How To Locate Cell Phone Using a Free Cell Phone Tracker App
It's Easy To Locate A Cell Phone With GPS
It's so EASY to find the location of a cell phone with any computer. In most cases it's COMPLETELY FREE! Today I'm going to teach you a little bit about how to locate cell phone from your computer or smartphone.
The days of only law enforcement agencies being able to use a cell phone locator service are in the past. It seems to many that being able to locate someone with their cell phone is likely to only be a special effect from the movies.
Remember the days when you would watch star trek on television and they could locate Captain Kirk on their "long range scanners" and "beam him up"? Well unfortunately we haven't evolved to the point that you can find out where you kids are when they are late for dinner and beam them home. Maybe someday though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Let me rephrase that statement. We can't do this unless they are carrying a cell phone with a cell phone locator application on it. We can easily locate them but we can't "beam them home" just yet.
Free Cell Phone Tracker Websites
- GPS Tracker Apps
Click to learn about the top free cell phone tracking software and information on powerful premium apps! - Cell Phone Tracker
Click to learn about the top free cell phone locator apps. Download links included!
Locate Cell Phone Through Triangulation
The old way to locate cell phone was with a method called triangulation. When a cell phoned is turned on, it immediately begins to search for the nearest cell phone tower by broadcasting it's ESN (electronic serial number). When it has found a tower, the tower sends a signal back informing the phone of the tower ID number and the signal strength.
Cell phone towers have a certain radius in which they can communicate with a cell phone. This range is represented as a 360 degree circle around the tower. Step one to locate cell phone through triangulation is for the tower to calculate how far the phone is from the tower. It then calculates an imaginary circle that is sized based on the phones distance from the tower. This is circle "A".
Since there are several towers in any given area, the phone also knows how close it is to the surrounding towers. This is so that when you travel, the phone can automatically transfer it's signal to the next strongest tower to prevent dropped calls. The second nearest tower calculates the cell phones distance and again makes an imaginary circle based on the distance the phone is from the tower. This is circle "B".
The third step to locate cell phone through triangulation is for the next closest tower to gather the same data as the first two did. Once again an imaginary circle is recorded. This is circle "C".
A central computer located at the cell phone company knows the exact location of each of the towers reporting the proximity of the cell phone being tracked. A software program overlays circles a, b, and c. The point at which all three circles intersect is the location of the cell phone. It's as simple as that.
The technology of locating a cell phone with triangulation merely provides a close approximation of the location of the phone. It is usually accurate to within 100 meters or less. In most instances, this is level of accuracy is fine. There is a more accurate cell phone locator services that use GPS technology that is emerging as people replace their old phones with the new smart phones like the ever popular iPhone.
Locate Cell Phone - Pay Services
There are a couple of services called Verizon Family Locator and AT&T Family Map that you must pay a modest fee if you would like to use their tracking service.
Sprint has a very good cell phone locator service called the Sprint Family Locator. It's not free either but it doesn't cost much money. Sprint only charges you $5.00 a month to use their cell phone tracker and it is a very good tracking service. As a matter of fact, it is the only cell phone tracking service that doesn't require you to download and install a cell phone tracking app on the phone that you want to be able to track. It will work with any Sprint or Nextell cell phone and you don't need to subscribe to a data plan with your cell phone service provider if you want to use it either.
There's also one called iLocalis that is a cell phone tracking app for the iPhone but you need to pay to use it too. iLocalis will cost you about $20 year.
Free Cell Phone Locator Services
Believe it or not, there are some free programs that you can download onto your smart phone that will allow you to be tracked and track others. All you have to do is install the app on a supported cell phone and then make some minor configuration settings and bingo, you can begin tracking.
These free services are quite accurate and easy to use. Imagine looking at your phone and instantly seeing if any of your friends are near you during lunch time. You never know, you might find that a friend is only a block away from you. Then you can call him or her up and ask them if they want to get together for lunch.
You can set these free cell phone tracking programs up on your child's cell phone. Then whenever you want to check on them, you can simply look at your phone and see exactly where they are any time day or night.
Imagine that you expect your wife home from work at 7:00 PM and there was a big snowstorm and she's late. If you have a cell phone tracker installed on her phone, you can easily check to see if she has left the office yet.
The uses for this technology are virtually endless and someday soon nearly everyone will have this feature on their cell phones. It's just to important of a feature to not make it available to everyone who wants it.
A few of the more popular free cell phone locator apps are:
- Glympse
- MobiWee
- Find My iPhone
- GPS Tracking Pro
- Find My Phone
Limitations of Phone Tracker Apps
You should know that there are a couple of limitations that cell phone tracker apps have. Keep these in mind when using them.
Limitations:
- The phone must be turned on. It's not possible for the apps to turn the phone on remotely.
- The phone must be in a cell phone service coverage area
- The phone must have a cell phone signal.
- They apps use the GPS receiver that is built into them that they won't work very well if you're in a shielded building like a parking garage.
- The app needs to be running on the phone or they won't work.
Are All Cell Phone Tracker Apps Good?
Some people email me from time to time wanting to know what cell phone tracker app they should use. They always want to know which app is the best. Unfortunately it's not always easy to answer that question. There are several factors that come into play when choosing an app for tracking mobile phones.
The first factor is the type of phone your have. If you have one of those old flip phones that don't allow you to download and install apps, you're just going to be out of luck in most cases. These phones are like the old "brick phones" that you used to see people carrying around in their back pockets. They're not really good for much other than making a phone call.
If you have a smartphone, then you have a lot of apps to chose from. Some are free and some require a fee. My favorite is phone tracker app by the name of SpyBubble. The reason I like it so much is that it's much more powerful that many of the other apps you can choose from.
It's actually one of the only apps of it's kind that is nearly impossible to detect once it has successfully been installed on a smartphone. You can learn more about this powerful cell phone tracking app by clicking on the link below.
Cell Phone Tracking Video
Here's a good video about a service called the "Sprint Family Locator". It's a very good tracking service that is offered by Sprint that is packed with some really cool features. It's only a short video so take a minute and have a look at it.
Disclaimer
You shouldn't use a cell phone tracking application to track someone without their knowledge and permission.
You and you alone are responsible for your actions. The information contained herein is for entertainment purposes only.
Don't use any type of technology or software for the purposes of invading someone's privacy!
What Do You Think About Being Able To Be Located With Your Cell Phone?
OYINMA on November 04, 2017:
IS IT POSSIBLE TO RECOVER MY STOLEN ANDROID PHONE USING ONLY THE SERIAL NUMBER?
Lady313 on October 27, 2017:
If your flip phone has GPS, is it possible to track? My boyfriend does not want to get a smartphone but wants us to be able to locate each other.
Satish on August 14, 2017:
My mobile missing what do
joyce on February 09, 2013:
Are you sure there is no way to to track spouses cell phone without him knowing?
kelsey on October 15, 2012:
are there any tracking sites i can use that only require the serial number of my android? the theif that stole it changed my number so if it requires a phone number to track it, it does me no good.
ashley on June 25, 2012:
Can I track my fiancé he constantly works out of town and sometimes scared he's somewhere else his GPS is always on it's an android phone how can I do this? Without him knowing
Patty Hahne (author) from Oregon on May 23, 2012:
No, sorry but you can't.
chintu on May 23, 2012:
Can we locate anyone if we have his mobile number only and he has normal phone without gps
Indifferent on May 06, 2012:
Carriers and almost all application out there track you record video, audio and take pics, so what's one more.
thomas on April 17, 2012:
hi my name is thomas and i lost my mobile at school how can i get back my mobile
james mwenda on February 26, 2012:
iko poa
ajay on December 31, 2011:
great thought
Tom Jewell on November 05, 2011:
Aaah
Angie on October 06, 2011:
How do I found out if my phone have a track on it?
mareena on October 04, 2011:
hey im a new girl on here and i just lost my phone also in the grass.......i don't know if it got stolen or been moved or torn by a lawn mower because my land lord mowed my lawn and my phones off so i don't know where my phone is at all and im afraid someone has it and will look up personal stuff and numbers on my phone what should i do since the police wont do nothing about it?
Imran on February 10, 2011:
It was very good information. I have got following quries
1. How can we identify the distance or time advance of the other phones
2. After I get the Cell ID then how can identify the pannel directions
please forwad the answers on my email
awais_psh@yahoo.com
Brad on February 08, 2011:
After raising 4 kids and having to roam the streets at 3 am looking for one from time to time I would have given my Eye teeth to have a tracking app on their phones. would have saved me a lot of heartburn and ulcers over the years.
Yes!! it is a parents business to know where they are ALL the time. They can have their privacy after they are on their own.
Robin Belisle on February 05, 2011:
I've just had my cell phone stolen, police can't help me. Would you know how i could track it.
Jonthan oporta on February 01, 2011:
Hi could some please help me I lost my new eve htc phone at work is a big wear house but is still in the wearhouse my number7862274452 could some please help me to track my phone before the battery dies
Tai Owens on November 14, 2010:
Can You Help Me Find My Cell Phone Its Lost And I might HAve To Return Black Ops For A New Phone :( Please Help Its Not Charged Can You Send The location To this Email::
naeem813@gmail.com
Bryan Simpson on November 14, 2010:
I need your help. I have lost my Iphone 3G. My locator service is turned on, so my Iphone knows where it is. How can I find it?
Patty Hahne (author) from Oregon on November 12, 2010:
@quiethorse - I don't believe there are any apps that will work with prepaid phone currently because you need to have the Internet on your phone for these tracking apps to work.
quiethorse on November 12, 2010:
Do you know if there is any way to track a prepaid cell phone? Thanks.
Joe Jamus on November 12, 2010:
This is great news! I'm learning all kinds of new things from your hubs today! Thanks!!!
Bob Barker from Northern Earth on November 08, 2010:
This is just what I was looking for! Thanks for much for publishing this! I really appreciate it.
Bobby Francis Joseph on March 24, 2010:
Thanks Patty Hahne. Your article was really helpful in understanding the concept. It could be further improved with help of a diagram explaining the concept. Anyway thanks a lot.
bill on January 06, 2010:
I do not believe they need to know where I am.I guess now days there is no privacy for anyone with a cell phone.America is being more like the KGB use to be.Nose in everybodys business.
