Learn how to track a turned off Android cell phone using Google’s Find My Device feature, third-party tracking apps, or by contacting your carrier for assistance.All or most of us have lost or had our cell phone stolen at some point . The immediate question after such theft will be how to track a turned off cell phone, considering that this is the first thing the thief will do (even though the lock screen prevents turning off a phone without first entering the unlock code). Although most options on the Internet are a scam, locating a turned off cell phone is perfectly possible in certain cases and under certain conditions.
How to track a turned off Android cell phone.
To try to locate a turned off Android phone for free on Google Maps, you can log in with the Gmail account associated with your device to google.com/android/find . There you can see in the panel on the left how long the phone has been turned off and what its last location was on the map on the right. You also have a “ Maps Routes ” link to corroborate this in the location history .
The indicated tracking tool ( or its mobile app and alternatives ) requires that the phone has had an Internet connection and location activated in order to send that last information before being turned off.
Samsung Galaxy and iPhone devices have a unique feature that allows them to be located even when they are not connected to the Internet and can even send their last location before they turn off.
Locate iPhone when turned off
The above is not exactly a tracking method, since once the phone is turned off the thief could have moved to another place and the user will not be able to know its new location. However, an iPhone does have a real tracking option under this circumstance. Even when turned off, it can continue to transmit a signal via Bluetooth to other nearby iPhones, which in turn send this information to Apple’s servers, from where you can locate it.
To track your turned off iPhone, you just need to go to icloud.com/find and enter the Apple ID and password associated with your iPhone. The requirement to do this is that the Find My Network option has been activated on the device.
An iPhone can be located even when it is turned off because the phone’s Bluetooth chip remains active independently and as long as the remaining battery or reserve available for this allows it. That is, you will not be able to track your iPhone forever after it has been turned off. Also, this depends on the proximity of other iPhones at the time you are trying to track it, a factor that also influences the accuracy of the location.
Track a turned off Android cell phone
The possibility of tracking turned off Android phones in a similar way to the iPhone seems to be close. The Android 14 version already incorporates some advances in the integration of this technology. Once implemented, the “Find my device network” that Google creates between Android devices will allow determining the position of turned off mobile phones, which will interconnect through Bluetooth signals with other nearby Androids, just as Apple’s location system works as explained above.
This will require both hardware and software support, so it might only work on devices that come with Android 15 out of the box, if that is the version of the system that will bring this new feature.
Track a turned off cell phone with the number?
All tracking methods offered by Google, Apple or Samsung are free . However, there are many third-party websites on the Internet that tell you how to track a turned off cell phone with the phone number , sometimes by paying for it. This is a scam, since such a thing is not possible, whether you pay or not. They are just websites designed with false data, which seek to obtain personal data, money through placed advertising or even scam users by making them subscribe to premium services or directly steal their money.
Normally, you can locate a cell phone using its respective Gmail account. However, the tracking itself or real-time location of the device is only obtained when the device is on, with Internet and its GPS or location has not been turned off. But you cannot know its CURRENT location if it has lost connection (unless it is a Samsung or iPhone) and much less if it is turned off, at least not while Google implements its Find My Device Network, which will allow tracking devices through the Bluetooth chip.
Conclusion
As you’ve seen, tracking a switched off cell phone is currently only possible if you have an iPhone. And in this case, finding its location will depend on the existence of other iPhones nearby. The possibility of tracking a switched off Android is likely to become a reality with the next version of Android and will surely be implemented in the new Google Pixel first.