Finding a Xiaomi phone - instructions on how to find a smartphone by account

There are situations that we cannot predict. For example, the loss or theft of a phone. In the modern world, we can no longer imagine ourselves without this multifunctional gadget. After all, this is not only the loss of the device itself, but also the loss of information, which can cause even greater damage than the device itself.

Now, all the necessary data is stored in one device, these are bank cards, which we use to easily pay from a smartphone. As well as various applications with a linked card that do not require confirmation to write off funds. And if it falls into unscrupulous hands, big problems can arise.

The first thought that arises when you lose your phone is what to do, what to grab and where to run.

How to find a lost xiaomi phone

First you need to calm down and take the necessary steps. Such as saving information, blocking, to prevent the device from falling into the wrong hands and even the possible return of the mobile.

In searching for xiaomi, nowadays, we can use the most advanced methods. No one gives us a 100% guarantee, but it is possible to find out about its approximate location for further search activities. To solve the problem, we can do a “smartphone search” through the Mi Cloud website. In addition, it is possible to call a mobile phone, erase information from a gadget, or lock the device.

Activate the search through your Mi Cloud account.

Let's move on:

Settings
Mi Account
Mi Cloud

find xiaomi phone
Switch the detection of your device to the active position. Now your phone can be easily found on i.mi.com

Precautionary measures

Unfortunately, it is impossible to find your phone using GPS alone . To successfully search for Xiaomi, you must have previously established a connection with Mi Cloud and linked your phone to your Mi account or Google account.

If the phone is not synchronized with cloud storage or Google account, you will not be able to determine its location . So take care of such moments immediately after purchasing a new smartphone.

After registering with Mi Cloud, complete the following procedure:

Visit “Settings” and go down to “Mi Account” ;
On the new screen, select “Mi Cloud” and activate the checkbox next to “Find Device” . Done, now in the future, if you lose your phone, you will have every chance of finding it.

Note! You can only find a lost Xiaomi smartphone if Wi-Fi or mobile Internet is turned on. If the device is offline, remote search is not possible.

Connecting phone control remotely

To connect remote access, go to the settings of redmi or redmi 5, go to the “Security” section, and then “Device Administrators”. Select the “Remote control” item.

After these steps, we enable the transfer of geodata (in Google settings) and location history.

To be able to return a lost or stolen device, you need to do some preliminary work. Without which, unfortunately, it will be very difficult to find a device. Just like a car alarm is set in advance, before a possible theft. It's a similar story with the phone.

Remote search capabilities in Mi account

The Device Search application, available to Xiaomi owners, allows you to:

find the gadget itself by geolocation - determines the coordinates;
protect data from thieves. Remote destruction of all files on the device is available;
play a sound signal - this will help if the gadget was lost somewhere nearby. After determining the geoposition, you need to inspect the area within a radius of 27 meters from the point on the map - this is Xiaomi’s error. A sound signal will simplify the search;
block the device. If you can’t find it, you can at least block it. This way, the attacker will not be able to use the smartphone and will not gain access to files.

How does Xiaomi device search work?

For the search function to become available, it must first be activated on your smartphone. You also need to link it to your Mi account. Otherwise, the search is impossible.

How to activate the Find Device function on Xiaomi? Need to:

go to “Settings” and select “Mi account”;
select “Linked devices”;
click on the icon of the desired smartphone;
select “Search for device”;
pull the slider to the right so that it lights up blue;
enter the password for your Mi account and click on “OK”.

Connecting the “Search for device” function. Illustration by the author

If you don’t have an Mi account, the system will prompt you to create one at one of the stages.

Looking for a phone via Mi cloud

We go to the site, enter the same login and password as on your mobile. We get to our office. We make sure that our device is online, then click on search. After which, the location of your smartphone will appear on the Google map.

In order for the phone to ring loudly, we find the Alarm button there (turn on the bell). As soon as we press, the phone will ring at maximum volume.

This method is convenient if you know approximately the location of the device.

Locking a smartphone can also be done on the Mi website. Click on the block button, or in other words lock. We dial a 4-digit PIN code, confirm the action, the phone is blocked. Then we remove the block by entering the same password as on the website.

Alternative Search Methods

Everything described above is suitable as a fairly simple way to search for a smartphone for ordinary users, but the methods described below are most often used by law enforcement agencies or, for example, logistics departments. It is also useful to know about them in cases of loss of a smartphone. Moreover, such methods allow you to find the device even if it is turned off.

Looking for a phone by imei

IMEI is a unique identifier for each smartphone, which can be found on the back cover upon purchase. This is the serial number that is given during production and which is almost impossible to change. In some cases, for example, with expensive iPhones made to order, this may be relevant. Particularly gifted individuals manage to change the serial number on their own, but it is worth remembering that the procedure for changing the IMEI on a phone is a criminal offense.

The official Xiaomi website has a database that contains all the unique IMEI codes of devices released by the company. There you can find a smartphone and make sure that it is in use.

How will this help you if you lose your device? Alas, no way. You will simply find it in the production database. But this case is perfectly applicable when buying a gadget, for example, on the gray market. By punching the IMEI, you can accurately understand that the phone was manufactured by Xiaomi, and also find out what month and what year, thereby making sure that the device is original or counterfeit. In some cases, you can check the installed components - after all, leapfrog with camera lenses or screen manufacturers has long been a hallmark of the most popular Xiaomi smartphones.

We contact law enforcement agencies, the mobile operator

The last hope is the mobile operator or law enforcement agencies. The thing is that these two authorities are able to find even a turned off smartphone.

Contacting law enforcement agencies is an understandable step. We come, write a statement, and wait. The more expensive the smartphone, the higher the likelihood that the matter will move forward. Here it is already important to inform the police - after all, they find the phone based on information received, for example, from controlled pawnshops, the analysis of which is not available to the average person, confiscate it from detained persons, etc.

From personal experience, one of the devices I lost was found seven years later, in working condition, but irretrievably outdated. It’s funny and makes me want to cry.

Law enforcement agencies may require permission to obtain information about your SIM card. And now this is much more interesting. The SIM card gives a signal in much the same way as the built-in GPS module. The mobile operator tracks the movements of the smartphone using a special system in much the same way as was described in the methods with Find My Devices, where the approximate location of the device is displayed on the map.

Operators are unlikely to cooperate just like that - after all, the loss of a device is not a valid reason for checking, but if the police manage to obtain a special document, it is likely that it will be possible to find a smartphone in this way.

Alas, this method also has a disadvantage, because the SIM card is located, which is the first one to fly into the trash can of an experienced thief.

Finding by application

When you have an additional phone, xiaomi note 4 or xiaomi 4x, for example, on the Android platform, you can lock it from it. You need to download the Android Device Manager program in the google market.

AD allows you to make the same parameters to find a device, similar to the site.

We find xiaomi in the “Find My Device” application.

find xiaomi phone using app

The special-purpose program “Find My Device”, the application is downloaded through the “Play Market”, another application where there is a function to find a xiaomi phone, with which we can determine the location of our gadget.

Go to the play market on your device";
Find and install the “Find My Device” file;
After launching and installing, go to your Google account.

If the smartphone is turned off

If the device is not detected on the network, you will have to postpone the online search for your Xiaomi phone until someone turns it on, or try to find the gadget based on location history (if it is saved in your account). Theoretically, you can contact the police, but in fact, law enforcement agencies rarely deal with stolen mobile phones. The exception is if the device is very expensive or contains important information.

Services for finding a lost smartphone show not only the location, but also the time when the gadget was last online. This can help you understand whether it is lost or stolen: • If the device went off the Internet immediately after it went missing, then the thieves may have immediately disabled it to get rid of tracking. • If the mobile phone has been online for a long time, most likely it is simply lost and lies somewhere with a dead battery.

IMEI tracking can only be carried out by cellular operators at the request of law enforcement agencies.

Find turned off Xiaomi

All presented options for finding a missing phone can be used when your device is turned on. There are often situations where you need to find out where your smartphone is turned off. Not an easy task, but doable. There are two options for completing the task.

The first is to go to the police, and the second is to resort to the help of a mobile operator.
You can find out the location of the device by IMEI

find a xiaomi phone by name
You need to use special equipment to search for a device by IMEI (a 15-digit number assigned to each phone). The owner, having the IMEI, will be able to use a special database to find out whether the smartphone was stolen. When a used phone, purchased second-hand or from a second-hand equipment store, appears on such a list, it means that it was previously owned by another user who lost it or was stolen by someone. The owner has the opportunity to transfer information for the purpose of placing it in this database or go to the police. Although, judging by practice, such searches for mobile phones by IMEI number end in vain. When it is possible to change the combination of numbers on a stolen device using special programs, however, because of this, the ability to make a call is lost.

Answers to frequently asked questions

Question	Answer
Is it necessary to have GPS enabled on your phone when searching through your Mi account?	Not necessary, but advisable, since this way the chances of success are higher. However, the main thing is that the phone is connected to the Internet.
I lost my smartphone in another city. What to do?	The likelihood that the smartphone will be found is quite low. But it's still worth a try. First of all, contact your mobile operator and ask to block the SIM card. Then write a statement to the police, providing the necessary information.
What happens if a thief reflashes the device?	In case of flashing, the IMEI code of the device will change. This will result in the online search for the phone not yielding results.
The phone that was stolen from me was sold to another person. Do I have the right to return it?	Yes, you can return it. The main thing is to have documents on hand confirming that you are the owner of the gadget.

Now you know how to find your phone if it is lost or stolen. If you forgot it indoors, then just log into the cloud storage and activate the sound signal. If you cannot search on your own, then contact the operator or write a statement to the police.

Solution

This situation can only be corrected by resetting the settings to factory settings. In this situation, the operation is performed through Recovery mode.

Just a note! Recovery mode is a special mode designed to restore the device in cases where the main operating system does not boot.

So, to enter this mode in Xiaomi:

Remove the SIM card and memory card from the smartphone;
Press and hold two on/off buttons and the volume up button at once. Hold them in this position until the Xiaomi logo appears on the device display;
Next, a window will open asking you to select a language. Select English (since Russian is not available), and then confirm the action with the button responsible for turning the device on and off. Use the volume keys to navigate.
Go to “Wipe And Reset” and then to “Wipe All Data”. Then select the option called “Yes” and wait for the process to complete.

After this, resetting the settings to the original value will be completed, accordingly, all updates will be deleted, and the smartphone will turn on as before. You will have to download all the applications again and configure the system, however, there are simply no options to save the information.

Search via Google

To find a device using this method, two points must be observed:

Having a Google account.
GPS function configured.

If these requirements are met, then you can proceed to the following steps:

Log in to the official Google website through your account.
After this, a map will open, next to which information about the smartphone linked to the account will be located. The user will be able to perform three actions:
block. A lost device must be blocked immediately, as there is a possibility that it ended up in the hands of thieves. To do this, you need to set a new password and confirm your actions;
If the phone contains important materials that should not fall into the hands of thieves, then you need to clear the internal memory of the device. To do this, you need to click on the appropriate button and confirm your actions.

This algorithm of actions can only be used if you have access to a computer. If it is not there, then you can install the application on another smartphone. This is done through the popular online store Google Play.

Procedure:

Go through the authorization procedure by entering the data from your Personal Account.
Give the application permission to determine the location of the smartphone. Perform one of three actions: sound a beep, lock the device, or delete its internal memory.

What is Find Device on Xiaomi?

Find Device is a function built into Xiaomi for remote control of your phone if it gets lost. Block access to it, erase all data, or display a message on the screen.

It's unpleasant when Xiaomi gets lost, but not everything is hopeless. Thanks to cloud technologies and the Find Device function, which is built into the firmware with MIUI, you can get the exact coordinates of the location of your lost smartphone and perform certain actions with it.

It doesn't matter whether Xiaomi itself is lost or stolen, you can protect the most valuable thing in your smartphone - data and personal information.

Important : the Find Device functionality will work if the phone has access to the Internet, either via a cellular network or Wi-Fi.

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