I lost my phone last month and was desperately looking for ways to track it. I never installed any apps to track it and so I got online to see if there were other options and found 'Android Device Manager'. After the remote download, I tried locating it, but then the internet was turned off and a few days later with no success, I decided to go for the factory reset. I was talking with a friend today and he told me that, he got a call from someone saying I had given that person his number, so I decided to get on ADM to see if I could maybe track it this time or check what was going on. To my surprise, I now see two phones listed under my account. I have not bought a new phone yet. I am just wondering why does it show another phone under my account.
1 Answer
the factory reset was most likely successful. i'm guessing the twin devices are showing different locations and one or both never move and may show as offline (if both are offline, dead battery). the device is linked to ADM via your google account and an ID generated when android boots up for the first time. after the remote reset, the device will boot, generate the new ID and ask for the password to the google account the device is linked to. as a ROM addict, i know this all too well. there have been times i've flashed 10 ROMs in a day. i used up my device removal limit on google play music very quickly.
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The other phone that's linked to my account is a Samsung phone (GT-I9500). It says registered July 31, 2015(Online; Google location is turned off. Last online August 14, 2015) and my Sony one shows location unavailable; Last online July 22, 2015. Commented Aug 16, 2015 at 5:22
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oh, so it isn't a twin. if you haven't already, change your google account password. Commented Aug 16, 2015 at 5:23
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my edit was because i tested it out on my device and found out that it wasn't IMEI, but that a remote wipe remembers the last known google account and keeps the device locked until the password is entered. Commented Aug 16, 2015 at 5:24
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Okay, so the password has been changed. Now, when I hit locate device, it hovers over west Africa. Commented Aug 16, 2015 at 5:39
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one of 2 things happened. your sony device went dead where you lost it and somebody has you google account login or somebody stole your sony device, dumped the data, grabbed your google account login and used it on a new device. there might be other reasons, but they're obscure and would require a lot of skill and knowledge to pull off. Commented Aug 16, 2015 at 5:41