How to Locate a Phone

As your phone has become one of the most important part and requirement of your daily life, the more frequent you take it to everywhere you go. Some people even bring it close to their bed while they are sleeping at night. With the smartphones getting cheaper and affordable, many people now owns a smartphone nowadays. However, there is also an increasing trend of people losing their smartphones as well and this figure have been alarmingly increasing every year.

According to statistics, about 100 cell phones are either lost or stolen every minute in the United States alone and this figure will rise in the future. With an estimated 97% of the US population are using cell phones, it has become a necessity that each owner needs to be careful and aware of the potential of smartphones theft and also phone misplaced.

This website is not offering services to locate a phone. However, this website is dedicated to compile the information on everything that you need to know on how to locate a phone when it is either lost or stolen. We have listed several articles on how you can locate your phone by different methods and techniques. Below are some of our best referred articles on the ways that you can track your lost phone.

Locate phone using IMEI number
Believe it or not, you can actually track your phone by using the IMEI number of your phone. This is due to the fact that the IMEI number act as a unique ID to your phone and therefore the phone can be track based on this vital information. Read more on this in Track your mobile phone using IMEI.

Locate using Google services
Google actually are taking this tracking phone seriously as they provide several services that can track the Android based smartphones. You can read this in Track Lost Android Phone using Android Device Manager and also Track Phone using Google Location History. You can also read on how to use information in your Dropbox account to track your lost phone on how to Track your phone using internet.

Locate using built-in smartphones apps and purchased apps
Lastly, with the powerful apps that have been created for smartphones in recent years, there are also now many apps that can be used to locate a phone. Among the popularly used is the Find my iPhone, Seekdroid and also Android Device Manager. However, you can still locate a phone even if you did not install any app when you have lost it. You can read this on How to track a cell phone after you lose it and also Track my iPhone without App.


What does GPS stand for and how it track your phone

GPS stands for Global Positioning System
GPS limitations

If you are an avid user or just starting to use mobile devices and smart gadgets, you would probably be stumbling upon the famous used acronym GPS. So, what does GPS stand for? GPS stands for Global Positioning System. GPS is basically a system that operates globally in which dedicated satellites are used to track the location of any GPS receivers and transmitters anywhere in the world.

A signal is sent from the ground station or any GPS devices to the constellation of 24 satellites circumventing our earth. The smartphones nowadays are all embedded with a GPS receiver in which it can send signal as well as receive signal from the GPS satellite. Therefore, it can pinpoint the exact location of the devices equipped with the GPS wherever you are located in the world.

The accuracy of the position depends on many factors such as the weather and also if the signal are blocked by buildings, mountains and other tall structures.
The technology originated from the Cold War era and at that time, MIT scientists noticed the Doppler Effect from the Sputnik satellite orbiting the earth. The Doppler Effect can be used to determine a location by analysing its signal strength as the signal move or faded away. By using this concept, a location can be accurately determined.

The first ever fully operational GPS however was launched by the US back in 1989. Only in 1999, Benefon, a phone manufacturer first embedded the GPS into their phone. Since then, almost all smartphones now have GPS capability as mandatory in their phone as many applications used the GPS as input and output for their application and functionality. The GPS has enabled your phone to be track anywhere in the world as long as you enabled that feature in your smartphones.

How does GPS works

As of the current progress, the US have launched 24 GPS satellites up into the orbit. With the solid GPS infrastructure laid in place, software and applications that have been developed based on this infrastructure and platform have also making great strides. There are now many real-time applications that can help individuals and businesses to make processes much faster and improve as well as assisting people’s daily lives. The GPS has now become a necessity as people becoming more mobile, the need to keep track location of people as well as assets is becoming crucial.

GPS applications

The GPS or Global Positioning System has now laid the foundation for creative programmers and developers to create more innovative applications that utilizes the GPS and enhance the quality of our life.

How to Locate Lost Cell Phone

Cell Phones are now becoming an integral part in our daily lives. This is due to the rapid cell phone technology that has evolved from a device that is just used for communicating to a smartphone that can be used for many purposes. As the cell phone become smarter, you will not leave home without it as it plays a critical function in many aspects of your life.

A lost cell phone can be a nightmare to some users as many important data is stored in your cell phone and you will do whatever you can to locate the lost cell phone. However, the trends of people losing their cell phone is on the rise as they are bringing their cell phone now to anywhere they go.

As the cell phone get cheaper and cheaper, the cell phone is now owned not just by adults but the kids as well. With the broad increase of demographic customer using the cell phone, it is no mystery that the trend of lost or stolen cell phone are increasing each year. It was reported that in average, 115 cell phones are lost or stolen every minute in the United States alone. However, there are many methods you can try to locate your lost cell phone. Below are some of the methods you can try.

1. Using Apps
With the sophisticated smartphones, there are many apps been developed in the market that can instantly locate your cell phone based on the GPS function. Almost all smartphones have GPS and this function enables the application to locate your cell phone via satellite and pin point the exact coordinate of your cell phone in real time. Among the reliable locater app that you can use are SeekDroid, Where’s My Droid, Plan B and also Prey.

2. Using Embedded services
If you are using Android based cell phone, the cell phone has already an embedded services via Google to locate your cell phone. You can use the Android Device Manager as a way to track where the last footprint of your cell phone is. The Google Android Device Manager is a very powerful tool in not just locating your cell phone but as well as knowing the location of your friends and loved ones.

3. Using Network Provider
If you have not installed any apps or your cell phone is not that ‘smart’, you can always rely on your network provider to do the locating activity. Your network operator has the data and information that you probably can rely on as they can help detect the signal of your cell phone to their nearest cell towers. By using triangulation of the cell towers, the network provider can more or less pin point the latest location of your cell phone.