topic Re: Locate a phone via gps in Get Support

Locate a phone via gps

Jstermscheg — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 11:59:16 GMT

A family member is missing. How can I track their phone's location via gps? Can anyone from public mobile provide this information??

Re: Locate a phone via gps

RobertQc — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:05:18 GMT

@Jstermscheg wrote:
A family member is missing. How can I track their phone's location via gps? Can anyone from public mobile provide this information??

If you want to contact public mobile Click this to send them a message.

Your best action is going to be to contact the police first, there would be a lot of privacy concerns for public mobile to give out customer location even if you are "family" (I don't know alot about this, but even if they have location on- pretty sure public mobile doesn't even have the GPS location, they may be able to triangulate based on nearby towers?)

Re: Locate a phone via gps

Alex888 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:08:47 GMT

@Jstermscheg Unfortunately unless you have a tracker setup in advance it can be hard to do on your own, you should contact the police. If the person who is missing happens to have a Samsung and you can find/guess their Samsung login they have an online tracker that's supposed to be to find lost phones.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

Karnbot13 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 10:59:06 GMT

Android has a find my phone option but again, you'd need access to the Google account that the phone is registered under

Re: Locate a phone via gps

will13am — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 11:38:49 GMT

@Jstermscheg , as mentioned if you have installed a phone locator service then you can track your phone before the battery runs out. For example, this is the google edition. This is the apk.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.adm&hl=en_CA

This is the site used to track the phone.

https://myaccount.google.com/intro/find-your-phone

Personally, I have a system where every phone has same google account added so that from one login, I can check the whereabouts of every device. I am the NSA of the family.

As for the suggestion of calling the police for a lost phone, I think that is a bad idea. Police don't care about lost or stolen phones. There are so many instances of this daily that if they did take any kind of action, they would be doing nothing else. Don't waste valuable public resources. Public shaming for anyone suggesting this.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

Alex888 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 11:54:07 GMT

@will13amCalling the police wasn't to find a missing phone, Jstermscheg started the post saying that a family member was missing and wanted to use their phone to track them.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

will13am — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 12:59:55 GMT

@Alex888, the discussion here is about finding the phone. I certainly hope people are not coming here first to find missing persons.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 13:15:20 GMT

While I would be wary of people wanting to find someone to begin with (stalker, abusive spouse, witness)...if for real then certainly call the police. The idea of finding the phone is to aid in the actual finding of the person. People with phones generally have them on their person. Ergo...

I see the ideas in this thread as inter-related.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

ApatheticFloW — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:46:44 GMT

@will13am Sorry but your mistaken the discussion here is about finding a missing family member and for that if it's been more then 24 hrs I'd call the cops.

It doesn't have to be over 24 hrs mind you but that's the general rule. If you think foul play or something bad happened I wouldn't hesitate to calm the authorities.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

ApatheticFloW — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:55:27 GMT

Can a mod delete my second post I made by accident. Thx

Edited by stonechucker

Re: Locate a phone via gps

computergeek541 — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:49:31 GMT

@Jstermscheg wrote:
A family member is missing. How can I track their phone's location via gps? Can anyone from public mobile provide this information??

Public Mobile isn't going to turn this information over to you. You would have to get law enforcement involved, which if someone is missing, should have already been done.

If it's and Android phone, do you know ther person's Google account login and password?

Re: Locate a phone via gps

srlawren — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 17:47:21 GMT

@will13am wrote:

Personally, I have a system where every phone has same google account added so that from one login, I can check the whereabouts of every device. I am the NSA of the family.

@will13am this is a really good idea! When my uncle had his phone stolen last year I was trying to get into his account through Find My Phone (I know his Gmail password as I set everything up for him -- I'm also the family's tech guy) but I couldn't get past the validation step. If I'd had my own account also on the phone that would alleviate that wouldn't it! I'm going to do that with his replacement phone and my mom's phone, great idea! I'll of course get their permission first.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

stonechucker — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 18:19:13 GMT

I'm going to remember that, just in case I ever need to support someone more directly in the future on this type of thing.

Thanks for the tip @will13am !

Re: Locate a phone via gps

kav2001c — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:16:52 GMT

@Jstermscheg

You can't track a phone via GPS

You can only track the phone via software which already needs to be installed (and you need to know passwords for)

Apple, Android, Samsung, Blackberry etc all have their own apps/websites

If someone is legit missing this is the wrong place to be posting

@ApatheticFloW

The 24HR rule is a total myth

You can go to police right away, within same hour

Missing persons is a subset of the homicide division so they take that VERY seriously

@will13am

Family sharing does same thing, plus has advantage that it IDs each person

Plus less messy than using same account in case things like emails or purchases are made, or photos are taken

Re: Locate a phone via gps

Jstermscheg — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:23:59 GMT

@will13am @You sir are unbelievably ignorant and callouse. Mr. "Nsa"....what a joke. I know for a fact using gps cell phone location is a part of missing person protocol. Of course the police have been contacted, as well as every state police and county along their route, credit card usage etc etc. Wouldnt you use every available avenue to you to find a loved one? You sir are what is wrong with the world

Re: Locate a phone via gps

will13am — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:29:13 GMT

@kav2001c wrote:
@Jstermscheg
You can't track a phone via GPS
You can only track the phone via software which already needs to be installed (and you need to know passwords for)
Apple, Android, Samsung, Blackberry etc all have their own apps/websites

If someone is legit missing this is the wrong place to be posting

@ApatheticFloW
The 24HR rule is a total myth
You can go to police right away, within same hour
Missing persons is a subset of the homicide division so they take that VERY seriously

@will13am
Family sharing does same thing, plus has advantage that it IDs each person
Plus less messy than using same account in case things like emails or purchases are made, or photos are taken

The shared google account that I use for device location is also used to purchases general use app that will be installed on every phone like nova launcher as an example. The user specific google account can be use for functions like google voice, email, photos, additional user apps, etc. There is a bit of method to my madness.

Re: Locate a phone via gps

BEER — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 18:35:52 GMT

I am sceptical that just perhaps this family person or not wants to get away and stay missing from the poster. I would not give this person any help because the most obviously reasonable first thing to do is report the missing person to the police.