Can anyone recommend a phone GPS tracker on Android?

Ransom · 15 Sep 2017 at 16:00

Hi my son who's 11 has a Samsung galaxy J4 I'm wanting to give him more freedom but want to check where he is. His phones a contract one also.

Can anyone recommend an app that I can check via another app or online I have an iPhone 6 and his mothers on android

dneill2006 · 15 Sep 2017 at 16:15

Android has a feature called Find My Device much like FindMyPhone.

https://www.google.com/android/find

Atari · 15 Sep 2017 at 17:49

Cerberus is good, and doubles up as an amazing anti-theft measure. It was a pound or two on Google Play Store but covers 5 devices.

SexyGreyFox · 15 Sep 2017 at 22:59

Samsung used to have their own Find My Phone, haven't used it for at least a couple of years.

I'm on it now, it's called Find My Mobile

dbmzk1 · 16 Sep 2017 at 05:28

Atari said:
Cerberus is good, and doubles up as an amazing anti-theft measure. It was a pound or two on Google Play Store but covers 5 devices.

It's against Cerberus ToS to use it to track/monitor people and they'll eventually ban you for it.

You can use Google location history to silently track where he's been, it usually updates every few minutes but can take longer. You could also use Find my Device or the Samsung equivalent to get a live location but they show a notification on the phone saying they've been used if that would bother you.

Royal Fleet · 16 Sep 2017 at 07:08

Google maps now has a share my location feature. I use this to track my son (android) and daughter (ios).

mrk · 16 Sep 2017 at 20:58

dbmzk1 said:
It's against Cerberus ToS to use it to track/monitor people and they'll eventually ban you for it.

You can use Google location history to silently track where he's been, it usually updates every few minutes but can take longer. You could also use Find my Device or the Samsung equivalent to get a live location but they show a notification on the phone saying they've been used if that would bother you.

Only if used in that manner, which in this instance, he's not. He's a concerned parent wanting to check the whereabouts of his kid.

Secondly, Cerberus has a feature to just send a text message with a keyword to the phone from another phone which will then relay back the location and stuff if you've added your phone as a trusted number in the Cerberus app. If you buy Cerberus on your account, you can install the app on multiple devices, so install it on his phone, log in as yourself and activate the app and its relevant features.

dbmzk1 · 17 Sep 2017 at 02:30

mrk said:
Only if used in that manner, which in this instance, he's not. He's a concerned parent wanting to check the whereabouts of his kid.

Secondly, Cerberus has a feature to just send a text message with a keyword to the phone from another phone which will then relay back the location and stuff if you've added your phone as a trusted number in the Cerberus app. If you buy Cerberus on your account, you can install the app on multiple devices, so install it on his phone, log in as yourself and activate the app and its relevant features.

That's exactly what he would be doing. Concerned parent or not it is against their ToS to use it in such a way and they WILL ban you for it - they permanently ban the account and phones IMEI so it can never use Cerberus again and there's no appeal process. Use a different app.

As said above Google Maps lets you share your location in real time - totally forgot about that, probably the easiest way to do it actually.

Orcvader · 18 Sep 2017 at 14:30

dneill2006 said:
Android has a feature called Find My Device much like FindMyPhone.

https://www.google.com/android/find

He'll get a notification that he's been tracked.

Google Maps location sharing will be the easiest.

swain90 · 18 Sep 2017 at 14:48

Orcvader said:
He'll get a notification that he's been tracked.

Can confirm just tried it.

Atari · 18 Sep 2017 at 23:42

dbmzk1 said:
That's exactly what he would be doing. Concerned parent or not it is against their ToS to use it in such a way and they WILL ban you for it - they permanently ban the account and phones IMEI so it can never use Cerberus again and there's no appeal process. Use a different app.

As said above Google Maps lets you share your location in real time - totally forgot about that, probably the easiest way to do it actually.

Interesting. I didn't know that was a thing, I've tracked my mum's phone a few times in the past when she's not answered but I didn't know you'd get banned for it. Will have to stop doing that and find another solution.

Cheers.

robj20 · 19 Sep 2017 at 07:58

Google sharing is great, me and the wife use it to see if were stuck in traffic coming home for tea.

Semple · 19 Sep 2017 at 08:10

How would Cerberus even know?

It sounds to me like one of those warnings that they'd rather people not use it for that, but knowing full well that there's no way they'd be able to know who's tracking the phone.

The problem with any of the "find my phone" apps, is that they require location services to be on, to preserve battery i only enable location services when i actually intend to use it - i.e. for GPS in the car.

chrislusty · 19 Sep 2017 at 09:14

I've played with this in the past
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.life360.android.safetymapd

You can set locations and get notifications when person leaves home, person arrives at school etc.

Sp00n · 19 Sep 2017 at 09:16

If the phone is rooted, and Cerberus is installed as a system app, you can enable GPS remotely.

I can't see anything about not being allowed to track people (might have missed it), just this:

You may not use Cerberus or any location information displayed within Cerberus to stalk, harass, abuse, defame, threaten or defraud other users, or collect, attempt to collect, or store location or personal information about others.

But that's other users, not "you" or your device.

However, it's for persons over the age of 14 only if we're talking ToS.