Stolen Samsung Galaxy S4

Darnell0216

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Feb 26, 2013
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Guys i lost my s4 in london today! Any suggestion? With the imei to the police they could track it? Thanks!
Go to https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager and see if your phone is picked up. Outside of that, reporting it stolen to the carrier and police is your next bet if you didn't install any software with remote capabilities. There is ONE app you can install after the phone's already lost, but I cannot recall it's name right now.
 

jweimn

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Let's put this out there to at least ease some confusion.

Yes with an imei number the cell phone companies can ping a device which will give you its location in a matter of minutes within a 30 foot radius. The only time this can be done is when it is done by request of a law enforcement agency and their is a court order to go with it.

So in short yes no matter where your phone is and not matter how many times its been wiped the carrier can still find where it is. Although you will never get a carrier to do it for you or a law enforcement agency to do it either.

Your best option is to report it stolen to the carrier who adds it to a list and if the phone is brought into any major carriers store the employees their will take the phone and it gets turned in if someone goes in trying to activate it. It'll eventually make it back to you in the end if this happens.
 

mhinc

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Android Device Manager won't help if folks haven't gone in and allowed it. It's set to OFF default.
IF, and this is a SLIGHT IF! The person that has your phone was either honest and looking for you or too stupid to factory reset it.
You can try PLAN B from the Play Store. It's like the day after pill for your phone. If your phone is on and not reset, it will remote install and you can track it

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ails?id=com.lookout.labs.planb&token=QJ4XMXbg
 

trucky

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Plan B used to be a good thing. It does not work on any current S4 phone...

NOTE: Plan B only works with 2.0 - 2.3 versions of Android
 

STARGATE

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So, my phone comes with Lookout preinstalled, but I've heard better things from some people about Avast.
Which one is better?
Or Google management is the way to go instead?

Sent From a Galaxy S4 Away!
 

Darnell0216

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Android Device Manager is good for those who can afford to just wipe and forget, but some third party apps offer more robust options.
- Remote locking (so you can wipe as a last resort)
- Call log retrieval
- Persistent alarm sounding alarm, some with screen messages. (ADM only rings your ringtone once)
- Breadcrumb tracking
- Remote camera activation (Smile! You're on candid camera!)
- Personal data backup to the cloud (Contacts/SMS)
- Performing some of the above mentioned tasks via text message if you cannot get to a PC.

These options are scattered through Lookout, Avast, Seekdroid, and GeekSquad (must have Best Buy insurance). I've used Seekdroid for years but I may give Lookout a shot since it's already here and is now touted by Sprint. If I hate it, I'll check out Avast. I have Best Buy's insurance so both of our phones have GeekSquad installed regardless. If you don't mind a subscription fee, Samsung is supposed to get it's act together with LoJack sometime in the future.
 

troshs

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Yep, +1 on reporting it stolen. The carrier will put the IMEI number in a system that will keep it from being activated. So say the person who took your phone wants to try and sell it...not gonna work. So you would get the last word in the end, so to speak, even though the phone may not make it back to you. :)

Posted via Android Central App
 

Gelst

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# 1 We don't know if the phone was wiped, for all we know someone could have found the phone is looking to return it to the owner, there are still some decent people left in this world. I know because I am one of them.

I'm surprised no one has suggested this before but try to install seekdroid or lookout onto your phone from the google play store and then set up an account on your home PC and try to track your phone. If that doesn't work then yes report the phone stolen to your carrier and file an insurance claim. Sorry you lost your phone that sucks.
 

Brandon Yee

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i loss my s4 too.. i did call samsung.. but they dont think they give a damn on it.. so i bought a new 1 and guess wad i found out tat it have a tracking device in it and could not be uninstall but u have to register it by logging in 1st to be able to track your device.. just get a new 1.. and may god punish d 1 hu steal stuff from any1.. amen
 

discoinferno

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I lost my Samsung Galaxy S 4 a few days ago ( at a frat party .... yikes.) and I called verizon to turn it off and everything. Out of the kindness of this guys heart, he returned it to me. Is it possble to re-activate my phone even though it was reported lost?
 

mhinc

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I lost my Samsung Galaxy S 4 a few days ago ( at a frat party .... yikes.) and I called verizon to turn it off and everything. Out of the kindness of this guys heart, he returned it to me. Is it possble to re-activate my phone even though it was reported lost?

That all depends on Verizon. Although from what I have heard, they BRICK it and there is no way to restore it...
 

mhinc

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i loss my s4 too.. i did call samsung.. but they dont think they give a damn on it.. so i bought a new 1 and guess wad i found out tat it have a tracking device in it and could not be uninstall but u have to register it by logging in 1st to be able to track your device.. just get a new 1.. and may god punish d 1 hu steal stuff from any1.. amen

Be more careful with your crap next time. If someone FOUND your phone after you lost it rather than STOLE it, it's not quite the same. Maybe if you kept better track of your phone you wouldn't have had that issue. Don't pull that "May god punish" crap due to your stupidity