How to Track Someone’s Location Without Them Knowing

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Tracking someone’s location without them knowing about it is often a controversial topic due to certain state laws and the methods that need to be used to complete this process. Oftentimes, it’s simply not possible to track someone’s location without their knowledge.

Our article gives you more information about the pros and cons of this, along with advice on how to track someone’s location in an easier and more reliable fashion.

Why Track Someone’s Location Without Them Knowing?

Many individuals who have suspicions about their partner cheating or lying, want to keep track of their loved ones’ whereabouts without them knowing, or those who want to check up on where someone has visited may be interested in tracking locations without the person in question knowing.

After all, if the person being tracked doesn’t know, then no questions are being asked about why the individual wants their location information or their potential suspicions about cheating activities. However, it’s not always possible to track someone’s location without them knowing, and it might not even be legal to do this depending on the state you reside in.

The Problem With Spy Software

When you perform an internet search for ways to track someone’s location, many different websites and apps offering ‘spy’ services or secret location tracking may appear. However, most of the spy software or cellphone tracking apps that are offered are less than legitimate.

These might result in your information being lost to scammers, or viruses and malware being downloaded onto your device. It’s important to always use caution when reviewing these options, as most of them cannot deliver the results that they claim to.

In order to install most of these apps or software onto someone else’s device so you can track them, you will need to send malicious links or have access to the person’s device to set up the spyware or location-sharing services. These actions could be considered illegal and result in legal consequences, and some states have made it completely illegal to utilize location-sharing or tracking devices against someone that has no knowledge of it.

If you want to avoid potential legal troubles and the stress that comes with attempting to get one of these spy software or apps to work, and you want to ensure you don’t fall victim to a scam, utilize one of our helpful location-searching methods below.

Methods for Tracking Someone’s Location

The following methods for tracking someone’s location utilize basic search tools and location-sharing services that require the other party to be aware of their location-sharing, for the most part. Read on to learn about how these methods might help you.

Address Search Tools

Reverse address search tools are a great way to find someone’s address using just their name and general location. These tools utilize public records and other publicly available information to locate the address of the person in question.

From there, you can perform further research on their address to find their exact location or utilize their address to send important documents, such as court documents, a notice of lawsuit, or requests for payments that the individual might be ignoring.

When you utilize this search process, the other party will not be alerted that you searched for them. Make sure that you never use the information you gain to harass or stalk someone, as this is a serious prosecutable crime.

Google Maps Timeline

The Google Maps timeline software is a great way to figure out where your loved ones have visited previously. For this search method to work, you must have access to the Google Account that is connected to the device of the person whose location you are searching for.

Simply login to Google Maps under this account and access the timeline option; the timeline will show a list of places that the person has visited previously and places that they frequent, and months (or even years) of history is typically saved under the Google Maps timeline.

The person must have Google Maps installed on their device and a connected Google Account for this method to work.

Find My Device

Find my device software is an easy way to locate your phone or another device that may have been lost or stolen. You can also use it to track the location of devices that belong to other people, giving you a good sense of where they might be located.

The individual you are trying to track will need to have their phone or other device registered with either Apple’s find my device software, Samsung’s version, or the generic Google Android version of this software. You can utilize the software to show you the real-time location of your device or others’ devices once you log on.

Make sure you keep in mind that the person you are tracking will receive a message on their device that you utilize the find my device software to locate their phone.

Gaining the Location Information You Need

Figuring out someone’s location via their cell phone or another location-enabled device is likely not something that you can do without them knowing. As we mentioned above, spy software on computers and on apps that you need to download might work, but they might also introduce malware or viruses, resulting in problems for both you and the device you install the software on.

Instead, of attempting these questionable location tracking methods, you can utilize address search tools, the Google Maps timeline feature, and find my device searches for the important location information that you need.

You can also simply ask someone to share their location with you if you are concerned about their safety, but be prepared for them to decline, and if they do, stay polite about it. In the cases of keeping tabs on your children, you can install a legitimate location-sharing app on their devices such as Life360 to ensure they remain safe.

Just remember to use all location information obtained from any device responsibly and respectfully, and you will gain the location information that you need to stay aware of.

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About the Author: John Watson

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