Can My Phone Be Tracked When Location Services Are Disabled?

You might be surprised to find out that even when you disable location services on your phone, there are still many ways in which your location can be pinned down. Get all the details on how your phone’s location may still be tracked while you have disabled location services.

You rarely hear someone talking about shutting off location services on their mobile device. Most people leave them on because they want to use the GPS or find restaurants nearby, but there are still many ways in which your location can be found. It’s important to know all the different ways someone might be able to track your phone, even with location services disabled.

What are Location Services?

Location services are a part of the Android operating system that will allow the GPS to know where you are. They will also track your speed, distance, and location if you’re in a car. Even when you have disabled GPS in your phone settings, these services will still be running and able to track basic locations.

You can also find apps that want access to location services or want to set up location-based timers or apps. When you’re not in GPS mode, location services will work with cellular triangulation and wi-fi to see where you are.

Next, we’ll talk about other ways to track location on your phone even though you have disabled location services.

How Can Someone Track My Phone When I’ve Disabled Location Services?

1. Cell towers

Even if you turn off your GPS, cell towers will still be able to find you. A cell tower must know where your phone is for calls to go through and for the phone to use the internet.

There are several ways in which this can happen, even if you have disabled location services. If you recently used the app and have it open, it will still be able to tell your phone’s general location by working with nearby cell towers. Cell towers will also get your location if you make an emergency call. Cell towers will also ping you to see if your phone is on or off.

2. Wi-fi Tracker

Wi-fi is necessary for most phones and can track your phone even when you’ve disabled it. If you’re in a public area or a closed-off room, it can triangulate from the signals from nearby wi-fi routers and find your exact location. Wi-fi can also be used to find your exact location by receiving signals from nearby wi-fi routers.

If your phone is in an area with open wi-fi, anyone who knows where you are can see and track your location. Several apps will allow you to see which wi-fi networks are around you, so if someone is using them, they will be able to track and find your phone.

3. Google Location

Google Location can still be used even when location services are completely disabled on your phone. This app will respond to any search queries or map searches that you make. It also works with Google Now, so it will keep track of where you’ve been or where you’re going, even if you haven’t explicitly asked for it. It should also be noted that some phones allow location services to be turned on via other settings.

4. Software Connectivity

Many people do not realize that software can track your phone’s location even when you have disabled GPS. Of course, any apps set up to track you will continue to do so and track your locations, but this is especially true for any apps you have installed online. The Google Play store will look at where you are in the store and see what apps you might be interested in purchasing.

If you have disabled GPS, it won’t stop these apps from tracking your location to determine where you are. If you want to keep your location private, it’s important to make sure that you disable all of the above features. 

5. Apps

There are still a lot of apps that use your GPS location and still work when you have disabled location services altogether. If someone is using the app without your permission, they can track where you are and use that information for something else.

Many apps will use your GPS location in the background when you least expect it, so always check the permissions of any apps you’re interested in.

A good way to see which apps can access your GPS location is by going into your phone’s settings and checking under “More.” Then, find the app, look for “Location,” and see if it has access.

6. Phone Calls and Texts

Your phone can still indicate your location when you call or text. This can happen with cell tower tracking, which will usually only give a general location but might be enough for someone to find where you are.

If you have family members or friends looking for information on your phone, they could use this to locate where you are. They’ll be able to track your location even if they don’t have the app installed on their phones.

Service providers can also give your location to anyone with a phone number. This means that even if you never gave your number to anyone, they can track where you are if they call the right person.

If someone calls your phone, it sends a signal to see where you are and back to them. In addition, texts can be marked as read when your phone is in a certain area.

How Can MLocator Help You?

MLocator is an online platform to Track a phone number; if the information is already out there, it can help you find it faster.

MLocator allows its users to find phone number locations with above-average accuracy. If a user has an idea that they want to locate a phone number, they can search through millions of numbers in milliseconds.

The search engine MLocator then provides the service provider’s address and a map showing all of the towers near the location of that phone number. MLocator has many records in its database, so there are more than enough records to find a general location for any number.

Conclusion

As you can see from this article, it’s still possible to track your phone even if you have disabled location services on your phone. Many different apps and services can give out your location without realizing it. If you’re worried about being tracked, it’s best to prevent any of these from working and to keep the ones that do from being used.

This article will help you ensure that no one can track you without your consent.