How to Track a Cell Phone & Show the Exact Location

Tracking a cell phone can help recover a lost or stolen device. It can also help the user find his location when traveling or keep track of a family member or loved one. A phone owner can track a cellular phone using a global positioning satellite, or GPS, chip. The chips are already installed in many newer phones and can be bought and installed in older phones. A variety of services are available for tracking the phone, and many cell phone companies offer GPS locating in-house.

1

Obtain a cell phone with a GPS chip. Most newer cell phones, including the BlackBerry, Motorola iDEN, Boost Mobile, Windows Mobile and many others, already contain GPS chips.

Some phones, especially older phones, do not have the chips installed. Find out from the manufacturer if the phone will take a GPS chip. If so, the chips can be bought at cell phone stores, from the manufacturer or over the Internet. Install according to the manufacturer's instructions.
2

Check with the cell phone service company to determine if its network has GPS capability. Most larger services, such as Verizon, Cingular/AT&T and Sprint/Nextel, provide the service. Disney Mobile is designed to allow child cell-phone tracking through GPS.
3

Find a location-based service, such as AccuTracking or uLocate.com, which often works with the cell phone service companies. Independent services such as Mologogo and others are also available. These services may charge small or moderate fees for GPS tracking.
4

Use the computer to go to the location-based service provider's website. Log in and follow instructions to subscribe and to download its software to the computer. Use the computer-phone cable to connect the cell phone to be tracked to the computer. Follow the instructions to load the GPS-tracking software from the computer into the cell phone, and, if necessary, to activate it using the phone's menu.
5

Give the phone to the user and use the computer to log onto the location-based service provider's tracking website. Depending on the service, it can show the phone's location on a Google or MapQuest grid. Some services can also tell at what speed the phone is traveling, how long it has been in one position and even the altitude. Some services will send a text message to another cell phone if the tracked phone leaves a pre-determined area.
If the tracker has a cell phone with wireless Internet access, she may be able to use that instead of a PC to track the phone.