Wrong device associated to a stolen and finally lost device

Help
#1

Let us help you. Please tell us about…

  • Affected device : It is making a confusion between my stolen device and the new one I bought
  • Part of Prey not working : The account is showing a wrong name of the device: it is not the name of the stolen one, and it is not the name of the new one I bought

Could you please describe the problem?

My Galaxy S7 was stolen and I marked as dissapeared in Prey. It was not possible to get it back, so I deleted remotely all the information inside. I bought a new smartphone and I updated it with the back up I had in my Google and Samsung account. But now, in my Prey account it is showing information about my new phone as the stolen device, but with 2 errores:

  • The name now is wrong “S5 SAMSUNG SM-G930F” while the name of the stolen device was “S7 SAMSUNG…”.
  • The device shows that is available, but it is not the stolen device, instead the new one

How could it be fixed? I wan’t to have the stolen device as the real stolen device. And I want to add my new phone, not as it was the stolen one.

And finally, please attach a screenshot if available (you can drag and drop images)

#2

Hi @Jorge
I’m very sorry for the delay! This is a known issue when hardware information is shared between devices or, in iOS case, when devices with the same OS get their information synced via iCloud. As a consequence, they share the same entry on your account, and, if you save them as Missing, the overwritten device will start reporting too.

To fix this, just go to the Device Management tab on your Prey account, and disable the ‘Identify devices when linking. Overwrite devices if their hardware information already exists on this account.’ Once you save changes, uninstall the app completely from the new device, then reinstall and configure it typing your password with the app open from the device you’ll add to your devices list again. :slight_smile:

Please let me know if you need furhter assistance!
Have a nice weekend.

#3

It didn’t work. I deleted the new device from my account and now I can’t add it again. Too complex, if not fixed easier, I will delete also the app. This app is supposed to feel safe, not to feel problems and dissapointments

#4

Hi @Jorge, I’m sorry to read that. Could you please:

Go to Android Settings > Security & Location > Device admin apps and disable Prey as one of them.
Go to Android Settings > Apps & notifications > App info > Prey > Storage and clear data.
Go to step #1 and reenable Prey as an admin app.
Open the Prey app again. It’ll ask for your email and password, and that will get the device added to your Prey account once you finish the process.
(Instructions could be a bit different depending on your Android version.)

The problem is caused by Google’s cloud backup, which restored the config file from your old Android device into the new one. These steps will force the new unit to be added.

Please let me know how it goes!