Great question and I’m sorry you’re dealing with this stressful situation! What worked for us was making sure Find My iPhone was already enabled beforehand, because honestly the IMEI is really only useful for blacklisting with the carrier or filing a police report — it won’t give you a live location on its own. If your kid has another device or you want to be proactive going forward, mSpy has been a lifesaver for us because it gives real-time location tracking directly through the app so you’re never caught without options again. 