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[GUIDE]How to find your Android Device AFTER it has been stolen

Well lets assume your android device has been stolen! Good lord !! . Not to worry, this guide should hopefully help you recover it. Even if its a thief.
PS: This contents of this read may bear resemblance to the reddit thread i created
A about two weeks ago (17th April to be exact) one of my friend lost his Samsung GT-I9003 from his dorm room at 0200hrs. Today when i was scanning my latitude, i saw him position a few hundred meters from me. Problem is, we are on a university campus. 500+ students, staff, kitchen, cleaning - basically lot of people. I suggested we check Google Latitiude's location history and sure enough for the past 15 days, the phone's location is spread all over the campus.
Premise of the crime
The phone is ON and is connecting to the Wi-Fi.
The phone is still tied to the primary gmail account and is thus reporting location.
The SIM has been removed or changed since the original number is now switched off
The person does not have good knowledge of using a smart phone (maybe helping staff)
Steps we have taken
Since we assume it is in the possession of either a student or helping staff we don't want to startle him.
Tried Plan-B on my phone. However the location it was reporting was the same as Google Latitude.
The phone does have Where is my Droid installed but the web interface says invalid email ID. So that option is ruled out unless you have pre configured Where is my Droid previously.
How we found the phone
After Where is my Droid failed us, we started looking for other applications. We found this application called Android Lost. Unfortunately we hit a dead end when we realised that it needs to be activated by sending an SMS. Since we dont know the phone number, or that there is even any SIM card in the phone, that application also seemed useless.But turns out the developer of Android Lost has also made a nifty app called AndroidLost Jumpstart which is can trigger Android Lost without the need of an SMS.
According to the description
This app will wake up the registration process on the androidlost app when ever a phone call is made, an SMS received, battery is low, a package is added, removed or changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So we got android lost installed. Trust me, its a life saver. We got calls logs, sms, pictures, voice recordings. We tracked the person with the help of this.
Hope this helps anyone in the future!

maverick340 said:
Well lets assume your android device has been stolen! Good lord !! . Not to worry, this guide should hopefully help you recover it. Even if its a thief.
PS: This contents of this read may bear resemblance to the reddit thread i created
A about two weeks ago (17th April to be exact) one of my friend lost his Samsung GT-I9003 from his dorm room at 0200hrs. Today when i was scanning my latitude, i saw him position a few hundred meters from me. Problem is, we are on a university campus. 500+ students, staff, kitchen, cleaning - basically lot of people. I suggested we check Google Latitiude's location history and sure enough for the past 15 days, the phone's location is spread all over the campus.
Premise of the crime
The phone is ON and is connecting to the Wi-Fi.
The phone is still tied to the primary gmail account and is thus reporting location.
The SIM has been removed or changed since the original number is now switched off
The person does not have good knowledge of using a smart phone (maybe helping staff)
Steps we have taken
Since we assume it is in the possession of either a student or helping staff we don't want to startle him.
Tried Plan-B on my phone. However the location it was reporting was the same as Google Latitude.
The phone does have Where is my Droid installed but the web interface says invalid email ID. So that option is ruled out unless you have pre configured Where is my Droid previously.
How we found the phone
After Where is my Droid failed us, we started looking for other applications. We found this application called Android Lost. Unfortunately we hit a dead end when we realised that it needs to be activated by sending an SMS. Since we dont know the phone number, or that there is even any SIM card in the phone, that application also seemed useless.But turns out the developer of Android Lost has also made a nifty app called AndroidLost Jumpstart which is can trigger Android Lost without the need of an SMS.
According to the description
So we got android lost installed. Trust me, its a life saver. We got calls logs, sms, pictures, voice recordings. We tracked the person with the help of this.
Hope this helps anyone in the future!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or install Avast anti theft before your phone gets stolen ;D never the less, very useful, thank you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA

okmijnlp said:
Or install Avast anti theft before your phone gets stolen ;D never the less, very useful, thank you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep always good to be safe before hand. After this incident lot of my friends have installed or gotten some security app.
Although, aren't security suite like Avast, McAfee and overkill for finding lost phones?

And who was the thief?
Sent from my LG Optimus 2x with xda premium app

another possibility is to instal Cerberus App

Hi everyone. I have recently been the victim of theft for my nexus 7. I had the device locked with the pattern so there is no way that the thief could get into it unless they do a software reset from the recovery mode. The thing is, either way there is no way i would be able to recover it because if in fact they do a factory reset my lookout security would be uninstalled and my nexus would be lost forever, also if they can't get through the pattern and find a way to connect to Wi-Fi, it will still be lost forever. I have read about installing lookout in the system/app folder of a rooted device so its not easily uninstalled by normal means or factory reset. But do you think it is possible to have android lost and lookout pre-configured and installed in the system/app folder so that even if the device is factory reset, the credentials will remain?

is it factory-reset proof?

Just a quick little question: How did you get the phone to register on Android Lost? I can't get a friend's phone to be recognized in the web app, after installing the Jumpstart and another app...

Thank you
Very good contribution, gratz! i will follow your steps in case my android get stolen!

How did it fail?
You say that "after Where's my Droid failed us"...what do you mean by that...how did it "fail"? I would like to know before installing it. What exactly happened that it "failed" you?
Thanks

Losing a phone is irritating
I lost my phone sometime back. I didn't have the time to do research and maybe these apps weren't available at the time of theft. I got the SIM de-activated and tried to track my phone via IMEI number.
So, a few questions
1. Have they changed its IMEI number ?
2. Have they removed my Google account ?
This pretty much messes it up. If you can't track it via IMEI nor can you use any network then its as good as history. These were the only remaining identification tags that could have got your phone back and the thief would know of it. The moment I called on my own number he switched it off. He logged into my account and posted crap(not that I knew any of it had it not been for my friend who reported some strange FB and Twitter status) as if it wasn't enough that he had my phone.
One of the most disturbing things that they can do is play with the IMEI. Older phones were more susceptible to that kind of thing but a Nexus ? P990 ? GT19100? I thought they were much harder to hack. Not only can you NOT track your phone but also lose all other alternatives because the phone is now linked to another google account. I was searching for a post that would walk me through a process of changing the google account currently associated with the phone. In an attempt to understand if this indeed was the case. I wanted to try this app so badly but now I blew it off, my only chance.
Hardware based identification is the only way to go about fixing this issue. Any low level process that runs off some hard coded tag independent of software control known only to the owner of the phone. I just don't know what other options are left with person who lost it. I think there is no other way.
Time for a new phone, I guess
Edit: I guess I was right about that. They had done a hard reset but the IMEI associated with my account is intact. So there are two ways of messing it up. One, you change the IMEI(which sounds ridiculously dumb). Second, you change the primary account(more believable). How stupid of me to think of the first one

i think if a android phone is lost and a guy with a bit knowledge of flashin roms gets it then we might have to forget our phone.. if the phone has screen lock the guy can reset the phone through stock recovery and all security apps like where's my droid,avast etc get wiped off.. i personally don't install any anti-theft apps. i beleive in being EXTRA CAREFUL than installing any anti theft apps

And you are damn right bro, its good to be careful than putting all your believe in one anti-THEFT software which can easily get wiped off.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

That's useful, thanks !

How did you get the Logs.
Hi Maverik,
My phone was robbed yesterday & the SIM card was removed,
I wanted to know how were you able to get the call logs, pics etc of your lost phone to ........

Very useful! Thanks!

we have Find My Phone
you can have a try
Find My Phone - find your misplaced phone/stolen phone/lost phone easily
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phonefindandlock

Thanks for share your experience with AndroidLost.
Inviato dal mio K00E utilizzando Tapatalk

AndroFind is the best
i highly recommend AndroFind to find stolen phone.
you can find it in android market :good:

Hi, but It's possible to find any kind of phone also with older Android version?
Thanks!

[Q] Zenprise (Citrix Mobile Connect) thinks I'm rooted, but I'm not

OK, so at one point I was rooted, unlocked and running a custom ROM. Decided to go back to stock to be compliant with work's IT policy, so I ODIN'd back to stock with a full wipe stock tar. I'm unrooted stock right? I ran a couple of different root checkers and both say I'm unrooted, but IT still insists that Zenprise wont connect because I'm rooted. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance :fingers-crossed:

Pop it into support
Raise a ticket with the support team - we can take a look why you are getting a false positive.. sounds odd..
Good Luck !!
Justyn

justynroberts said:
Raise a ticket with the support team - we can take a look why you are getting a false positive.. sounds odd..
Good Luck !!
Justyn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I tried reaching out to support, but they wont even talk me about it. They still insist that my phone is still rooted and I need to "keep trying" to unroot it. At this point I've written off the need for zenprise and found a webmail scraper to get my work email. Zenprise is a battery bleeder anyway...

tscalia2 said:
Thanks for the reply. I tried reaching out to support, but they wont even talk me about it. They still insist that my phone is still rooted and I need to "keep trying" to unroot it. At this point I've written off the need for zenprise and found a webmail scraper to get my work email. Zenprise is a battery bleeder anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in a similar situation. What did you use to access your work email?

MeVirtually said:
I'm in a similar situation. What did you use to access your work email?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Emoze Secure Push Mail. It syncs to the native calendar and address book as if it were exchange (but its really an OWA scraper).
Outlook Mobile Access Lite and MobiMail work nice as well, but done sync to the native calendar and address book.

A similar issue is happening to me. I bought a Samsung SIII aka S3 GTi9300 World Phone, so I can travel abroad and use different SIMS, so it is unlocked but NOT ROOTED. I installed the Zenprise aka Citrix Connect for Samsung app, and when it tries to login it quickly fails and reports back that "Connection failed due to a security policy". The Zenprise admins say my device is rooted, and it is not, so they dismiss it and say that well it doesnt matter from a Zenprise perspective it sees unlocked and rooted phones the same. This is so backwards I dont even know where to start. Nevermind Zenprise seems to be Apple-centric (just about every device it manages is an Apple, Androids seem despised), but getting support to care or do something about this difference in phone status (unlocked vs. rooted) is like asking a brick wall to care. What can be done about this, what is the right setting to get Zenprise to accept a legitimate phone, or how can it be tricked into doing so. Thanks.

I have no idea how Zenprise checks for root, but I'm staying away from that. The team at work that manages it showed how the Zenprise management software even lets them locate connected devices using GPS. Even though the team at work says they won't activate it, that's a little too much for me. If work needs me to be in contact after hours, they can provide me with a phone. And since they seem to have email locked down even from the OWA scrapers (I never did get Emoze to work) I'll keep my phone for my use.

The Elephant In The Room...

Hi, this is my first post here, after many years as a lurker. I have recently encountered an issue for which there doesn't seem to be a solution.
I have lost data (mainly photos and videos) after I accidentally deleted them, when I set up my cloud account, a long story that I won't bore you with..
In every single instance of similar issues over the years with all my android phones, [starting with the mighty HTC G1, and through many HTCs and now finally to the Huawei p20 pro],I have come up against a data loss that is genuinely non-recoverable.
All other android phones will allow 3rd party sofware access (sometimes with a small quick root install) to the phone.
The huawei is the first phone I have encountered that deliberately inhibits this. In order to get root access, I have to factory reset the phone.
This is a major issue, and one that I think would have put me off purchasing this phone had I known about it.
There simply is no way to retrieve lost data on a phone if you had not rooted it prior to the data loss.
How frustrating it is, to know that due to me being a silly billy and setting my cloud to delete local pics after upload, (then deleting the cloud thinking I had local copies), has cost me dearly.
The pics are still there to be recovered, but i can not ever get access.. to my own data, on my own phone, due to the firmware.
I think its time to finally go Samsung.
Please someone tell me I've missed something obvious, and that there is a way to retrieve these pics?
Tal.

I want to get my bootloader code first

Brother passed, need access to his google pixel 2

My brother died under mysterious circumstances and I'm desperate to find out anything else I can about it. I have access to his computer, and emails. I looked online and it seems you used to be able to unlock android phones with your google password, but it seems that is only for older Android.
I also read that you can use Google Find My Device and then unlock it there by setting a new pin, but supposedly this only worked up till last year can anyone confirm?
The nuclear option is to reset the phone, and I confirmed it does have a backup. But I'm really worried that option would leave me with incomplete data. Would it have backups of all his text messages over the last year? Would I be able to set a new pin? Is there any other method besides this I could use if the above two no longer work?
Really appreciate any assistance thank you so much.

Forgot phone password

Friend got into a fight with his brother. His brother was able to break into his phone.
Friend changed the password on the device last week, and because of his school, he doesn't take the phone with him.
He opened the phone today, and can't remember the password.
It is a Moto G7 Power, running Android 9
It has GenTech installed on the phone.
I do not know any specifics beyond that, as the settings are hidden behind a lock screen.
When I logged into the Google account, it looks like the account hasn't been backing up photos, contacts, etc since the GenTech was put on. iDrive also hasn't been backing anything up.
Are there any tools that can remove the lock screen? Preferably free, but I wouldn't mind paying a small amount. And NOT wipe the device.
Before coming here, I saw Eelphone, but it looked super shady.
Searching through XDA's forums, I saw Dr.Fone as an application as well.
Are these the best options? I mean, I troubleshoot devices for clients all the time, and thankfully haven't had to recover their devices like this, and I know that it has changed a lot since the beginnings of Android, but I need something in the toolbox for sure.
Any help is appreciated, thank you!
Edit: I thought I might try Dr.Fone on my Motorola device. Uh, not the right application that I need! I want the data preserved, not wiped. If I wanted the phone wiped, I'd have done it from the bootloader.
(Or do they make a copy of the device, wipe the phone, and reload everything minus the lock screen?)
(Or is Dr.Fone a malicious program masquerading as legitimate?)

DaNissNYC said:
Friend got into a fight with his brother. His brother was able to break into his phone.
Friend changed the password on the device last week, and because of his school, he doesn't take the phone with him.
He opened the phone today, and can't remember the password.
It is a Moto G7 Power, running Android 9
It has GenTech installed on the phone.
I do not know any specifics beyond that, as the settings are hidden behind a lock screen.
When I logged into the Google account, it looks like the account hasn't been backing up photos, contacts, etc since the GenTech was put on. iDrive also hasn't been backing anything up.
Are there any tools that can remove the lock screen? Preferably free, but I wouldn't mind paying a small amount. And NOT wipe the device.
Before coming here, I saw Eelphone, but it looked super shady.
Searching through XDA's forums, I saw Dr.Fone as an application as well.
Are these the best options? I mean, I troubleshoot devices for clients all the time, and thankfully haven't had to recover their devices like this, and I know that it has changed a lot since the beginnings of Android, but I need something in the toolbox for sure.
Any help is appreciated, thank you!
Edit: I thought I might try Dr.Fone on my Motorola device. Uh, not the right application that I need! I want the data preserved, not wiped. If I wanted the phone wiped, I'd have done it from the bootloader.
(Or do they make a copy of the device, wipe the phone, and reload everything minus the lock screen?)
(Or is Dr.Fone a malicious program masquerading as legitimate?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the device rooted?
Does the device have USB debugging enabled in system settings?
If the answers to these questions are no, then all you can do is factory reset. After resetting, it will probably be FRP locked(Factory Reset Protection), which means you still need to remember the google account username and password to get logged into the device, but, the lockscreen pin/password will be removed. You'll lose the user's data in the process. At this point, if it isn't rooted or does not have USB debugging enabled, there aren't really any options to save their user data before resetting the device.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

The phone is not rooted, unless the GenTech software gained the root access. (I am too new to post a direct link, but it is a monitoring program - I don't know how common it is outside of my community)
If I recall correctly, I did get access to developer options, but that was back in July - I'm not sure if I have developer options enabled at this time.
The paid softwares can't crack it? That really is too bad.