Locating an electronic device such as a PC or smartphone is relatively simple, especially if it is the device in question is our property and we want to know its position in real time wherever it is. If, on the other hand, we want to locate another device or supervise a loved one (with his consent), we can do it with some heavy programs and apps for parental control. In this guide we will show you in detail all the methods that you can use to locate and find the geographical position of a mobile phone or PC, both in case we are the owners (in case of theft or loss) and in case we want to monitor a a minor or a person to us home (always with his consent).
READ ALSO: All the ways to track your phone (Android, iPhone, Windows)
How to locate a smartphone, tablet or PC
To find the position of a person, just configure one of the surveillance systems seen below in advance or obtain his public IP address, more than enough to obtain an approximate position of the device used. Obviously, chat localization systems such as WhatsApp and Telegram are also fine, for those who decide to be followed in every move made.Integrated geo-location
Google provides a location service on Android, to track the position and movement of smartphones or tablets registered with our Google account.
Practically just add our account to the device to be monitored, thus providing consent to report its position on the Google Maps map; this system does not violate privacy in any way because it is a service that you choose to voluntarily enter every time we add a Google account to a device with Android as the operating system.
Even on iPhones, iPads and Macs there is a page to track down the lost Apple device, the important thing is that it is associated with an Apple account that we can access at any time.
If we have activated localization on Windows 10 and entered our Microsoft account, we can use it to track down a lost laptop. First we enable location by going to Start> Settings> Update and security> Find my device ; once localization is enabled, we access the Microsoft personal page, go to Devices, then the Find my device tab to start the search for the lost laptop. Obviously the laptop will have to be turned on in order to track it, although we can still go back to the last known position as long as it was turned on.
Parental Control
Another effective method of locating a smartphone, tablet or computer involves the use of parental control services and apps, so that devices with Google accounts or different Apple accounts can also be "under surveillance".One of the best parental control services is Google Family Link, which provides a separate app for parents and an app for children and teenagers.
In addition to the forms of filtering and restriction typical of this type of service, it allows you to constantly monitor the position of the device in use by the "child" account, so as to obtain a complete report on the places frequented and on the activity carried out in real time ( without the possibility to disable it). The app is also available for iPhone, just download the dedicated app from the App Store.
If we are looking for other apps or services for parental control, we invite you to read our guides on How to limit the use of smartphones and tablets to minors .
Localization via messaging and social apps
If we have the user's consent to locate it, we recommend that you use the location monitoring services provided by modern messaging apps such as WhatsApp, the famous app available for Android and iPhone.
To activate this location, simply obtain the smartphone of the person to be monitored, open the chat towards us, press on the paperclip symbol then on Position -> Position in real time . In this way we will provide the position of the device in real time, monitoring all the movements until the permissions are removed.
A similar functionality is also available on the Telegram app (also available for Android and iOS): just access our chat from the phone to be monitored, press on the symbol with the paperclip, press on Position and activate the Share current position for function. .., indicating how long we want to provide the position in real time.
On Facebook you can choose to be located and you can find all your friends on the Bing map, with the new Facebook Places feature, of which I wrote a guide.
There are also Facebook friendly maps based on the city of origin written on the profile.
Better yet, you can share your location with Facebook Messenger as explained in another article.
To discover the other apps that offer a similar functionality, we invite you to read our guides to the Apps to send the position from your mobile phone or be followed in real time and to the GPS locator Apps to find and "follow" yourself with friends or family .
Anti-theft app for PC, smartphone and tablet
In addition to the localization systems integrated in Android and iOS, we can also use third-party apps as an anti-theft device, such as Prey Anti Theft, available for Windows and Mac, Android devices and iOS / iPadOS.
By installing the program or the service app, we will always be able to monitor the position of our devices and retrieve valuable information to attempt the recovery of stolen or lost devices; with the owner's consent we can also monitor another device, so as to always be informed of the movements made.
If we are interested in installing an anti-theft app on our smartphone, tablet or PC, we invite you to read our guides on the Best apps for all phones to find the stolen or lost mobile phone and
anti-theft device for laptop and USB sticks .
Localization via IP address
If we have the IP address of the device connected directly to the Internet or the public IP provided to the modem, we can obtain the approximate position using one of the many IP location services such as the IP Location Tool.
By entering the IP address in the Remote Address field we can obtain the approximate IP position, based on the information provided by the telephony operator. The precision is not high but it will allow you to obtain at least the city from which the public IP exits, so as to know where it is or which radio tower it is connected to (in the case of IP assigned to smartphones or tablets).
To derive the public IP and discover other strategies to trace an IP we recommend you read our guides Finding public IP and private IP and difference and You can locate an IP address .
READ ALSO: Find the IP address of another computer and spy on what it does
Conclusions
Locating a device or a person connected to the Internet is much simpler than it seems: it is enough that the person decides to be followed voluntarily or that he provides his IP or access to apps for parental controls to activate an H24 surveillance worthy of a detective!If we want to protect ourselves from this type of espionage or to protect our privacy wherever we go we advise you to read our guide on how to surf anonymously and use fake IPs .
If, on the other hand, we wish to derive the IP from an email received, we can do so by reading the suggestions seen in the guide, locating the sender of an Email and tracking who sent it .
