Xiaomi Phone Search: How to Set Up, Find and Lock Your Device

Losing a smartphone is stressful, especially if it holds important data, photos or access to banking applications. Xiaomi offers several built-in tools to find a device, but many users do not know how to set them up correctly in advance. In this article, we will examine everything from the standard Find Device feature in Mi Account to hidden features of Google and alternative services.

It's important to understand that search performance depends on presetting. If you're reading this article after losing your phone, go straight to "What to do if your phone is already lost." For the rest of us, there's a detailed manual on how to prepare your device so that you can quickly track your location, block access, or erase data remotely in a critical situation.

1.Phone Preparation: What to Do Before Losing

Most search functions only work if three conditions are met:

• 📱 The phone is connected to the Internet (mobile network or Wi-Fi).
• 🔄 Mi Account or Google account linked to your device.
• 📍 Geolocation services (GPS, GLONASS, Beidou activated.

If at least one of the conditions is not met, the chances of successful search are dramatically reduced. For example, when the Xiaomi phone is turned off, you can only track its last known location (if the geodata was stored in the cloud).

Attach Mi Account (Settings) → Xiaomi account)

Insert geolocation (Settings) → Security → Location)

Activate Find Device in Mi Cloud → Find the device)

Allow location history to be saved (Google Maps) → Chronology)

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Pay special attention to the right of access. MIUI 14+ The path to geolocation settings may be different. For example, on Redmi Note 12, you need to go to Settings. → Confidentiality → Permits → Location and make sure that Mi Cloud and Google Play Services are authorized.

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If you are often in areas with poor coverage (metro, underground parking lots), turn on the option “Search for offline devices” in Google Find My Device. It uses the nearest Android devices to determine location via Bluetooth.

2. Set up search via Mi Account (official method)

Xiaomi’s Find Device service is the primary tool for finding lost phones.

• 📍 View the current or latest location.
• 🔊 Turn on a loud signal (even if the phone is silent).
• 🔒 Block the device with the display of the message on the screen.
• 🗑️ Delete all data remotely (when stolen).

To activate the function:

1. Open your Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud.
2. Sign in to your account (if not tied, register).
3. Go to Find the device and turn on the slider.
4. Confirm location access permissions and administrative rights.

Critical detail: if you reset your phone to factory settings without a Mi Account waist, the device will be locked (Mi Account Lock), which is anti-theft protection, but it can also complicate the sale of the phone. To avoid problems, always delete your account in Settings before resetting. → Xiaomi account → Delete the account.

3 Search through Google Find My Device

The alternative is Google Find My Device, which works on all Android devices, including Xiaomi, and has several advantages:

• 🌍 More accurate geolocation through integration with Google Maps.
• 📱 Search support even when the phone is turned off (if the option “Search for offline devices” is enabled»).
• 🔄 Ability to view the history of movements (if the location chronology is activated).

To set up:

1. Make sure you have a Google account added (Settings) → Accounts. → Google).
2. Enable geolocation and allow Google Play Services to access location Always.
3. Activate Find My Device in Settings → Google → Security → Find the device.

To find the phone:

1. Go to google.com/android/find from any device.
2. Log in to the same Google account as on your lost phone.
3. Select the device from the list and use the available options (call, lock, erase data).

Mi Account (Find Device)

Google Find My Device

Both of them.

No, I didn't.

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Important: If the phone has the option “Search for Offline Devices” enabled, it can be detected even when it is turned off through the nearest Android devices with active Bluetooth. MIUI 12.5+ Android 11+.

4.Search for Xiaomi’s phone turned off: myths and reality

Many users think that it's impossible to find a phone that's turned off. It's not quite true. There are three scenarios:

If the phone is turned off but you suspect it will turn on (for example, in the case of theft), watch for the location update in Mi Cloud or Google Find My Device. Once the device connects to the network, you will receive a notification.

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The only reliable way to find a phone that is turned off is to pre-activate Google's "Search Offline Devices" feature, without which the odds are minimal.

5. Additional methods: IMEI, communications operator and third-party applications

If standard methods do not help, you can try alternative options:

• 📡 Search IMEI: The unique phone identifier (*#06#) can be passed on to the police or the telecom operator, however, in Russia and most countries, operators are not required to provide location data by the telephone. IMEI However, if you're a thief, you should file a police report stating that IMEI.
• 📶 Operator services: Some mobile operators (e.g. MTS, Beeline) offer paid services to search devices by number. Accuracy is low (determined by communication towers), but in some cases can help.
• 🔍 Third-party apps: Services like Prey Anti Theft or Cerberus offer advanced features (hidden shooting, recording sound, blocking through the Internet). SMS). However, they require pre-installing and configuration.

To use Prey Anti Theft:

1. Install the app from Google Play.
2. Register and tie the device.
3. Set up administrator rights and geolocation access.
4. In case of loss, control your phone through the Prey web panel.

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If you often lose your phone at home, install the Tile app or use Xiaomi Smart Tags. These connect via Bluetooth and help you find the device within a radius of 50–100 meters.

Beware of fraudulent services that offer to “find the phone by” IMEI Most of them are either not working or are collecting your data. IMEI Only law enforcement agencies can.

6 What to do if your phone is already lost: a step-by-step plan

If your phone is missing, follow the algorithm and quickly:

1. Check the obvious places: call your phone from another number (possibly it’s stuck in the couch or left in the car). Use the Google Find My Device Call feature, which will turn on maximum volume even if the phone is silent.
2. Lock the device: Through Mi Cloud: Select the device → Lock down → Set a password and contact message to communicate. Google Find My Device: click Lock Device and set a new one PIN.

Check the location

Contact the operator.

MTS

0890

Report to the police

*#06#

Remove data remotely

Erase the data

Mi Cloud

Google Find My Device

Attention.

If the phone is found but locked in Mi Account Lock (after reset), unlocking will require:

• Enter the login and password from the attached Mi Account.
• Or submit a check of purchase (if the phone is officially purchased) to the Xiaomi service center.

7 How to protect data if the phone is not found

If you can't get your phone back, you have to minimize the damage from the data breach.

Remotely Delete Data (Mi Cloud / Google Find My Device)

Change passwords from email, social networks, banking applications

Unlock the lost device from Mi Account (Settings) → Devices)

Check activity in accounts (unusual logins, messages)

Contact banks to block cards tied to the phone

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Pay special attention to two-factor authentication (2FA). If it was tied to a phone number, scammers can access accounts, even by changing the number of accounts. SIM-We recommend a map:

• Shut down. SMS-login and go to Google Authenticator or hardware keys (YubiKey).
• Check the list of trusted devices in your accounts (Google, VK, Telegram).
• Use password managers (Bitwarden, KeePass) to store credentials.

If you have installed password storage apps (such as Xiaomi Password Manager) on your phone, change your master password immediately and revoke access from all devices.

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Even if your phone is stolen, fraudsters are unlikely to be able to get around Mi Account locks without your data, but if you use simple passwords (such as your date of birth), the risk of hacking accounts increases.

8. Frequent mistakes and how to avoid them

Many Xiaomi users are having trouble finding a phone due to errors:

• 🚫 Untethered Mi Account: Without Xiaomi account, Find Device is not available. Always link the device when you first turn on.
• 🚫 Disabled geolocation: if GPS switched off, services will show only the approximate location on the communication towers (accuracy - up to 1-2 km).
• 🚫 Administrator Block: Some SEOs disable rights for Mi Cloud or Google Play Services, which disrupts search.
• 🚫 Use of the VPN: if the phone is activated VPN, The services may show the wrong location (by IP-address VPN-server).

Another common problem is resetting your settings without decoupling your Mi Account, so if you're selling or transferring your phone, always:

1. Delete Mi Account in the settings.
2. Sign out of the Google account.
3. Perform reset through Settings → The phone. → Resetting settings (not via Recovery!).

If you bought Xiaomi with your hands and it is blocked Mi Account of the previous owner, you can return it to working condition only through the service center with a check of purchase.

Yeah, but I found it myself.

Yeah, but I didn't.

No, I never lost.

I remember.

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FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions