Cell phone tracking app?

Only if the phone's Location service is turned on. I keep mine off and only turn it on when I need to use the Nav function.

With that said, the carrier knows your whereabouts (roughly) just because the phone constantly communicates with nearby cell towers, and that's regardless if you use Android or iOS.
But you are not like the other 95% of the population. By default the location services are "on" unless you go in and turn it off.
and we all know, the general population has no clue at all about this and all the information they leak.

Big difference between "roughly" and if I was in Best Buy at 1PM yesterday. Also available to anyone who hacks, steals or knows the gmail account and password to the phone, its that simple.

BTW- my post was to help the OP, telling him, who wants to know his kids whereabouts that if he sets up the phone with his gmail account or an account he sets up with the phone, he can go into the gmail account from any computer in the world at ANY time and know where the kids are and were by time, date, year. Its all free.
He can not go to his cell phone company for this information.
 
Last edited:
BTW- my post was to help the OP, telling him, who wants to know his kids whereabouts that if he sets up the phone with his gmail account or an account he sets up with the phone, he can go into the gmail account from any computer in the world at ANY time and know where the kids are and were by time, date, year. Its all free.
He can not go to his cell phone company for this information.
But you made it sound like this was only applicable to Android. Wouldn't it work exactly the same way if OP set up a gmail account on an Apple phone? Doesn't "the other 95% of the population" have their location services turned on on their Apple phones as well?

Just asking. I don't know a whole lot about Apple/iOS.
 
But you made it sound like this was only applicable to Android. Wouldn't it work exactly the same way if OP set up a gmail account on an Apple phone? Doesn't "the other 95% of the population" have their location services turned on on their Apple phones as well?

Just asking. I don't know a whole lot about Apple/iOS.
You can not have an Android phone without setting up a gmail account, at that time google starts automatically storing and mapping every single place the phone goes by time, date and year unless you know enough to go into the settings and turn it off.

Good question on the Apple iPhone. I bought a Mac mini in Sept of 2019 andI started using as iPhone in Dec 2019 for the whole privacy thing and got completely off googles system and done with Android for good.
Im trying to remember well enough to answer your question honestly and not sure if I can unless I look further into it. Like you I am aware of the privacy settings for both formats and grabbing at straws to remember back when I started up my iPhone for the first time.

With that said I am almost certain that every step of the way Apple asks you if you want too allow access ect ect ... and its amazingly simple (for those who care too) go into my privacy settings and select allowing access to location on any application. Apple gives you 3 choices, NEVER, ALWAYS and ONLY WHEN USING THE APP. Which also impressed me.

Either way you are not forced to sign up with a Apple email (iCloud) address but yes you do set up an account with any email that you want which is super nice as my phone and my apple desktop are sync'd in the cloud, as well as backed up should anything happen to them. One other feature I LOVE is as soon as I take photos with my phone they are sync'd to my desktop Mac mini within a few minutes.
Of course if you elect gmail on your iPhone I would assume gmail will store everyplace you go, I cant answer for that because I would never have a gmail account on an iPhone.

*L* Tried to answer this as honestly as possible and from memory when I first set up my iPhone, I do remember mentioning and showing my wife how impressed I was with the questions regarding my privacy coming from the device, will even warn you if an app is using your location.

Background = been using cell phones since 2001 (or sooner) as years moved on as much as 5 phones on my plan as more years moved on always Android family, then I started understanding this whole google corporation, using our data to sell us products, other apps selling my privacy, ect. I moved onto Apple world. My wife, kids still on Android and Windows but in time, that will be changed for my wife, kids are now out in the world, no longer living at home.

Here is another honest statement. I am sooooo impressed (keeping in mind Apple is a corporation) with Apples philosophy on privacy. It really is their company culture. No one can deny that (even though I am sure this post will generate a bunch of nasty responses)

Apple is always in the news over privacy and what they do, the latest is they created a major headache for apps that generate add revenue, Facebook to take a big hit because Apple will end the ability for them and everyone else to use your data for ads. Apple has delayed this implementation until next year to give companies time to adjust, but either way, the company culture is privacy and with Android, its the Wild West. Though, google feeling the pressure and is starting to make some things easier, we all know the population in general does nothing.
Also anything personal such as facial recognition ect on your iPhone is encrypted on your phone and apple has no access to it.

Ive posted this link many times, I dont know if you saw it. Others again, will deny, trash, argue against Apple but, think you can agree, that is why 95 percent of the population gives away their data and why the top 5% do not... Fantastic speech to watch and people will discount it, but I ignore them as this company is one of the most successful in the history of mankind and here their CEO is WARNING people but it falls on deaf ears for 95% .. until one day ... then, you know, they will blame someone...like a politician. *L*(
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/24/18017842/tim-cook-data-privacy-laws-us-speech-brussels

Wow, long post, and lets face it, all companies in business to make money, just feel as a people to many of us, like 95% could care less about our privacy, blows my mind. But what bothers me the most, is the same people trash the 100's of billions these companies make. But they are making this money by using your data for free. Maybe better said, you give them permission to use your data and they give you free operating systems and free apps.
I rather pay as they benefit far more then the app is worth.
 
Last edited:
With that said I am almost certain that every step of the way Apple asks you if you want too allow access ect ect ... and its amazingly simple (for those who care too) go into my privacy settings and select allowing access to location on any application. Apple gives you 3 choices, NEVER, ALWAYS and ONLY WHEN USING THE APP. Which also impressed me.
Not sure when was the last time you used an Android phone, but Android works the same way.

Anyway, we are far off from the OP's original question, which was not related to location tracking.
 
Not sure when was the last time you used an Android phone, but Android works the same way.

Anyway, we are far off from the OP's original question, which was not related to location tracking.
Know Android very well better then 95% of the population *LOL* most do not know there is a map location tracking that they can turn off of anyplace their phone has traveled by date, time, location year that anyone can access if they have or gain access to the email.
Yes, some others will know about turning it off for apps completely forgetting that google is mapping their every move.
But yes, off the op's thread as far as privacy.

My post is right on target as far as the OP on location tracking.
With his kids Android phones he does not need a separate app to know here his kids are going and where they have been. All he needs to have done is set up their phones with a gmail account that he keeps access too and he will know every single place that phone ever goes, by date, time and year.
 
Last edited:
But yes, off the op's thread as far as privacy but my post is right on target as far as location tracking which he was curious about for his kids.

With his kids Android phones he does not need a separate app to know here his kids are going and where they have been. All he needs to have done is set up their phones with a gmail account that he keeps access too and he will know every single place that phone ever goes, by date, time and year.
OP's post was not about location tracking - he's already doing that part. OP's post was about tracking activity - what the kid is doing with his phone - what sites he's visiting, etc.
 
Hope no one minds an actual answer to the question.

All the apps I've tried have major flaws. Right now I'm trying Norton Family and it seems to be the most robust and functional. It does have an annual fee but you get 180 days free. It offers all the basic monitoring plus location. The website is horrible but the app works good.
 
At some point in the near future you won't know where your kid is or what he's doing.

Perhaps a good compromise is, now, knowing where he is, and what he feels like talking to you about what he's doing.

As to the question, my wife uses life360 to track our kids' whereabouts. It's nice because she gets a "ding" when they arrive at prearranged GPS coordinates/ wifi hot spots like school or home. Our kids signed a "contract", more a memorandum of understanding, when they got their phones but we haven't ever "cashed in" our rights to search the things. That's akin to breaking into a diary, and disrespectful of the agency of the humans we're trying to be good examples for.
 
IN the Apple world you can do about anything. Mac mini at home, kids get iPhones, you set up the phones with a user name and password.
That account stay sync'd with that user name, you can then access their activity on the Mac mini at home, as well as limit what sites they can go to on their phones, as well as set the time of day they can go on websites ex. do not allow access from 10pm at night until 10am ... research and you will be amazed what you can to.
 
Back
Top