Application for tracking phone location. How to find a lost Android phone: all the methods and recommendations. GPS tracking app Pro

How to find a switched off phone: by number, by IMEI, by SIM card, by GPS

Modern methods of searching for lost and stolen mobile phones significantly help their owners and restore faith in God, in people and in our valiant police. In a situation where your phone is stolen or lost, you can act in different ways.

You can try find phone number.
You can track the movement of your gadget through the Internet.
Find phone ByIMEI.
Contact your mobile operator and try to find your lost or stolen gadget BySIM-map.

How to find a phone number?

This type of search requires that the phone be connected to special service for tracking mobile devices. This method will be effective if your phone is in good hands and has not been used by scammers.

How to find a lost phone by IMEI?

In order to find a phone in this way, you need to know this one IMEI. These treasured 15 digits, firstly, are unique for each gadget. And secondly, they are written on the phone packaging. If you threw away the box a long time ago (which you shouldn’t have done), make sure in advance that the IMEI is written down somewhere under “Important information”. Don't write it down on your phone because you might lose it.

How to find out the IMEI of your phone?

Type in your device combination *#06#, and you will receive the necessary information about IMEI. Namely, 15 unique numbers for each SIM card.
IMEI also located under the phone battery, next to the serial number.
As we have already said, you should not throw away the box; the IMEI is also there.
We advise keep the warranty card to your phone.
Further, when you have found your IMEI, the procedure is as follows:

It is worth considering that you should search for a mobile phone using this method if you are absolutely sure that the phone has disappeared outside your home or apartment. If police find a device in your home, they may be fined for false appeal.

Also do not try to search for your phone using all kinds of services and sites, who will allegedly find your phone by IMEI for a fee. Firstly, it is not effective, and secondly, it is expensive.

Remember, you can find your lost favorite gadget via Google account, for example, or using special applications that should be installed on your phone in advance. There are also special service sites that only collect information about IMEI, however, they do not perform any search. You can enter your phone code into the database and then, perhaps, someone will respond and return your cell phone friend for a reward.

How to find a mobile phone using GPS?

This function is available for iPhone brand phones. For example, if you have lost your old but beloved iPhone 5, you can reunite with your friend, if a special search program and a GPS receiver are installed on it. This way you can track the location of your mobile on the street.

If you have a phone of a different brand, for example Samsung, you can contact your mobile phone company and the operator will search for your phone using the GPS system. This will be done using a signal on the SIM card when the phone is turned on, as well as when it is turned off. Contact the office of the operator company, providing the number of the lost phone, its IMEI and an agreement to receive a SIM card.

How to find a lost Android phone through a computer?

We told you about the most popular and most effective ways to search for a mobile phone. It remains to figure out how to find a lost Android phone through a computer, because this operating system is also equipped with a convenient search service.

You will need very few conditions:

Google account;
Naturally, access to a computer and the Internet;
special free program Android Device Manager.

Undoubtedly you need to take care of installing the service in advance so that you have the ability to remotely access your phone if it is lost. If you are wondering whether it is possible to install this program if a child is using the phone, then our answer is not only possible, but also necessary. After all, kids often lose gadgets. Moreover, a minimum of actions must be performed.

Let's go to Phone settings.
We find Security section.
We see the item Device Administrators.
Put a tick next to the option "Remote control of Android."

If you have lost your phone with the search program installed, you must ensure that the phone itself is turned on. Also on it must have internet access or working Wi-Fi. Geolocation must be active on your phone, and your Google account must be activated.
If all these conditions are met, you will be able to track the location of your phone through your Google account on the map. You can also call your phone from your computer, block it or erase all data so that it does not fall into the hands of criminals.

Unfortunately, children do not appreciate the care that their parents give them - and therefore sometimes they do not even bother to warn them that they are late in school or in the sports section. In such a situation, parents have to bite their nails and worry that nothing will happen to their child.

However, there is a way to avoid such worries: just use one of the applications for tracking children, available in huge numbers both on Google Play and in the AppStore.

Price: Free

The name of this application perfectly describes the essence of its work. With this program you can monitor the whereabouts of your child. Whether he stayed late visiting his friends, whether he is still in the section - you will definitely still be there before your son or daughter calls. In a special section it is possible to outline geofences. If your child goes beyond their limits, a Push notification will be sent to your smartphone. The developers also have a bot in Telegram, which also notifies about such events - you just need to remember to subscribe to it.

With KidControl, you can use not only the GPS chip built into your child’s smartphone. This application even allows you to monitor your battery status. If a child declares that his smartphone is good for nothing, running out of charge in three hours, then you can always check his words remotely. Another important function is the SOS signal. If you click on the appropriate button, all parents and relatives connected to the service will receive a signal for help. At the same time, it immediately becomes clear where exactly the person who gave the alarm is located - his location is displayed on the map.

The program can be downloaded on both Android and iOS. It is very convenient, because with its help you can monitor not only children, but also all other family members - for example, elderly relatives. If only a person has a smartphone on which the service client is installed.

"Where are My Children"

Price: Free

Program " Where are my children» takes control not only of the child’s location, but also the battery level of his smartphone - as soon as the battery charge is low, the parent will receive an alert about this.

What else can the application do? Where are my children»?

Wiretapping. This is a unique feature that no other similar program can boast of. The app allows a parent to listen to and record the sound around a child's phone - without the child's knowledge. The function is especially important for those users whose children are in troubled adolescence.
Setting up movement zones. This feature is not unique, but that does not reduce its value. The parent defines an area within which the child can move freely. As soon as the child leaves the area, the parent is notified.
Saving movement history. The program stores information about where the baby has been over the last 2 days and provides it to the parent upon request. After analyzing this information, the parent can conclude where the child prefers to “hang out” and with whom he spends most of his time.

Application " Where are my children" has two modes - " Parent" And " Child", so the user should not have a question about how to configure the program. Parental mode allows you to monitor your baby through the phone, “ Child” is necessary only to confirm the observation.

Price: Free

The "" application cannot boast of innovation, but it perfectly performs the very function for which it was installed - control over the child's movements. In addition, the program is able to ensure that the baby does not leave the geofences defined by the parent, and stores data about all the baby’s movements for a month.

The "" application has a number of advantages over its analogues:

Cross-platform. The program can be downloaded not only to an iPhone or a gadget running Android, but also to a mobile device running Windows OS.
Simplicity. It won’t take much time to understand the interface - it is perfectly Russified.
Economical. The application is completely free, and in addition, consumes Internet traffic to a minimum. This means that its use will definitely not lead to waste of money from your mobile phone account.

There is an important point regarding installing the tracker: Different applications must be downloaded to the parent's and child's phones. The parent should set "" and the child should set " Mom knows: GPS beacon" The applications form a bundle, as a result of which the parent’s phone will receive information about the child’s location in real time.

"Lighthouse"

Price: Free +

Like "", application " Lighthouse» will not surprise the user with functional delights, but will delight the user with the brilliant execution of the design idea. Among all the programs designed to monitor the location of children, this one has perhaps the most beautiful (and at the same time laconic) interface.

Application functionality " Lighthouse» allows parents:

Be sure that their child has arrived at the designated place (school, sports section).
Instantly receive information about the baby's current location.
Monitor the charge level on your child’s smartphone.
Analyze the history of the baby's movements.
Receive alarm calls - the child just needs to press the " Anxiety”, and a message about possible danger and an address where the baby can be found will appear on the screen of the parent’s smartphone.

At the application " Lighthouse"There is a significant disadvantage: it is free only for 2 weeks. To continue using it after this period, you need to pay from 169 to 229 rubles, depending on the gadget’s operating system.

Life360 – “Family Locator”

Price: Free

Creator Life360 Chris Hulls doesn't like it when his brainchild is called a tracking app - the entrepreneur insists that he developed a social network for communication within the family. Family members using Life360, can learn about each other's location, but only with mutual approval.

In terms of functionality, the application Life360 has gone far ahead of all competitors and at the same time continues to improve. Here's what the program can do now:

Thanks to the " Already home» Life360 warns that one of the family members is approaching the house. A user who is waiting for his wife to come home from work will have a few minutes to do a little cleaning and prepare a light dinner.
Built-in group chat Family Channel allows family members to communicate with each other completely free of charge and successfully replaces the SMS service and popular instant messengers.
Application Life360 includes the function " Panic"- analogue of a panic button. If you use this function, the entire family will be notified within a few seconds that one of its members has a problem. The important thing is that the functionality of the function " Panic“does not depend on the state of the mobile balance - you can “raise the alarm” even with zero in your account.
The program is able to quickly inform users about the nearest places where they can get help in emergency situations - hospitals, police stations. Actually, it was precisely this function that the developers intended as the main one - when Hulls “and his comrades” wanted to provide victims of Hurricane Katrina with a more effective platform for communication than that offered by the US Government.

Application Life360 is shareware - the full version can be purchased for $5 per month. However, domestic users do not need to do this: most of the paid functions Life360 works only in the USA.

How to monitor children on the phone using operator services?

If a parent does not have a smartphone and cannot install one of the applications described above, they should resort to an alternative - connect a mobile option for remote child care. Top 4 operators offer the following options:

“Child under supervision” (MTS). The service allows you to find out about the approximate location of the baby through SMS requests. The service costs 100 rubles per month - plus 5 rubles will be debited per request if one subscriber controls more than 3 people.
"Radar +" (Megafon). The option allows the parent to track the child’s movements and also informs him when the child leaves the specified geofence. Price " Radar +"- 7 rubles per day.
"Coordinates" (Beeline). The Beeline service gives the user the opportunity to find out the location of another subscriber - who has previously agreed to be controlled. Option " Coordinates“Quite cheap, and in the first week it’s completely free. After the test period, the subscriber will have to pay 1.7 rubles per day.
"Geosearch" (Tele2). The option allows you to monitor the location and movements of another subscriber around the clock - of course, if this subscriber approves the “surveillance”. Connection " Geosearch» free, the subscription fee for using the service is 2 rubles per day.

Locator services are offered by all operators, but smartphone users are still advised to abandon these options in favor of third-party mobile applications. There are a number of reasons for this: Firstly, the data provided by operators is very, very approximate (because it depends on network coverage), Secondly, the providers’ services are paid (while, for example, the “” application does not require money at all), Thirdly For tracking to be feasible, both phones (parent and child) must be connected to the same operator - and this is not always convenient.

Conclusion

Muscovites should not be faced with questions about how to track a child by phone and which application to use for this - residents of the capital should definitely prefer Kid Radar. This program gives parents the opportunity to stay informed not only of their baby’s movements, but also of their academic progress – thanks to the innovative “ Electronic diary».

The provincial user is recommended to track the child through the phone using the application " Where are my children", which has very extensive functionality. Among other things, the program allows listen, what is happening around the child, and even record sound remotely. However, abuse this The function is still not worth it: if peers find out that their classmate is carrying a “bug” with him, they will simply stop communicating with him.

Are you interested in the question of how to find a person using a navigator or mobile phone? It's pretty simple. This article will be about exactly that.

The easiest way to search for a person is by their mobile phone number. This will give you the opportunity to determine its location. In this case, his consent is mandatory, otherwise his location cannot be determined. Although on many sites you can find information that, for a fee, they will help you find people using a navigator. In fact, this is a scam; no site, for any money, can provide you with this service.

In most cases, to find a person using a navigator, you need to have a mobile phone, and in some cases you will need access to the Internet.

A communication service such as a navigator will allow you to find a person knowing only his phone number. The speed of such a search and its accuracy completely depend on the network signal. On average, by activating the navigator service, you can receive information whose error can range from two hundred meters to one kilometer. You can receive this service if you activate it by sending a request *140#. Then you receive a password that is used to log into the site.

The next step is to enter the numbers of the people whose location you want to determine. As a rule, these phone numbers receive a request that requires confirmation of the subscriber’s consent to search for it. If the subscriber agrees and confirms this, then you can easily see the location of the phone and, accordingly, its owner on the map.

In addition to this option, you can use the mobile version of the navigator, or find the person you need using SMS requests. The navigator has the following capabilities: it helps in drawing up routes, searching for various objects (pharmacies, hospitals, restaurants, cafes, ATMs), as well as providing information about what time a person left or entered a certain area.

Typically, this type of service is provided free of charge for two weeks after its activation, and then a subscription fee in the established amount for using this service may be automatically charged.

If searching using a navigator is not suitable for some reason, then you can use an option such as searching by photo. In order to do this, you need to find high-quality photographs of a person, this will make it possible to obtain a high-quality display of the desired object.

Cellular networks are able to determine the approximate location of their subscribers. And based on this opportunity, geolocation services were created that allow you to find other people. How to track a person by phone number and what is needed for this? The answer is simple - you need to use the appropriate services from Russian cellular operators. Let's look at these services in more detail.

Determining location via the Internet

Some people really believe that there are services on the Internet that allow you to determine the location of a person - just enter his phone number. In fact, such services do not exist, since everything is much more complicated. We can determine the coordinates of a subscriber, but for this we need to prepare his phone - install a special tracking application, enable Internet access and activate the connection with satellites (or enable determination of coordinates by base stations). After this, you can start tracking.

It turns out that it will not be possible to carry out hidden tracking, since the desired subscriber can see that some obviously “fraudulent” programs are installed on his phone. Yes, and Internet access may not be available on the phone of the desired subscriber. Also, some phones do not allow you to install any applications at all. What to do in this case?

Operator services

If you want to track a person's location by phone number, you need to use the services of cellular operators. You can choose from the following basic services:

"Radar" from the operator MegaFon;
"Beeline Coordinates" from the Beeline operator;
"Locator" from MTS;
"Geosearch" from Tele2.

Using these services, you can determine where a person is.

It should be immediately clear that it is impossible to track a subscriber without his consent - all the services presented in this review require mandatory consent. You can obtain consent by deception, but you will be responsible for possible negative consequences yourself.

"Radar" service from MegaFon

MegaFon has a large number of base stations, which allows us to count on successful tracking of subscribers by phone number. The “Radar” service is presented in three versions – “Radar Light” for tracking one subscriber, “Radar” for tracking five subscribers, “Radar+” for tracking five subscribers and their travel routes (plus entry/exit from designated geographic zones). The Radar Light service is provided without a subscription fee; for the Radar service you need to pay 3 rubles/day, and for the Radar+ service - 7 rubles/day.

The light version has a serious limitation - it is possible to determine the subscriber’s coordinates only once a day. In other versions, the number of location definitions is unlimited - track the people you are looking for around the clock. An undeniable advantage of the Radar family of services from MegaFon is that it is possible to track subscribers of all Big Three operators. True, there is a limit set for tracking MTS subscribers - no more than 100 requests per day.

In order to track a person by phone number, you must request permission from him (this is only requested once). Once permission is received, you can begin the search. The simplest tracking option involves receiving information in the form of SMS and MMS, but the most convenient option is to use the Radar application or the service’s web interface. The accuracy of the determination is quite decent - from 100 meters (in urban areas the accuracy may be higher).

Also in the network of the MegaFon operator there is a service similar in functionality “Navigator”. She knows how to build routes and allows you to determine your own location.

Beeline coordinates service from Beeline

The simple “Beeline Coordinates” service will help you track a person by phone number. It is provided with a small subscription fee - only 1.7 rubles / female. The service can determine the location of up to five subscribers with an accuracy of 250 meters, and throughout Russia. As in all other cases, you need to obtain tracking permission once - otherwise nothing will work. To receive coordinates, an SMS channel and a web interface with a map are used.

The disadvantage of the Beeline Coordinates service is that it does not allow determining the coordinates of subscribers of other Russian cellular networks.

"Locator" service from MTS

In order to determine where a person is, MTS subscribers can use the “Locator” service. The subscription fee for the service is 100 rubles/month - it includes 100 free requests. You must obtain permission to enable tracking. The tracking itself is carried out via SMS, web interface, mobile version of the MTS website and via applications for Android and iOS devices.

Similar services “Child under supervision”, “My city” and “Mobile employees” are also available for subscribers to choose from. The “Child under supervision” service tracks the location of children, determines the battery charge, controls the applications used and can work with GPS/GLONASS receivers. To gain access to the full functionality of the service, you must install the “Children’s Smartphone” application on your child’s smartphone.

As for the “My City” service, it is needed for orientation among the city infrastructure. And the “Mobile Employees” service was created to track employees of enterprises and transport.

The “Locator” service can track subscribers of all “Big Three” operators - MTS, Beeline and MegaFon. It is impossible to track the location of Tele2 subscribers.

Geosearch service from Tele2

In order to determine the location of Tele2 subscribers, you need to use the Geosearch service. Since the density of base stations for this operator is low, the accuracy of determining coordinates will be low. The service is provided with a small subscription fee of 2 rubles/day. To enable tracking, you must obtain the permission of the desired subscriber. The tracking itself is carried out through a web interface with a map or using SMS commands.

As you would expect, the Geosearch service only works with Tele2 subscribers - it will not be possible to track the location of other subscribers.

Flipping through the “Development for Java ME” hub, I came across the topic Spb Transport J2ME, where the author uses map services, and one of the TODOs is GPS support (to improve usability). The problem is that there are relatively few phones with a built-in GPS receiver. I hope with this post I will help not only the author of that topic, but also someone else, I myself got into a lot of trouble in my time. So let's get started.

To determine the location of the user (phone, whatever you like), you can use several methods:
- by GPS. The method is the most accurate. Among the disadvantages: relatively long start-up, consumes a lot of energy, there are not many devices with a built-in receiver.
- on operator towers. Average in accuracy. He eats little energy. Of the minuses: not all phones have data available.
- via IP. Least accurate. Actually this is the biggest disadvantage.
- according to operator CB messages

So, we need more or less acceptable accuracy when determining the location (for the city it’s about 150-300 meters (that’s about 1.5-2 minutes on foot), outside the city it’s 2-5 km or more, depending on your luck), so We need to cover as many devices as possible, and it would be nice to quickly update the coordinates.
The most suitable would be to determine the location through the data of the cellular operator.

Services:

To convert network data and obtain coordinates, we will need databases of cell towers. There are many resources on the Internet; I used time-tested GoogleMaps, Yandex.Locator, location-api.com and opencellid.org (for greater accuracy and reliability, we use everything at once). plus, as a bonus, Yandex’s API has a method for determining location taking into account signal strength, but more on that later.
Each of the services has a well-documented API (except GoogleMaps). Parameters accepted by the API: MCC (country code), MNC (network operator code), LAC (cell code), CellID (tower identifier).
The API will return coordinates for the given dataset.

Data:

Obtaining the above data is not a trivial task, because each of the manufacturers considered it a matter of honor to invent their own bicycle. As a result, each brand has its own set of keys for calling System.getProperty(key), which are not so easy to find.
There are also a number of other unpleasant moments. For example, on Siemens, network data cannot be obtained without firmware patching. SonyEricsson returns data in HEX representation. Nokia refuses to issue LAC to uncertified (that is, almost all) MIDlets.

Solution:

I wrote a class that iterates through known keys and obtains network data from these keys. Then the keys were sent to the service API, the coordinates were obtained and the average value was displayed, which I consider the most plausible (after a year of use, I don’t remember cases of very large errors). If the phone allows you to get the signal strength, we use the Yandex bonus: we get the coordinates WITH and WITHOUT the signal strength, we get the delta of these values, we apply it to all results from the API, and we display the average result. Oddly enough, the latest decision turned out to be a double-edged sword. With uniform attenuation of the signal, the accuracy doubles compared to the conventional method, but if it is a dense urban area or hilly area where the signal propagates unevenly, in this case the accuracy drops quite significantly.

As a result, it is possible to determine the location on phones from Siemens, SonyEricsson, Samsung (for example s5230), Huawei and others. Loading time for coordinates and addresses is approximately 10-15 seconds.

Example from the demo (the Location class add-on is used, in which coordinates are determined and addresses are loaded for them)

import javax.microedition.lcdui.Display; import javax.microedition.lcdui.Form; import javax.microedition.midlet.MIDlet; import loc.*; public class HelloWorld extends MIDlet implements Runnable ( Display display; Form form; public void startApp() ( display = Display.getDisplay(this); form = new Form("NetMonitor"); display.setCurrent(form); new Thread(this ).start(); ) public void run() ( //check if it’s Nokia if (!Location.reallyNull(Location.lac)) ( //update network data Location.getData(); //get coordinates Location.getCoordinates (); //if you have access to the signal strength if (!Location.reallyNull(SystemUtil.signal())) ( form.append(("Netmonitor: ") + "\nCountry code: " + String.valueOf(Location. mcc) + " \nNetwork code: " + String.valueOf(Location.mnc) + " \nCell code: " + String.valueOf(Location.lac) + " \nBS code: " + String.valueOf(Location.cid) + " \nSignal strength: " + SystemUtil.signal() + " \n" ) //else else ( form.append("Netmonitor: " + "\nCountry code: " + String.valueOf(Location.mcc) + " \nNetwork code: " + String.valueOf(Location.mnc) + " \nCell code: " + String.valueOf(Location.lac) + " \nBS code: " + String.valueOf(Location.cid) + " \n"); = null && sens.length() != 0 && !sens.equals("null")) ( sens = SensorApi.getSensor(3); if (sens != null && sens.length() != 0 && !sens .equals("null") && !sens.equals("0")) ( form.append("Today's walking steps: " + String.valueOf(sens) + " \n"); ) ) ) public void pauseApp( ) ( ) public void destroyApp(boolean flag) ( ) )

Well, the sources with the demo