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.


Track Phone using Google Location History

A little known secret in the method of tracking phone and people is that we can use Google itself to do this. The feature is known as the Google Location History. Even though this feature has been a long time fearture in Google services not many people knew about it. It is enabled normally through the Android operating system based devices such as your phone or tablet.

Normally when you setting up your new Android based phone or tablet, it will ask whether Google can transmit your location data. This data is help to determine the location of your device through locating your cell IDs and also Wi-Fi routers where your devices are connected. By knowing this info, Google can track your movement based on the signal it receives.

Google Location History

Apple also uses the same method in their ‘Find iPhone’ app installed in all of its mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad. So how do you able to track your phone using the Google location history? First thing you need to understand is the feature of the Google Location History itself. It originated from the Google Latitude. After the services was discontinued, some of the features of Google Latitude was being carried on by Google Location History. Google also introduced the Android Device Manager recently that also uses the information in the Google Location History.

The reason that your smartphones are reporting your location to Google or also known as Location Reporting. This vital information is transmitted from any mobile devices that you have opt for Location Reporting to be turned on. From the transmitted data, Google is able to store the location data as well as the location history of your mobile devices. Google uses the data to improvise its Google Now services and learns your daily routine in terms of commuting and also the daily routes that you normally take. This information gathered from a collective resources will help them to determine the best routes as well as the traffic condition of certain parts of the world.

Knowing that Google is tracking your mobile devices location is a bit of scary and creepy. But the truth is, many of the application in your smartphones are already doing the same thing. The transmit location data of where you are and one of the popularly used is Waze. So, before you are shouting to Google of privacy, take a closer look at other applications in your smartphone device that you are already giving consent to transmit your location.

However, the good news is that the Location Reporting can be turned off. All you need to do is to find the label ‘Location’ in your Android setting device. Once there, try to find ‘Google Location Reporting’. There you will be able to delete your location history as well as to switch off the location tracking. This way it will block Google to track your Android based mobile device. Other devices probably have different settings, but normally it can be turned off in the same manner.