How accurately can a cell phone be tracked?


Qualified services may achieve a precision of down to 50 meters in urban areas where mobile traffic and density of antenna towers (base stations) is sufficiently high. Rural and desolate areas may see miles between base stations and therefore determine locations less precisely.

Can a cell phone be traced to an exact location?

The only way you can trace the location of a mobile phone is by installing software onto that phone and using it. The phone owner must give the software permission to utilize the location services on the phone.

How accurate is GPS location on a cell phone?

For example, GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 4.9 m (16 ft.) radius under open sky (view source at ION.org). However, their accuracy worsens near buildings, bridges, and trees. High-end users boost GPS accuracy with dual-frequency receivers and/or augmentation systems.

Does cell phone tracking really work?

Answer: Yes, it is entirely possible to see someone's text messages without their phone with a spy app that comes with an SMS tracking feature. The app will relay SMSs being received on the target phone to your device so you can monitor and read them in real-time. Such apps can also track call-logs as well.

What stops a phone from being tracked?

Go to Settings > Location, and toggle the location button to Off. That will turn off all location tracking on an Android. You can manage location tracking permissions for specific apps by tapping Location services in your location settings (see the screenshot above).

Can I be tracked if my phone is off?

Moreover, phone location can be tracked using cellular data by a method called triangulation of signals. So, yes, your phone can still be tracked if location services are turned off, assuming other things are still ON.

Can police track your phone if its off?

Once they have a warrant, the police can access a phone's GPS data through a cell provider and view its current or last known location. Police and cell providers can track any phone that is connected to a cellular network in real time unless the phone is dead or turned off.

How accurate is location tracking?

Ultimately, most GPS tracking devices are accurate to within three meters, allowing users to have fairly accurate location information. While operating in low-accuracy areas can negatively affect your results, GPS tracking technology has evolved to ensure stronger signals and greater accuracy.

How accurate is someone's location?

According to the FCC, cellular triangulation is accurate within 3/4ths of a square mile. However, in densely populated areas where there are more cell phone towers present, field tests show that cellular triangulation is typically accurate within 150 to 300 meters.

How accurate is find my device location?

What does *# 62 do?

*#62# – With this, you can know if any of your calls – voice, data, fax, SMS etc, has been forwarded or diverted without your knowledge.

What does ## 002 do to your phone?

Lastly, with the *#002# settings interrogation short code, you can see all forms of call forwarding on your line. If everything says “Disabled,” you have nothing to worry about. If there are numbers listed, they could be put there by someone else, or they could be the number for your voicemail box.

Can someone track my phone by texting me?

Few people know, however, that phones can be tracked using little more than a text message. A Short Message Type 0, also known as a silent SMS, is used for the purpose, and these have been around for years.

How can I find someone's location by their mobile number?

How to Track Someone's Location by Phone Number Using mSpy. mSpy is a GPS tracker that allows you to remotely track any user's phone activity. You can get a very accurate current location and detailed route history. It is a powerful tool that can track social media accounts, messages, multimedia, and much more.

Can you track a cell phone on Google Maps?

First, if you have their phone number and they have an Android phone, you can use the “Find my device” feature built into Google Maps. This will allow you to see their current location and any past locations they've been to. Another method is to use Google's “Location History” feature.

How can I find someone's location using their cell phone number?

Google Maps lets you track someone's location using their phone number provided that person shared their location with you. You need that person's specific permission to track their location, otherwise, the feature won't work.

Can someone find your address from your phone number?

Doxxing can be incredibly easy — so easy that anyone, not just malicious hackers, can do it. Reverse phone number lookup services let someone type in your phone number and find your real name and physical address.

How does law enforcement track cell phones?

Geofence warrants, which tap into GPS and other sources to track a device, are accessed by obtaining such data from companies, like Google or Apple. This requires police to obtain a warrant and ask the tech companies for the specific data they want, which can take days or weeks.

How long do you have to be on the phone to be tracked?

As soon as a call is made on a landline, the phone company can track and trace it immediately. This has been the case since the mid-1980s, when the introduction of electronic switching systems replaced automatic electro-mechanical switching systems, such as the crossbar-switching system.

How far can a tracking device work?

Can GPS tracking be wrong?

Absolutely, but we can show you how to check and confirm that you are seeing correct location data. GPS Tracking Devices transmit their location to a GPS Tracking server every couple of minutes. Included in the data are three items that will help you determine if your GPS Tracker is wrong.

How can I find someone's exact location by their IP address?

From there, you can try using other online tools to find the owner of the IP address. However, note that you can't find someone's exact location by IP address. You can use an IP to map out the city, state, or country an IP address comes from, but you won't be able to track someone down from their IP alone.

How accurate is the location on Find My iPhone?

The accuracy of Find my iPhone will depend on a number of factors including interference, the GPS signal and whether Wifi is turned on. The size of the green circle around your phone's location will give you an indication as to how accurate that information is.

How accurate is the GPS on an iPhone?

On paper, the result is that the new iPhones are capable of GPS accuracies on a centimetre level, compared to up to 5 meters from a traditional single-frequency GPS.

Can you track a phone without an app?

To use Android Device Manager to track a cell phone location without installing software, follow these steps: Go to the Android Device Manager website. Sign in with your Google credentials. Select the Android device you want to track from the list of devices associated with your account.

What does * 57 do on a cell phone?

Malicious caller identification, introduced in 1992 as Call Trace, is activated by Vertical service code Star codes *57, and is an upcharge fee subscription service offered by telephone company providers which, when dialed immediately after a malicious call, records meta-data for police follow-up.