Do Smartphones Have IMEI Tracking App?

Sulaiman asks:

Our family recently moved from basic handsets to smartphones. Now, we have Android smartphones, iPhones, and even Windows powered cell phones in our home. As the head of the family, I wanted to make sure our phones are always safe and secure — my son often has this habit of losing new things very quickly. He is, in my opinion, the master in misplacing cell phones. After reading other posts here and on the Internet, I would like to know if there is any way to use a IMEI tracking application on multiple smartphones for protecting the device?

Answer:

To put it bluntly, if you visited our IMEI tracker section, you will know that smartphones do not come with a built-in IMEI trackers. In fact, it’s important that we define what “IMEI tracking” app really stands for. It’s not an app where you can enter the IMEI number to find the location of the stolen or lost device. How can you possibly locate a lost or stolen smartphone using an app? You certainly cannot do so because you have “already” lost the mobile phone. In such cases, you have to use someone else’s phone to track the device.

Now, is it really possible to use someone else’s smartphone to track your own phone? At the moment such a technology isn’t available to common smartphone users.

Next, let’s accept the fact that none of the mobile manufacturer and mobile OS offers a free or paid “IMEI tracking” application. Third-party companies do, however, offer a way to find the IMEI number of your phone. This doesn’t mean you can simply enter the IMEI number to find the location of phone, phone numbers of the calls received and dialed.

These third-party IMEI tracking apps are merely offers a simple solution to check the IMEI number of the phone. Some of them are even fake softwares claiming big things, while in reality they are available on the web to steal your money. Read more here: Fake IMEI Tracking Software Sold On Internet.

Even the online IMEI tracking softwares are just a misdirection — they will only show you manufacturing details, factory location, etc.

Understand that there is a possibility of hiding IMEI number, so it’s always wise to choose alternatives. For example, you can always use SIM card provider or get help from cops to find the location of a cell phone. Similar question was already answered in one of our post titled: “Any Free IMEI Locator to Trace a Misplaced phone?” — you might want to look into that where we suggest a few alternative ways.

As everyone has a smartphone, there are tonnes of free and paid tracking application that lets you remotely (using a computer or tablet) find out the location of the smartphone in real-time. For example, Apple already provides Find My iPhone as a cloud-based solution to track, erase, and even lock the device remotely.