Is it legal to locate someone by cell phone?

Searching or locating is no longer the stuff of old espionage movies – a small black box hidden under a car, a bug placed in a room or an agent spying from the rooftop across the street. It all thanks to the technology advancement so now one can easily find someone’s location by cell phone that we rarely leave home without. Although the enormous benefits of cell phone locator are highlighted, privacy concerns still remain unanswered and most of us are wondering if it’s legal to locate someone by cell phone. Well, it depends, but you can learn the legal ways to determine someone’s physical location in this guide.

Legal reasons to locate someone by cell phone

Though there are plenty of GPS trackers available on the market, one should have legitimate reasons to locate someone by cell phone. You can legally locate someone if you gain the consent of device holder, want to protect minors or are in case of law proceedings. Any illegal mobile tracking can be considered as offensive and disgusting activity. If the following situations are met, it’s completely legal to determine someone’s physical location.

For child safety

It’s hard to imagine what would have happened on kids’ life if without parents’ company and supervision. Kids explore the world fearlessly and may go to an unfamiliar part of the city out of curiosity. No one want to see their loved ones getting into trouble. To ensure the safety of children, parents should employ family locator app in their smartphones to locate child’s phone. They’ll be able to see children’s exact location even when they are out of sight.

For parents, using a GPS tracker or cell phone locator in the tablets and mobiles of their underage kids is not an illelgal activity. With the increasing cases of kidnapping and missing children, parents have the right to keep an eye on the location of their children.

For employee management

Being a business owner is hard, let alone employee management. Little wonder that business owners want to pinpoint their employees’ GPS location and make sure that they are working in the site. Locating employees is legitimate only if employers have gain the prior consent of employees and the activity is mentioned in the company policy. It should be noted that companies only can locate the work phones of their resources. It’s illegal to track the personal cell phone of an adult.

For elderly safety

Slips and falls is the top concern among the seniors, especially for those living alone. A family location tracker can be used to locate family members like elderly parents for safety precautions. In case the elderly go missing even in a familiar place, it becomes easier to check their location with the aid of advanced apps. It’s better to negotiate with your parents, convincing them of your attempt to keep them safe.

Now you know the legal reasons to find someone’s location. Other than that, it’s absolutely legal to locate a mobile phone for personal use as you are not breaching the privacy of any third party. If you are still confused about its legal cosiderations, it’s better to learn local, state or federal laws before you use a GPS tracker.

How can I prevent my phone from being located?

To prevent your phone from being located, you can take several measures. The easiest thing is to turn off app based location service on your smartphone. It means that you are telling your phone not to share GPS data with the apps installed. You can at least make sure your GPS location is not tracked when the app is turned off. Alternatively, you can use private browsing options in browsers or utilize a VPN on your phone. They do block cookies and conceal your IP address. Also, your bluetooth on your cell phone even can be used over short distances to pinpoint your exact loctaion. If you have disabled the bluetooth, there is no need to worry about.

Wrapping up

We have learned several reasons for which one can legally locate someone by cell phone. You can legally perform a tracking only if any of the following criteria are met: for the security of underage kids, personal use, elderly safety and employee management. Or you can search and check the relevant laws before you get started.