Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Code found in the Google Personal Safety app suggests a new “Device info” option will allow users to view their IMEI number from the Emergency screen without unlocking the phone.
- This move contradicts Google’s previous rejection of a similar user request, where the company cited security risks and the sensitive nature of PII as reasons to keep the IMEI hidden on locked devices.
- While the feature could help law enforcement return lost or stolen devices without seizing or wiping data, it raises concerns that malicious actors could misuse the easily accessible identifier.
Every single phone, Android or otherwise, has an IMEI number. The IMEI number is a unique identifier that identifies a device on a mobile network, much like a personal identification number. It’s generally a good idea not to reveal or broadcast your phone’s IMEI number, just to avoid sharing it with malicious actors. However, there are situations where easier access to a phone’s IMEI number might have been useful. The latest release of the Personal Safety app, v2025.11.13.831777920, includes code that suggests Google may soon allow access to your phone’s IMEI number from the lock screen.
Currently, there is no way to access or check the IMEI numbers of your phone from the lock screen. This is because IMEI numbers are generally treated as Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and there’s a possibility that they could be misused by hackers or even law enforcement agencies in many cases.
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Google’s Personal Safety app is an optional part of the GMS and is pre-installed on plenty of Android phones. One of the key features of Personal Safety is that it allows your medical information and emergency contacts to be visible on your lock screen, providing assistance when you need it most. This info can be accessed from the lock screen by invoking the Pin input screen and tapping the Emergency button. Ordinarily, this opens up a dialpad screen, as visible in the first screenshot below.
Code within the new app suggests that Google is adding a Device info option to this screen, which can be accessed by tapping the three-dot menu on the top right. This will then reveal the IMEI numbers of the phone. We managed to activate this screen, as visible in the second screenshot below:
Google will also display this text alongside the IMEI:
Code
Copy TextIf this device is lost or stolen, law enforcement can use its IMEI number to help return it to you.
Back in February, a user submitted a feature request to Android’s Issue Tracker to allow for IMEI access from the lock screen. The user’s rationale was that it would be beneficial to allow law enforcement access to the IMEI without granting them access to the rest of the data stored on the device or needing them to wipe the phone through a hard reset. This way, law enforcement can still cross-check the IMEI to determine if it belongs to a stolen phone, without gaining access to or destroying the rest of the data on the phone.
As the user noted:
Supporting the ability to check device information without the need to unlock it would have a high positive impact on the device owner’s privacy and security, as well as the security of devices themselves. It would reduce the number of unauthorized device seizures under the disguise of “checking if they are stolen” when the user does not agree to unlock the device for any reason, including his/her own privacy. It’s therefore in alignment with the provisions of both the First and the Fifth Amendment in the U.S., as well as provisions prohibiting unlawful searches and seizures of property in other jurisdictions.
Ironically, Google closed the feature request as “Won’t Fix (Intended Behavior).” The rationale given was that IMEI is a sensitive PII, and malicious actors could report locked phones as stolen. While the 3GPP standard mandates showing of IMEI, it doesn’t say it should be shown in unlocked state (sic).
As luck would have it, the Personal Safety app is moving ahead to show the IMEI in a phone’s locked state, contradicting Google’s previous rationale.
Currently, it doesn’t appear that the Device info screen is optional. It’s possible that Google could make this optional, just as it did with Health Info and Emergency Contacts. This way, users will have a choice in whether or not they want to reveal their IMEI on the lock screen. It’s a double-edged sword, after all. We’ll keep you updated when the feature rolls out and/or we learn more.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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