Track Current Location of Mobile

sunit.soni · 2010-04-10T00:23:42+00:00

Is there any way to find the current location of mobile number using Internet? I'm specifically interested in finding out a service that will accept a person's mobile number as input and then perform a search to locate the current location of the mobile on say Google maps. The only way, as far as I know, is to be able to tap into the GPS data of the user. However, the drawback is that there can't be open access to GPS transmitter, receiver data. I'm aware that mobile phone companies do have the facility which determines the exact current location of any connected mobile device depending upon the data collected from the mobile towers the phone is currently connected to. I asked around and found out that if one can locate the unique IP of the phone, then it's possible to determine their coordinates. But this might require the user to have GPRS, EDGE data to be enabled on the user's end. I'd appreciate your inputs.

Track Current Location of Mobile

sunit.soni

Member

Updated: Oct 27, 2024

Views: 1.7K

Is there any way to find the current location of mobile number using Internet? I'm specifically interested in finding out a service that will accept a person's mobile number as input and then perform a search to locate the current location of the mobile on say Google maps. The only way, as far as I know, is to be able to tap into the GPS data of the user.

However, the drawback is that there can't be open access to GPS transmitter, receiver data. I'm aware that mobile phone companies do have the facility which determines the exact current location of any connected mobile device depending upon the data collected from the mobile towers the phone is currently connected to.

I asked around and found out that if one can locate the unique IP of the phone, then it's possible to determine their coordinates. But this might require the user to have GPRS, EDGE data to be enabled on the user's end. I'd appreciate your inputs.

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Manish Goyal

Member • Apr 10, 2010

I don't know about exact location,but if you are user of orkut then there is an application there named 'Mobile tracker' through which you can track someone's location.I hope that may help you

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sunit.soni

Member • Apr 10, 2010

It is not telling the current location anything else. I tried the orkut app, but it doesn't seem to work anymore. Looks like all the users have migrated to FB. Tried searching for a location app on FB as well, but no use. I'm reminded of a feature that mobile companies had launched - track your nearest friend. Now curious to know how that service worked? Did that service require you to have GPS enabled all the time?

Update: I've seen that in the recent times, there are several applications that are GPS enabled and also mashup with Google Maps to allow for real time tracking of current location of mobile. I don't know how it works.

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optimystix

Member • Apr 10, 2010

No one can give you the current location of a mobile number other than agencies authorized by mobile operators and permitted to by TRAI - the telecom regulatory authority of India.

there are some sites like indiatrace[dot]com who will scan the database of mobile subscribers and tell you where it is registered rather than the current location. For eg, my number is registered in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra which falls under the Maharashtra telecom circle but currently am at my home in Mumbai and the trace shows me to be in Maharashtra.

is there any specific reason you want to find the location of a particular mobile ??

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sushant005

Member • Apr 10, 2010

I agree with you,
but in most hollywood movies we have seen that they used to trace the current location of the number by holding the phone for a minute.
for ex in bollywood movie like WEDNESDAY the same is done using the internet.
I want to ask you that whether it is possible or not.

😁

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sushant005

Member • Apr 10, 2010

Can we able to find the exact location of mobile with the help of IP address? I remember a student project in my college that tried to address this issue, but not sure if it was successful.

Update: I'm curious to know how does Ola Cabs and other similar radio taxi service providers offer tracking of the cab? I think they basically track the current location of their driver's mobile. Need some clarity.

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Manish Goyal

Member • Apr 10, 2010

If you have the IMEI number of that mobile of which you want to find the location then you can also ask your service provider to find the current location of your mobile provided your mobile is not in switched off.

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sunit.soni

Member • Apr 10, 2010

Would you please eloborate what is IMEI number of mobile? Also, how can it be used to track where is the mobile currently located? All I know is that the number is unique to every device - but how do we use it to determine the current location of any mobile?

Plus, if I'm not wrong, the IMEI number only works with GSM networks. Is that correct?

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optimystix

Member • Apr 10, 2010

sushant005
Can we able to find the exact location of mobile with the help of IP address?

how is IP address associated with a mobile phone ??

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optimystix

Member • Apr 10, 2010

goyal420
If you have imei no of mobile ,of which you want to find the location

then you can also ask your service provider to find the current location of your mobile provided your mobile

is not in switched off
#-Link-Snipped-#
@ sunit
Imei no is an identification number for a mobile phone somewhat similar to the MAC address of a computer.
read more about it <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">International Mobile Equipment Identity</a>

@goyal and sushant

as I said earlier, location identification with pinpoint accuracy is not possible. even with the tele operators, in the event of a fir and a subsequent complaint, they will look into the system trying to identify the imei and the most they can give you is the cell where the phone is being used currently.

let me give you an example, I stay in Mumbai which called as an operator circle. This Mumbai circle is divided into cells. I specifically stay in Thane and Thane itself must be having several cells as the area is large. My area is Vasant Vihar. So the tele operator will tell me that the phone has been located in Vasant Vihar, Thane.

Now, Vasant Vihar is a huge area in itself with more than 150 multistoried buildings in its vicinity. So it may be having thousands of people in the entire area. How can one detect 1 single person out of so many ??
U get my point ?

incase of a landline , it is easy to pinpoint as the phone's location is fixed and will be found in the tele operator's database. Same for ip tracing of computers too.
But for a mobile phone, it is rather difficult.

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sushant005

Member • Apr 11, 2010

Thank you optimystix.
The link provided by you helped me alot.
One more Question,
Is it possible to change the IMEI number?

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Manish Goyal

Member • Apr 11, 2010

@ sushant nopes.I don't think so

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durga ch

Member • Apr 12, 2010

I think the Base Switching Centre communicating with the mobile user should be capable of computing the position co-ordinates of the mobile user. Say, by calculating how long it took the BSC to send the signalling bit and the time latency after which it received a response. Since mostly the BSC antennas are directional, the co-ordinates can be found.

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sbscetferozpur

Member • Apr 13, 2010

sunit.soni
would you please eloborate what is "imei no of mobile"?
imei no. is the unique id no. of mobile written at back of mobile under the battery...

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Ashraf HZ

Member • Apr 13, 2010

durga
I think the Base Switching Centre communicating with the mobile user should be capable of computing the position co-ordinates of the mobile user. Say, by calculating how long it took the BSC to send the signalling bit and the time latency after which it received a response. Since mostly the BSC antennas are directional, the co-ordinates can be found.
I pondered about that earlier, though accuracy will be degraded due to refraction, deflection or reflection of signals. It'll probably work in more open areas than in buildings, unless intensive sectoring and pico/femtocells are used.

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durga ch

Member • Apr 14, 2010

yes true. The receiver might be clueless how far/long the signalling bit has travelled before it has been received. But, the earliest one received will most probably be a LOS or the one with least propagation length right? or may be, as in GPS satellites, a constellation of BSCs can be used to locate exact location details.

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optimystix

Member • Apr 15, 2010

goyal420
@ sushant nopes.I don't think so
yes goyal, it is very much possible to get your imei number changed on your mobile phone.. as a matter of fact, it costs only ~1100 INR to get it changed. And yes, it is illegal to do so. imei change is mostly done on stolen mobile phones.

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optimystix

Member • Apr 15, 2010

ash
I pondered about that earlier, though accuracy will be degraded due to refraction, deflection or reflection of signals. It'll probably work in more open areas than in buildings, unless intensive sectoring and pico/femtocells are used.
this should work but I believe it won't be reliable in heavily populated areas. Also I think this would work only if the stolen/lost mobile phone still has the original sim and the imei. If someone has changed those then it becomes almost impossible to detect it back. As a counter to this problem, mobile companies have started coming up with some kind of inbuilt transmitter inside the phone which is independent of sim and imei change. Of course it will work as long as people do not find out a way to cut this out again 😛

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Rupam Das

Member • Oct 16, 2011

To learn the exact method visit
How to trace mobile number current location in Indiaurely you will be be dissapointed with the knowledge.

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Nishant T Tomke

Member • Apr 28, 2012

i just want to find the location of a person by his mobile number.....
so can anyone say me how to do that....!
plzzzz its urgent he left his house for long time n i recived a call frm him so i want to find him he is a close friend of mine...plzzzzz HELP ME...!!!!
anyone plzzzz hurry up

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Ankita Katdare

Administrator • Oct 12, 2014

The last time I checked, there was a rather popular article about how we can use Google Latitude service to check a person's exact location. The service has been retired by Google long back and now everything works with integration to Google Plus.

There should've been a fullproof secure solution for this. There are a lot of people who get bullied over the calls. One of my friend's experience was that she submitted her contact number at an expo to subscribe to a service she thought was really useful. Someone with bad intentions noted it down over her shoulders and then harassed her by calling her all the time or by leaving texts. After fighting for it for a while (we don't want to go in the details), she changed her number to get rid of the problem. She wished really badly to track the current location of that number she was receiving calls from. She now regrets not going to the police, but now it's well in the past.

Now there are services such as TrueCaller that give out a person's identity most of the times. Back then, all you could so online was trace the name of the service provider or the service circle from the state that number belonged too.

For those who are worried about their phones getting stolen lost, the best thing to do is noting down the IMEI number. The service providers can track your phone using it.(As someone has rightly pointed out in one of the posts above)

Anyhow, if a solution of #-Link-Snipped-# is brought into operation, its use can be made both for and against you. Even TrueCaller makes me cringe, thinking that there are hundreds out there who can know your name using your number. Is there a solution to this? I am trying to figure out. As of now, I can't think of any.

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Hemraj Bijarniya

Member • Jun 13, 2015

Nishant T Tomke
i just want to find the location of a person by his mobile number.....
so can anyone say me how to do that....!
plzzzz its urgent he left his house for long time n i recived a call frm him so i want to find him he is a close friend of mine...plzzzzz HELP ME...!!!!
Nishant T Tomke
i just want to find the location of a person by his mobile number.....
so can anyone say me how to do that....!
plzzzz its urgent he left his house for long time n i recived a call frm him so i want to find him he is a close friend of mine...plzzzzz HELP ME...!!!!
anyone plzzzz hurry up
anyone plzzzz hurry up
Nishant T Tomke
i just want to find the location of a person by his mobile number.....
so can anyone say me how to do that....!
plzzzz its urgent he left his house for long time n i recived a call frm him so i want to find him he is a close friend of mine...plzzzzz HELP ME...!!!!
anyone plzzzz hurry up
U can use truecaller

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S.j.n.ganesh

Member • Oct 9, 2015

How I trace mobile present location

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Kaustubh Katdare

Administrator • Dec 2, 2015

S.j.n.ganesh
How I trace mobile present location
Please do go through the earlier posts in the discussion. If you do not find what you are looking for, please ask very specific questions.

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Sharfudeen Mohamed Ibrahim

Member • Dec 3, 2015

May you're seeking this? ► "For android, if your android phone was lost with with your gmail account signed in, you may find the location result of your phone by searching on google as Where is my mobile? prefer to google chrome and sign in the same gmail account which is in your lost android"

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Ankita Katdare

Administrator • Dec 6, 2015
I tried using two different services to track the current location of my own mobile number. Not much to my surprise, both the services gave very vague but important details about the ownership of my mobile number. These services definitely are of NO HELP if you are trying to locate your smartphone with the mobile number aka SIM card on it. Because it only returns things like what 'State' that number is registered in.

The two services I used are: FindandTrace and TracePhoneNumber. I somehow feel that the website names are very misleading or misguiding. Hopeful victims of phone stealing immediately get online to do the job of police of searching their phone.

Here's the details that FindandTrace gave me for my own mobile number:
- Telecom Circle or State - the state where I registered my mobile number.
- Network Operator or Service Provider - It returned 'Airtel' - But I have ported my number to another service a couple of years back, but it couldn't trace that.
- Service Type/Signal - In my case GSM.
- Connection Status - Live (Active)
- Owner or Name of Caller - (Hidden)
- Current GPS Location - It says No GPS Apps found. But that's not true. I have atleast 6 apps that need GPS connect to run.
- Website or Social Media that contains this number - It returned 'Twitter' which is true. And it made me uncomfortable, because Twitter is leaking out these details in public.
- Main Language in the Telecom Circle - (It gave the correct regional language)
In case of TracePhoneNumber, the details retrieved were even lesser. Here's what I got -
- My Mobile Number: <the one that I entered in search bar>
- GSM Number available since: <year>
- Network Operator: <again the old one>
- Location: <Correct State in India>
So, I guess the only thing that these services could confirm is whether your phone stealer has left the phone's registration state area - which only can be traced if he keeps the SIM card in the smartphone after stealing (Highly improbable. Thieves are smart.)

Word of Advice:
1. Keep your phone registered with Google Account that let's you trace it immediately.
2. Write down the phone's IMEI number as soon as you purchase it.
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Kaustubh Katdare

Administrator • Jan 23, 2016

Has anyone noticed that OLA cabs allows for real time tracking of the location of the cab? My best guess is that they track the current location of the cab driver's mobile phone. Or do they have separate GPS devices installed in the cab?

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Ankita Katdare

Administrator • Jan 23, 2016

Kaustubh Katdare
OLA cabs allows for real time tracking of the location of the cab
That's an interesting observation to put in this discussion. I checked online and found that Uber and Ola are dependent on the smartphones for tracks. They have exclusively mentioned that - There is no separate GPS device installed in the car except the driver’s smartphone.

For Meru Cabs, it is a different story. They have GPS installed in their cars (only 50% of the cars are owned by Meru, while others are owned by drivers themselves - a shift they had to make to keep up with Ola & Uber). Meru not only uses GPS installed in their cabs to track the location, but also to ensure that the driver isn't speeding.

Another startup that comes next in line is TaxiForSure. They have created their own devices that run 'only' their own app. So, they don't rely on smartphones.

Ola & Uber have mentioned that they will stop receiving tracking information if the driver switches the smartphone off. So, I think they have the smartphone fixed to a holder near the steering wheel. (Not sure about this though!)

Coming back to what this discussion is about - I think it's high time that the police have a mechanism to track and find a smartphone. Once the smartphone steals your phone removes all its apps as well as the SIM card, if you don't know the IMEI number, the police in India really can't help much.

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Ashraf HZ

Member • Jun 12, 2016

Ankita Katdare
Once the smartphone steals your phone
That must be a really advanced smartphone to be able to steal other phones 😁

Well, other than the existing apps our there that allows remote locking & tracking of your phone (if the user enables it), there is no way to "hard" code the tracking feature by default into the phone mainly due to privacy issues.

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