How To Use GPS to Track a Cell Phone

Technology advances means it is getting more and more difficult to keep our privacy. Getting "lost" in the world is becoming an artform that is in the realm of only the most highly informed. One technology advancement that has truly created a loss of privacy is the ability to track individuals through the GPS tracking technology found in almost all new cell phones today. Because of the pervasiveness of cell phones, it is almost too easy to track someone's movements and location.

Almost all new cell phones manufactured today have built in GPS functionality. The GPS feature works automatically whenever the cell phone is turned on. Most people have their cellular phones turned on all the time so they can receive calls so as a result, the cell phone will also have it's GPS turned on as well. Even if the user only turns on their cell phone for a few minutes at a time to make calls, someone who has already set up that cell phone number to track, will be able to get their whereabouts during that time the phone is on.

So how can you track someone?

A GPS locator service allows you to physically locate any GPS enabled cell phone that has been verified, which requires you to have it in your physical possession at least once. Once you have subscribed to that service, you can log in and track their movements as they go about town. Tracking them in this way is very similar to taking a GPS tracking device, and installing it clandestinely in someone's car. Since most people don't think of their cell phone as something that someone can track them through, it is a more clandestine approach. You can actually give the person you want to track a new phone, and most of the time, they won't be the wiser that their movements are being tracked. The cell phone can also be planted in their vehicle without their knowledge, just like a GPS tracking device. If you know how to connect the cell phone to the car battery, you don't have to remove it from the vehicle every 2 or 3 days to recharge it.

This raises huge privacy issues, and in some locations may be illegal to do this, however it is currently difficult to regulate this kind of activity. This activity can also raise safety issues as ex-husbands have been caught tracking their unknowing ex-wives by using this technique. Most people are not technologically savvy and would have a difficult time knowing where to look for a hidden cell phone in their vehicle. One woman got suspicious and took her car to the police where they did find a GPS enabled cell phone connected to the car battery.

It is very easy to track someone with a cell phone. Most mobile phone companies will soon begin to offer these tracking services as an add-on to their service plan. For those that don't yet have it, you can use third party locator services to use GPS to track cell phone. There are a few third party services out there that may have the features most trackers, both innocent and clandestine, are looking for.