces abroad.

A blocked handset cannot make calls, send texts, or use mobile data on a participating network, even with a new SIM. That removes most of its resale value. Be realistic about reach: not every carrier in every country checks the same list, and timing for an entry to propagate varies. The block still raises a clear barrier, and reputable buyers and pawnbrokers check IMEI status before purchase.

If you ever recover the phone, the carrier can reverse the block. Tell them the device is back and they will remove the IMEI from the list.

File a police report

If the phone was stolen, file a police report. Police rarely chase a single stolen phone on its own, so do not expect a detective on the case. The value of the report is the paper trail.

A report gives you a reference number. Carriers often ask for it before they record a handset as stolen, and any insurance claim, whether carrier protection or a private policy, will require it. When you file, bring the IMEI, the model, the date and place it went missing, and proof that the phone is yours. A report with the IMEI attached is what turns a recovered phone, spotted at a pawn shop or a resale check, back into your property.

When to remote wipe

This is the decision people get wrong under stress. A locked phone is already secure: the screen needs your PIN, and you can keep watching the map for a chance to recover it. A wiped phone is gone for good as far as location goes.

The sensible order is lock first, watch the map, talk to your carrier and the police, and reach for erase only when recovery is genuinely off the table. If the phone holds work data with a strict policy, weigh that against the lost location signal and decide deliberately, not in a panic.

One reassurance about a thief wiping the phone themselves. On modern Android, factory reset protection ties the device to your Google account, so a forced reset still asks for your account credentials on first boot. It is not absolute, but it is a real obstacle to a quick clean resale.

Common mistakes to avoid

Carrier and country differences

Phone theft handling is not uniform worldwide, and pretending otherwise sets readers up for disappointment. A few honest expectations.

Carrier blocklists are well established in the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe. Many countries operate a national equipment register that shares data with the GSMA Device Registry, but not every operator everywhere participates, and the speed at which a new entry spreads differs from one market to the next.

Where you report a phone also varies. Some places have a dedicated online form for stolen-phone reports, others want an in-person visit to a police station. The exact menu path to your IMEI in a carrier account differs by carrier and can move between app updates. The sequence in this guide holds everywhere: secure, identify, report. The specific screens will differ, so when in doubt, ask your carrier directly.

Record the IMEI today

The single best preparation costs two minutes. While the phone is in your hand, open the dialer and type *#06#. The IMEI appears on screen at once. Dual-SIM phones show two numbers; record both.

Save that number somewhere you can reach without the phone: a note in a cloud account, a password manager entry, or a slip of paper with your important documents. Add the model name, the serial number, and the purchase date to the same record. Carrier protection, manufacturer warranty service, and theft insurance all ask for the IMEI before they will process a claim, and having it ready is the difference between a quick claim and a frustrating one.

While you are tightening things up, make sure Find Hub is switched on and that the lock screen needs a PIN, pattern, or biometric. Treating phone security as routine maintenance, the same way you would protect yourself on public Wi-Fi, is what makes the bad day manageable.

The verdict

Questions people actually ask

• Can I track my lost phone using only the IMEI?
  No. The IMEI lets a carrier or the police block or flag the handset, but it cannot show its location. Locating a phone is what Find Hub does, using the device’s own location signal. Treat tracking and blocking as two separate tasks with two separate tools.
• How do I find the IMEI if I have lost both the phone and the box?
  Check Find Hub, which lists the IMEI in the device Information panel, then your carrier account, then your purchase receipt or order email. If none of those work, call your carrier. With identity verification, they can read the IMEI registered to your line.
• Does blocking the IMEI brick the phone permanently?
  No. A block stops the handset using mobile networks, but it is reversible. If you recover the phone, contact your carrier and they will remove the IMEI from the blocklist so the device works again.
• Should I wipe my phone right away?
  Not immediately. A remote wipe permanently deletes your data, and once the phone is erased its location no longer appears in Find Hub. Lock the phone first and keep watching the map. Reach for erase only when you are confident the device is not coming back.
• What happens to my eSIM if the phone is stolen?
  You cannot physically remove an eSIM, so contact your carrier to suspend that line. When you get a replacement phone, the carrier can move the eSIM profile to it. This usually needs a support call rather than a self-service transfer.
• Is the IMEI the same as the serial number?
  No. The serial number is the manufacturer’s internal identifier for warranty and parts. The IMEI is the network identifier used to block a handset on mobile networks. Keep a record of both.
• Does dialing *#06# work on every Android phone?
  It works on the large majority of phones. The code is a standard way to display the IMEI on screen, and it works on Android phones, iPhones, and most devices that use a mobile network. If nothing appears, look in Settings under About phone instead.