Losing a cell phone sounds like a real nightmare. Yet most of us have been in situations of losing it or having it stolen. It happens a lot that it is somewhere nearby, but we just can’t find it. Those for whom their phone is “their whole life” really perceive these situations as the end of the world. The device is not as important as the data on it. These are very stressful situations for each of us and when we lose it, we do our best to be in our hands as soon as possible. With the development of techniques and technologies, applications have been developed that allow us to locate our phones at any time.
In some situations, it’s not bad for someone else to know where you are. Whether you are traveling and want to share with friends, that parents want to know where their child is, or simply for marketing purposes, enabling geolocation can be very helpful.
There are many misconceptions and fears when it comes to this option. Most people don’t want to lose their privacy, some don’t want to know where he/she is. However, things are not set that way and there is no room for paranoia. Nothing happens by itself, you have already decided whether someone will be able to follow you or not. If you think you need geolocation, we offer you a little guide on what geolocation is and how it works on mobile phones.
What is geolocation?
Simply put, geolocation allows you to geographically locate your mobile phone. The geolocation will very precisely locate, not only the country or city where your mobile phone is located, but they can also give you data and exact coordinates. It is not only used to find a mobile phone but it is connected to many applications and can be useful to you. Applications about meteorological conditions, posting locations on social networks, or through the concept of online marketing, all these options are simply unusable without geolocations.
How does geolocation work?
Source: macworld.co.uk
Each mobile phone has special software that enables the operation of geolocation. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the internet. It is the main factor in the functioning of this locator. Thanks to the internet connection, the location of the device is determined. Geolocation data can be obtained via IP address, GPS technology, Wi-Fi technology, mobile networks, or with the help of user data. Each of these methods has its specifics.
When we talk about geolocation from an IP address, we are talking about a method of tracking that has been used very poorly in recent times. The biggest reason is low precision and very high prices. Today, this method is most used by market researchers or marketing managers. When you enter a website, you can simply allow or deny to give information to the people from the other side of the net, about your location. If you’ve heard how some web marketers know which product they’re searching for, so they’re bombarding you with similar offers from all sides, this is the answer, right through the locations on the IP address.
GPS technology is a much simpler and more popular way to track on your mobile phone. The essence of the work of this technology contains data obtained from navigation satellites. The data is precise and clear, but there is one drawback. Data processing is quite slow, interruptions can occur when the connection is poor, and sometimes special applications or websites such as find-mi-phone are needed. On a smartphone, when you enter the “menu” option, you must allow this option to work, otherwise, it will not be possible.
Determining the location based on Wi-Fi technologies is now possible only in urban areas. Of course, we will hardly find a Wi-Fi connection in the woods or on top of some mountains. Like GPS technology, data are very important here. This way, your location data is obtained much faster, as long as you have Wi-Fi.
For any option, you choose, make sure you can be easily located, and not only that, but your phone can make it easier for you to search or extract local information.
Location with permission
Source: networkworld.com
In some situations, it’s not bad for someone to know exactly where you are. You can locate yourself in travel photos, in some super new restaurant or concert. Also, this option is ideal for parents to know where their child is at all times. If you are someone who often loses things, this application is a must.
And we must not forget mobile phone marketing. Knowing the locations helps retailers and marketers improve the shopping experience. Targeting groups or winning prizes and bonuses takes place through various applications that are connected to geolocation. Of course, marketers must respect the will of consumers, whether they want to show their location or not.
Can anyone follow me without my permission?
Source: unsplash.com
For someone to track your phone, they must first ask you for permission, and you on the other hand need to enable tracking. However, it is not uncommon for a person to be followed without permission. There are “discrete” applications that can monitor a certain mobile phone without permission. The only thing needed here is that you will have to somehow get to the device itself to install this application. After installation on someone else’s phone, the application icon is lost and the person cannot be aware that there is an “intruder”.
This method is very often used by parents to monitor their children, bosses to monitor the movements of employees, or private detectives.
Still, as long as you want to follow someone, it would be nice to have their approval.
As we can see, today the technique and technology have advanced tremendously. Day after day new inventions is created. In the market for androids and iPhones, we have many applications that are related to geolocation and allow you to know where your phone or someone important to you is at any time. It may sound like a violation of privacy and deprivation of rights to someone, however, the correct use of geolocation saved the lives of many people, whether they got lost on a mountain or found themselves in a life-threatening situation. So always be careful and control your geolocation on your mobile phone. Maybe it will save your mobile phone or even more — life.
