Track a Missing or Stolen Device

After setting up Theft Recovery, you can begin tracking any missing, stolen or lost devices by clicking the "Track a Device" button. 

1. Sign into GoGuardian and navigate to the Theft Recovery Dashboard
2. Click the green Track a device button in the top right corner
3. In the Search Devices field, enter the serial number of the missing device
4. Click the matching serial number in the search results 
5. Using the drop-down, select the Stolen Devices OU that was configured for Theft Recovery
6. Click the Start Tracking button

The tracking process will automatically move the device from its current OU into the selected Stolen Devices OU in the Google Admin Console. Note: Devices to be tracked should not be moved within Google Admin Console prior to tracking. 

Once moved and once the device is rebooted, the device will launch the Theft Recovery app and start recording screenshots, geolocation data, and detect personal account information to help identify the person in possession of your device.

Troubleshooting

If the stolen devices OU does not appear in this list, click Sync Devices again.

Tracking Process

Once a device has been tracked, a Theft Recovery card will be created for the device in an Undetected state and the device will be automatically moved into the stolen devices OU in the Google Admin Console.

Undetected

Once the device reboots into Theft Recovery mode, the card will be updated to a Detected state. Click the card to view the full device report, which contains screenshots, geolocation data, and user data.

Detected

Click the device card to view a detailed report. When a device is in theft recovery mode, the following types of data are collected:

Screenshots: A screenshot is taken every time the user navigates to a new page. Each report will display the last 100 screenshots taken by the device.

Geolocations: Theft Recovery uses a variety of data points to achieve the most accurate geolocation possible. The Google Location Services database allows Theft Recovery to achieve high-accuracy geolocation using a combination of WLAN AP-based location, IP location, and HTML 5 geolocation APIs. Under some circumstances, certain factors (like firewalls) may prevent High Accuracy Geolocation. However, even when the coordinates are sometimes off, the reported “accuracy” of that point will always be reliable.

User Info: When a user signs into a personal Gmail account, their name and email address will be recorded and stored in the Theft Recovery report under "User." Use this information to identify the person in possession of the device.