The advent of smartphones has facilitated mutual information exchanges between people and has kept in touch with your loved ones at anywhere and anytime. However, the openness of the Internet and the wide application of smartphones have contributed to another troublesome situation-privacy concern. Yes, our cell phones or we need to say, many parties are accessing our personal information including our current phone location. The problem has been one of the eye-cathching topics in the modern era. Therefore, today, let’s have a closer look at the topic.
Can Anyone track my phone location?
Back in the past, when asked the question, the answer to the question can be definitive-Yes, the government can surely have the capacity of tracking phone location for safety concerns. However, the accessibility to location data has been delegated to the general public, for the wide application of GPS positioning technology. Therefore, many parties aside from the government can find out ways to track the current location of a cell phone. The next part will uncover the truth for you. Just Keep swiping your screen!
Who can track my phone location?
In this part, you will get a general picture of the”eyes” that are viewing your phone location.
How does the cell phone service provider track your current location by phone?
If you have ever used Sprint Family Locator, you must be amazed at the wonderfulness of its capacity of tracking phone location. Well, apparently, major carriers like AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile all track down your current location by phone number. However, a horrible fact might hit you hard: The cellular service providers might sell valuable location data to the wrong people for profits. According to the research released last year, the carriers have come under scrutiny for allegedly leaking customer information for profits.
Even worse, it isn’t a new problem! The New York Times reported the news as early as May 2018. The farce was settled until T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere delivered his promise to improve the data protection service and not to sell customer location data to the shady middleman. Fortunately, firm pledges to improve location data security are followed then. (Note: AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile all promised to stop selling location data to aggregators in 2019).
How does the government track the current phone location?
GPS positioning technology has firstly come up for military purposes. Therefore, it is not strange the government can acquire your phone location. One way for the government to access your current phone location is to seek help from your cellular company. The government should get a warrant from the court if it wants to get location information from your cellular company. Of course, the government has more than a sole way to get your location informatiom. Another trick they can use to pinpoint your location is to deploy stringray devices near you. Your cell phone will make connection with the stringray, thus exposing your exact phone location. This can be more accurate and useful, for it can track your phone location even if you have gotten the location service on your cell phone disabled.
How can the advertisers get your phone location?
Are you still surprised at the targeted advertisement recommeneded to you when you are in a new city? How charming your smartphone is! It is just presenting what you need at the right moment! Wait! You might get the information at the cost of privacy. The app you install on your smartphone might expose your location information to the ads, making them keep tabs on your movements at anytime. Take a typical example, the weather app can show your the weather in your city once your have given it the permission to location data. Another example is that the social media you are commonly communicate with your friends and family might also collect your personal data including location data. Facebook has provided with advertisers with your data to better the target ads. Therefore, these third-parites apps are possibly sell or leak location information to the advertisers without letting you know!
How can your family find the current location of a cell phone?
Gone are days when only the government was the exclusive one to track a cell phone in real time. Along with the wide use of GPS receivers on smartphones, GPS phone number trackers enable you connect with your loved ones through real-time location tracking. It can be easy for you family to track phone location. Native phone locator like Find My can let your family see your real-time phone location once you have accepted their location requests. Phone number trackers allow you to track a cell phone by number without any delay. Family location tracking apps are claiming that they can more than tracking phone location. In addition, they can let you receive the SOS alert from your family, which helps you safeguard your family offline and online.
Can anyone still track my location if I turn off the location service?
Since people are tending to charge location service of violating privacy, turning off the location service is becoming a more and more common practice for the general public. Can it really get location tracking on your cell phone quitted? Actually, in most circumstances, it has parelyzed some location tracking services. However, in some cases, it might not enough. For example, when you cell phone has a spyware, the program will still work even if you have turned off your location services. At the moment, if you really be averse to location services, you might need to turn on the airplace mode, or turn off your cell phone.
Wrapped up:
Every coin has two sides. There is no exception for location tracking services. Although it has connected to the ethical and privacy issues, it sometimes can be lifesaver. Our family or the police can save us through getting the exact location of us. Therefore, we need to look at the questions through different angles. If you want to receive the best hand-picked content, just follow our blog!