Among the many functions of the smartphone, there is also the possibility to locate it with great precision. You just need to know the right apps
Of course, in some cases it's not exactly legal. Nor too ethical, as admitted by Alessia Marcuzzi during the transmission "Che tempo che fa" on Rai 1. The fact is that the showgirl and presenter has revealed to half of Italy a trick that almost nobody knows: how to locate a person thanks to the smartphone.
Our mobile device, in fact, is equipped with GPS and GLONASS chips (Russian satellite navigation system) that allow you to locate the position with a fairly high accuracy (in the order of a few meters). A function that comes in very handy, for example, when we are in the car and we need directions to reach a location; or when we have lost our smartphone (or it has been stolen) and we want to try to recover it. Or, as Marcuzzi did (and candidly admitted), we can use the smartphone to locate our children (or partners) and check where they are.
A simpler operation than you might imagine, especially if you know the apps to locate the smartphone (and, therefore, its user).
How to locate the smartphone with GPS
To find a person with GPS could be enough to use two native tools made available by Android and iOS to its users. Both operating systems, in fact, offer a platform that allows you to find the lost or stolen smartphone thanks to GPS and, in case, block its use. Obviously, the same platform can also be used to locate your children and follow their movements from your home PC.
To track down Android smartphones you'll need to access the Find My Device service (also available as a web app on any browser), use the credentials of the Google account of the person you want to find and wait for the GPS to do its job (however, it is necessary that geolocation is enabled on the device, otherwise Find My Device won't work). To find the iPhone, on the other hand, you'll be able to use Find My iPhone: log into iCloud.com using the Apple ID credentials of the phone you want to track, click on the Find My iPhone icon, and wait for the geolocation tools to pinpoint the location of the applephone. Both of these options have a "weak point", if you look at the whole thing with a parent's eye: you'll need to know the credentials of the Google account or the Apple ID and hope that your child hasn't changed them in the meantime.
If you're looking for a less complex and less "visible" solution, you can install one of the many tracking apps available on Google Play Store and App Store. Among the various options available, Family Tracker: Locate Phone and TeenSafe are among the best and most efficient. Even though they are paid, they allow you to locate your children and family members with your smartphone's GPS and monitor their movements. To do so, you'll have to install the app directly on the person's phone and grant the required permissions (access to location, first of all): from that moment on, all you have to do is use a synchronized device to find the phone (and who's using it) thanks to GPS.
Watch out for privacy
Before monitoring a person's movements, be it your child or your partner, ask their permission and decide together which is the best service to use. It goes without saying that tracking someone's movements with your smartphone is illegal, as it violates their privacy. Before you get into serious trouble, think twice.