Track Current Location of Mobile

Replies

• 

  Manish Goyal

  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
• 

  sunit.soni

  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.
• 

  optimystix

  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 ??
• 

  sushant005

  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.
  
  
  😁
• 

  sushant005

  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.
• 

  Manish Goyal

  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.
• 

  sunit.soni

  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?
• 

  optimystix

  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 ??
• 

  optimystix

  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 International Mobile Equipment Identity
  
  
  @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.
• 

  sushant005

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

  Manish Goyal

  @ sushant nopes.I don't think so
• 

  durga ch

  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.
• 

  sbscetferozpur

  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...
• 

  Ashraf HZ

  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.
• 

  durga ch

  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.
• 

  optimystix

  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.
• 

  optimystix

  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 😛
• 

  Rupam Das

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

  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
• 

  Ankita Katdare

  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.
• 

  Hemraj Bijarniya

  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
• 

  S.j.n.ganesh

  How I trace mobile present location
• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  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.
• 

  Sharfudeen Mohamed Ibrahim

  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"
• 

  Ankita Katdare

  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:
  • GSM Number available since:
  • Network Operator:
  • Location:

  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.
• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  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?
• 

  Ankita Katdare

  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.
• 

  Ashraf HZ

  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.