I lost my cell phone over the weekend and have had no luck finding it. It's GPS enabled, so I called Verizon to see if they could track it down and tell me where I might be able to find it. The customer service rep said they couldn't do this. I think it may be more of a privacy issue rather than a technology issue, but I couldn't get that answer from her. Any ideas on if this is possible and who might be able to do it?
Lost Cell Phone - Can GPS Find It?
- Thread starter jammons4
- Start date
Might not work if you don't have it with you now, but I use this for my phone.
http://www.mylookout.com
http://www.mylookout.com
Just to clarify this post, he is in no way advocating for you to break the law so the police do a trace on your phone so you can find it.
For this to work, the person with the cell has to initiate contact (call into 911 dispatch). - 99% sure that if 911 calls the cell phone, they can't ping it. Futhermore, even if you have "E911 Only" or "Location On" (usually in the settings) the same rules apply. "Location On" allows the phone to be pinged if you call into 911. If you have it off, the phone CAN NOT be pinged.
No, they (sheriff's department/police department) will not do this. Even when law enforcement needs to ping a cell phone (as when someone is kidnapped) the cell phone providers requires a subpoena. Futhermore, it takes TIME to ping a cell phone. You do not get results in seconds and they are far from real time.
I have "buddy finder" on my Sprint phone. It's awesome! I can track my wife or kids to wherever they go. My daughter lost her phone once, and I could either use my phone or any computer... log on to buddy finder, and type in her phone number... the result was an arial view of one of her friends houses in seconds! (She realized she left it there) It's so worth having!