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Track A Cell Phone Location without Installing Software, Is It Real?

Home > Mobile Tracker > Track A Cell Phone Location without Installing Software, Is It Real?

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Tata Davis

Updated: Apr 08, 2024 11:12 am

4 min read

Cell phone tracking can be done in various ways. But most people do it with the help of third party software. The software has to be installed into the target phone so that it can be used. But there are situations that we are not able to do that, for example, it's impossible to install 3rd party apps on the missing phone, and if we don't have access to the target device, than a 3rd party app will never be of any use to track the location. So many people want to know if there is any way to track a cell phone location without installing software. Yes, there are several feasible ways and we are going to describe them in this article.

Common Ways to Track a Cell Phone without Installing Software

Cell phones have tons of features and it includes cell phone tracking too. These days, many cell phone manufactures provide built-in lost phone tracking apps. Some famous ones are known as Google's Find My Device and Apple's Find My iPhone. You can take good advantage of them without installing software on the target device.

1.1 How to track Android phone without installing software

Google has a cool feature, called the Find my Device feature, to use it you must use a phone that is running on Android 4.0 or later. Till now, 99% of active Android devices are eligible to use Find My Device. The most important fact here is, when you added a Google Account to the target device before, you have automatically turned on the Find My Device feature.

find my  device app

- Using a computer or non-Android smartphones:

You can find the lost phone easily just by using a computer, tablet or smartphone. It works by logging in Google Find My Device website and then Google will do the rest for you.

Steps to follow:

  • Start your computer or take the non-Android smartphone in hand. Make sure it is connected to internet.

  • Then launch any web browser from your phone, tablet, or computer.

  • Now you need to visit android.com/find and login to the same email address on the target device. After that you'll be able to see that there is a cell phone location on the Google map. Actually this location is not 100% accurate but it still does the trick.

track  phone with computer

- Using an Android phone

If you have another Android device available, then you can use the Find My Device app to track the cell phone location easily. This is a proper technique to use and you need to follow the below steps to complete it.

Steps to follow

  • Take a Google or Android phone.

  • Go to the Play Store.

  • Search and install the Find my Device app.

  • Open the app.

  • Log in with the same Google account.

  • It will then start searching for your phone and display the location info.

track android  with another android

Extra Tip for Samsung Users

Samsung users can also use another method called "Find My Mobile". It is almost similar to Find My Device, but was specifically built to find Samsung devices, so if you want to know how to track a Samsung phone without installing software, this is the best way to choose from.

In order to know the whereabouts of a Samsung device, you need to:

  • Go to "Settings" on the target device and then select "Lock Screen and Security".

  • Then tap on "Find My Device" option and login to a Samsung account there.

  • After that, you can check the location on its official website or through another Find My Device app.

1.2 How to Track an iPhone without Installing an App

If you are wondering how to track an iPhone without an app, I am afraid it's impossible. But don't worry, as Apple offers default "Find iPhone" and "Find Friends" app to access the locations of your iPhone without installing any extra software at all.

Steps to use Find iPhone:

  • First you need to visit icloud.com and sign in by using your Apple ID credentials.

  • Click all devices. The green dot means it is available online. Else its offline if a grey dot appears.

  • Select the device you want to locate.

  • If the device is on, it will show up on the map.

  • If its offline, then the last known location will show up.

  • Go to the map and zoom in.

  • Use refresh and change the map view to get the proper place and location.

find iPhone device

There is another great app known as Find Friends on iPhone. It shares the live location of an iPhone between friends and family. You can use this feature to track iPhone location from anywhere. But the premise is that the one you want to track agrees to share location, or at least you can have physical access to the target device and set up this feature.

Steps to use Find Friends:

  • Open the app on the target iPhone, and it should be automatically signed in with the iCloud details.

  • Click on Add and choose yourself from contact list or simply enter the email address and click Send or Done. This will send a location sharing request.

  • On your own device, accept the request and then you will be able to locate his/her device.

find my friends iphone

However, if you want to use this feature to find your lost iPhone, you must make sure you have shared the location with others before and it's set as Share Indefinitely. Another important thing is that there will be a notification on both devices, so this method is not recommended if you want to secretly track cell phone without installing software.

Part 2: Requirements to Track Cell Phone without Installing Software

Above methods are workable to track cell phone without installing software. But it has quite of some good limitations that make it inferior. No matter you are using Android or iPhone, the following requirements should be met otherwise it's impossible to get the tracking job done –

  • You need the account details for login and device recognition.

  • The lost device should be switched on to receive and respond to the signals.

  • The locations settings need to be turned on the phone. As without it the GPS won't be working at all.

  • The Find My Device/iPhone must be already turned on the phone for effective search.

  • It should have a positive connection to upload the location or even the preferred place on where it was last found.

Despite all the requirements, the locations provided are not very accurate. So if you want to secretly track the cell phone location or get the accurate location in real-time, then you'd better take advantage of 3rd party apps. This will allow you to know the exact locations of the cell phone at any time.

How to Effectively Track Cell Phone Location without Limitations

You can track a cell phone in real time with full access using the FamiGuard app. This is one of the best apps used to keep track on your kids, friends and family and also their activities on the mobile phone. This amazing app will allow you to check all the location history of the target device without breaking a sweat. It will give you a proper sense of security and allow you to know where your close persons are, all the time.

Why Choose FamiGuard?

  • Provides highly accurate data on location.

  • Helps with real time track. Periodical updates of location data is sent to the phone.

  • Shows the previous location history too.

  • Provides in map view experiences.

  • Provides the cool geofence feature that gives you control to modify a proper location zone and get notified with time.

Steps to use FamiGuard:

Step 1: First you need to download the FamiGuard app on the target device and register for an account.

resister  for account

Step 2: Then configure that device by following the on-screen instructions.

setup  the target device

Step 3: Finally you can start monitoring the target device's location from the "Real Time Location" and "Location History" option from the app dashboard. If you are using computer, you can also login the web dashboard and track the cell phone location there.

start  monitoring real-time location

Conclusion

After reading this article, you must know how to track a cell phone without installing software. You can easily follow the step by step guidelines above to track your Android or iPhone devices easily. The first 3 ways are great if you can know the correct use account and password. But if you really want real time access and all the location data, FamiGuard app should be your best choice. It's the easiest app for you to track any phone even if you are not an expert user.

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By Tata Davis

professional in software and app technology, skilled in blogging on internet

Generally rated 5 (170 participated)

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